2026-A

The plan really was not to spend time searching for a likely half naked body on this hike. But then, these sorts of things just seem to happen to us. What I really planned on was to drive up the mountain on this day with the temps in the mid twenties. I had heard that one of the popular waterfall hikes was closed due to a bridge washout. They said it was "impossible" to get to now. Course, I often say nothing is impossible and where there is a will, there is a way!

Some of the popular hikes, no matter how spectacular, are very difficult for me to do with the Wolf. Strange humans are her nightmare and crowded trails with steep drops offs are super dangerous for us when we stay tied together as humans come near us in all directions. In fact, I think I have developed a PTSD response now to just seeing a human on trail myself. Clearly, Josie the Wolf, has been rubbing her anxieties off on me over these last several years together. However, with the trail "closed" it was perfect for us to get alone time at a waterfall likely to be pretty frozen with the low January temperatures.

The parking lot was empty on arrival, which had me raising my hands toward the roof of my truck with gratitude. I knew it was going to be an adventurous day already. I was also going to be breaking in a new piece of gear today, which always brings excitement. My previous week's snow hike had snapped and broken the chains on one of my crampons. My normal full spike crampons definitely have a shelf life. They really can only take so many hikes, especially on hard ice, before the chains will start to rust or break. If I wear them for 10-15 miles every week throughout most of winter, I am lucky to get one season per pair. So when I went to reorder some new ones, I researched to see if I could find anything more durable. I ended up coming across a really impressive pair with "shark teeth" titanium lightweight spikes held together with stainless steel "rust proof" chains. Of course, they cost a lot more than my other ones, but I had to give them a try. I pulled them up over my boots right before hitting the trail and instantly could tell a difference!

I was like spiderman on steroids. Even though the ice was absolutely hard as rock, I was not slipping at all. The last few years, all my other ice spikes still allowed me to slip when the ice got really thick. This got me to thinking that they are probably all quite dull. So with a plan to get my husband to start sharpening all my old sets of spikes, I took off at a virtual run in my new titanium and steel ones, smiling from ear to ear. Places that normally would have been deadly (even in my old spikes) found me hopping from boot to boot with no fear. I was unstoppable in these new crampons!

Eventually I slowed our pace so we could enjoy the frozen trees surrounding us. Everything was frozen solid. When there was a breeze, we could hear ice clinking together above us in the tree canopy. My face, as the only uncovered skin on my body, started to feel a bit frozen as well. But I was wearing five layers on my upper body....all thick fleece and puffer jackets. My base layer had reflective lining to push my body heat back toward me. I was wearing fleece lined leggings under fleece lined snow pants. I had my hat and gloves on already. I could feel the bitter cold trying to work its way through my wall of polyester, down and synthetic fabrics. Luckily since we hike fast and were moving up hill, I was staying warm. But I could also feel that I was sweating through my lower layers which I knew would freeze when we stopped. It is always a fine line to hike quickly enough to stay warm, but not so fast that I sweat. Some of my worst dehydration on the trail have been winter hikes.....I will sweat a lot, but my water either freezes or I don't feel like drinking it.

As we neared the top of most of the climbing before getting to a trail junction that would take us down and over to the waterfall, I surprisingly spotted a grey stocking cap just off to the side of the trail on our left. I bent down to pick it up. It seemed virtually new and clearly had not been there too terribly long. It was a nice, thick and clearly warm hat. "Weird" I thought. "How does someone not notice losing their hat out here." After another couple hundred feet, I then found a trekking pole off the trail to our right. I picked it up and registered that it also had not been out here long as it was still in good shape and laying on top of the ice, not buried in it. As I held it next to me, I could tell that whoever used it was tall. "This is getting more weird" I told the girls as we looked around the plateau of downed trees surrounding us. It is rare to find lost gear on the trail, but certainly more rare to find multiple items together. But I decided I did not have time to search for any other gear and really needed to get to the waterfall if we hoped to get there before darkness fell. When we ultimately found a really nice, very high quality, purple down vest partially buried in the ice, I knew something was wrong. Whatever had happened, it would have been within the last week I figured. None of the gear had been there longer than that.

"Okay Ladies" I said to the girls. "Let's make a run for the waterfall, enjoy that and then start searching for the body." As we hiked to the falls I could only come up with two reasons for all the gear strewn about. Either a tall, likely female, hiker was up here and became so hypothermic that she was stripping off gear and now likely frozen and naked or she was hiking alone when attacked by a mountain lion who left pieces of her scattered about before dragging her body into deeper forest to dine on her. Either way, I was feeling responsible for finding her since I was the one finding all her gear. Since the trail was technically closed, there was not much foot traffic at all and it would be on me. Josie was sniffing all around us with great expectation. She clearly was sensing things I was not able to. But first the falls, as there is no way this hiker could still be alive with the temperatures what they were. Body retrieval, I figured, could happen after dark when I would not be so pressed for time.

As we navigated the worst of the cliff side section of trail precariously cut into the icy bank above a river, we pushed down into the ravine where we could hear the roar of the waterfall. We were close. I grew in excitement. But even my vivid imagination was no match for the sight I would behold as we came around the final corner to catch our first glimpse of the falls.

