Pride Goes Before a Fall

Pride goes before a fall. It's such a true statement, but hard to swallow when it's yourself that it applies to. Yesterday I decided to search for a waterfall well off of trail in a certain location. Where, I will decline to say exactly, for various reasons.

I knew there was a vague forecast of rain, but I didn't check the details. The exact path to the falls? I figured I knew enough to be able to plot my own course. I have a GPS app, so I should be good, right?

In other words, I got cocky. So sure of my experience with weather, and of my ability hiking, that I let some important details go by unnoticed.

I started off fine, though the first stretch was a long a very untraveled but established trail. I reached my desired turn off to go into the wilderness, and trudged along.

It was a little sketchy, but nothing too horrible. I finally found the stream, though it was basically dry where I was. Further along it would pickup more and more water as other branches and rivulets would fill its course. That was my hope anyway, I had no way to know for sure.

I crossed the small stream a couple times, sometimes veering away from it to maintain some semblance of safe footing. The entire forest floor was covered in leaf liter; sometimes my foot would sink through it, revealing that the ground was actually part of the creek, that is, just rocks and water.

Finally I had a decision to make. I would have to venture away from the stream and work around to get to the base of the falls, though I didn't see or hear any as of yet. I knew the south side would be too steep, so I decided to go northwest, cutting across a ridge. Further a long after struggling to get through some dense bush, I saw a clearing, and a view of distant hills. In fact I remember saying something along the lines of, "what a view, and all to myself."

What I didn't realize is that the reason for the view, was because I was approaching a 100 foot or so cliff. How was I going to get to the bottom of this waterfall?

About 30 or so feet below me was a ledge, and my hope was that if I could make it to that, I would be able to make it to the bottom. So I ventured further north, looking for a route around and down.

But I could tell rain was coming, and it had already began to spit. This might not be good.

I narrowly made it onto the ledge, which was a bit steep. I got very close to the edge, and realized that I needed to go further around and down. I was on what might as well be a dead end. Even if I could reach a waterfall where I was, it wasn't worth the risk. That's when I made the decision to throw in the towel. No photo is worth my life.

But I had to get back, and where I was was much easier to get down than back up. One wrong move, and I might slide right off the cliff, falling a good 50-70 feet. I was in a worse spot than I realized.

Prayer and effort, I made it back up, slowly but surely. The spitting had become a little more consistent, though thankfully it hadn't began to rain very hard. Would that hold up?

But the top of the cliff was only a third of the battle. I still had to make it back to the trail, and then from the trail back to the road.

But I'm going to leave you on a literal cliff hanger. Instead of continuing the journey, I want to just bring it to a place of application.

And it's a simple one, back to the beginning: Pride goes before a fall.

Had I checked the forecast, had I planned the day better, had I looked more intently for a route on a map, or consulted where others had gone to reach this, then I wouldn't have been in the predicament I was in. But I was cocky, I thought I was prepared enough.

Well, hopefully the lesson was at least a little bit learned. Pride is such a dangerous thing. It can be so subtle, yet can result in such catastrophe.

I'm writing this blog, so obviously I didn't get stuck there, but I can't say the ordeal was enjoyable.

But I'm thankful that what ensued was as bad as it got, it certainly could have been much worse.

If not for God's grace, where would any of us be?

Well, I'll continue the tale at another time. Until then, God bless!