"Amazing" I whispered in complete awe. We slowly picked our way down to the base of the Falls where the ice was unbelievably thick. Inches thick. I did not think there was any way even my new spiderman shark teeth crampons would allow me to so much as stand. However, as I stepped out on the thickly coated rocks, I just kept walking! Nova was slipping and sliding and clearly needed spikes, but I was fine. I realized that I never could have gotten down here with my old style of spike and was so happy I had gotten these ones just in time. Strangely, Josie the Arctic Wolf Hybrid, also had no problem on the ice. She was doing huge leaps from boulder to boulder and when she surely should have slipped and face planted, she magically stuck every landing. "Must by your furry feet" I told her with a smile. We got so close to the pounding spray coming off the falls that it doused us and instantly turned to ice. Since no one (well at least alive) was anywhere near us, I shouted with glee in the bottom of the icy ravine.

Josie jumped into the river running away from the base of the falls to get a big drink and apparently cool off. She never seems to feel the cold at all. But eventually, she did seem to get tired of jumping around and decided to sit down on an icy boulder. It made me laugh as she sat just like I would. Maybe I am rubbing off on the beast.

In fact, at this point, I did try to sit on a boulder too, but without spikes on my bottom, I slid right off. I swear both girls laughed at me. I clawed my way back to my feet, slipping and sliding as every body part not coated in spikes could not get purchase and simply slipped further. "Wow!" I giggled. "I cannot move without these spikes!"

After a few more minutes of peace and solitude, I saw that Nova was shivering despite her coat and sweatshirt. I realized that the cold had penetrated my layers as well and when I reached out to touch my outer puffer jacket, found the layer coated in a shell of ice. I giggled more, joking that I now had a green candy coating like a large M&M. A mountain lion would surely find me pretty fun to eat now too I thought and figured we better climb back up to the plateau if we were going to start our body search soon.

It was hard to leave the falls as I wanted to linger. We stayed a bit longer while I played with lenses and filters and continually had to wipe spray off all my camera gear.

Once we got back to the high ridgeline where we had found the gear, we searched around for a bit. Without finding any further evidence, I decided to turn us up another trail heading deeper into the woods and away from the trailhead. The hiker must be up there I figured. I turned on all 4 flashlights that I had strapped to my chest to illuminate everything in front of me and then turned on a hand held spot light to sweep back and forth. Josie pulled very strongly for at least a half mile diving over trees and pushing through brush. She clearly was on the trail of something and moving faster and faster, while dragging Nova and I along. Apparently the Wolf is also secretly a search and rescue beast I thought. But I couldn't figure out why she would want to find a human. Then it dawned on me. She was showing me her cougar tracking behavior. She didn't want the human. She wanted the cat. So on we went sweeping the forests with our lights and crashing through underbrush. About the time I was ready to give up the thought popped in my head that the hiker might have had a dog with them. "Well, now we have to search harder in case there is a dog up here!" I told the girls. I would certainly want to save a canine friend most of all!!

We could not find any other gear or evidence of remains and eventually knew we were going to need to call off our search. Realistically, I also told myself that there was no vehicle at the trailhead, which would not make sense if there was a body up here somewhere. How did they get up here?? So I could not reconcile that in my head. Did someone just really lose that much gear?? "Amateurs" I whispered into the dark coldness surrounding us. I wasn't quite sure if I was happy or sad that I didn't find a body....which gave me all new things to contemplate about myself on the hike out.

It was about this time that I realized I was very thirsty. Stupid thirsty. I couldn't remember the last time I had even had a drink if at all for the whole day. I took a deep pull on my water line and found it frozen solid. I sighed in defeat. I needed water. I had an emergency water filter in my pack, and figured we could climb back down to the river to fill that bottle.....but with the temperatures, it wouldn't take long for that expensive filter to freeze and then be ruined. I knew I wouldn't die of dehydration if I couldn't get a drink until we returned to the truck. There was a big thermos full of hot chocolate waiting for me there. So we hiked out with my mouth feeling like I was swallowing cotton. Better than being dead I figured. However, with a tiny shred of hope that it was just my line that was frozen and not the entire two liter bag on my back, I pulled and stuffed the entire line down my shirt, wrapping it inside my sports bra. While that was wicked cold for the girls to endure, my hope grew that I could thaw the line out.

My spikes continued to keep us secure on the surface of the icy trail for the climb back down the trail. It was all descent now, switch-backing down through the forest. We enjoyed the complete solitude and crunch of ice beneath us as we moved silently, drawn to heat, cocoa and snacks awaiting. After about a mile, I pulled the water line out of my shirt and found it thawed enough to have a very icy cold drink. Incredibly refreshing I must say!

I may not have found a body, but we found the joy and peace of a half frozen waterfall. I may not have saved a doggie left on the trail, but we found the adventure of searching and trying to piece together a fun mystery. If you truly want adventure, you have to leave the comfortable behind you and be ready for whatever is thrown at you in the moment. Be flexible, be ready, be determined. The two best things of all....I didn't think about work once while on this mystery hike and I came up with the idea to hike with catnip in cougar country to see if I can test a theory. Cats are cats...right?? I want to push an encounter with my big feline friends of the forest. Is it really wrong to want to pet a mountain lion I ask?? Unlike last time, I am not going to scream in his face, no matter what his ears are doing. I am practicing our next encounter already. Oh, we are going to have so much fun this year!!!

Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest".

Joshua 1:9