Unabashed

I believe I have found an evil place. Yes, I have accounted for the fact that I very nearly died in the canyon of Falling Rock, and that I did so in a way that was teasing (even to myself), but in all seriousness, this place is full of bad mojo. But if you look at the picture below you might think, “How can a place so beautiful be bad?” I can’t tell you that, but it is. Maybe my perceptions will change; I hope they do, but for now, I’m treating this place like it’s got it in for me.

Falling Rock is a beautiful overhang over which water cascades down nearly a hundred feet. Behind the waterfall there is a deep gorge beneath the overhang into which you can explore.

On the day I went Geocaching there (Friday), I found that there was no waterfall due to dry conditions in the area. And furthermore, I can only account for my own scrambled sense of being while I was there. I felt wrong. I felt in a daze, though it was early morning and I’d had breakfast, plenty of fluids and a healthy 1.5 mile hike out to the spot, for whatever reason, my mind was muddled. Once I found the first cache, which is up at the top of the canyon, I punched in the GPS coordinates for the second one, determined that it was down in the bottom of the canyon, and maneuvered down the trail to a place where I could climb down. It was about a sixty foot climb, and my footing was good, although I did begin to feel a twitch in my left knee on the way down, I didn’t think that much about it.

In the bottom of the canyon, looking up at that overhanging cliff (see picture below, courtesy of remy fauxtog), the realization came to me that the rounded cliff looked like an upper lip of an open mouth, and the recession beneath the cliff head looked like a throat. I hiked away from the cliff, down the now-stagnant creek, searching for the Geocache, when I took my double fall that ended my day (as I described in my previous post). I climbed back up out of the canyon following the same path I’d come down, but my left knee was throbbing now instead of just twitching, and my right elbow looked like someone had taped a golf ball to it and sprayed it with ketchup and dirt.

I’ve made many and many hikes in my day. I’ve gone into wilderness without trails, just to see what was there. I’ve waded through stagnant, cottonmouth-infested pools of swampy marsh and worse. I’ve encountered wildlife. I’ve fallen, gotten back up and kept going. I’ve been a lot of places and seen a lot of things. I’ve ridden horseback through the Carmel Mountains in Israel, along ridges a foot wide edging over a precipice five hundred foot sheer. But I don’t think I’ve ever experienced the gloom of a place like Falling Rock. I know that people have died there. My wife grew up in a city nearby and remembers friends from school who got too close to the edge and plummeted to their doom. But the uncanny silence of the place, the appearance of the open mouth of Earth, waiting to inhale and suck you down into its depths, makes me believe that this might always have been a Bad Place. And I believe there are places in the world that are good, and there are some that are bad. Indians had their holy places, where they would go to commune with the gods, where they would bury their honored dead. I do not believe any Indians were ever buried at Falling Rock, though I believe some might have died there. It is a place of ethereal beauty, but filled with haunting gloom. If I ever go back again, I do not think I will go alone.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: evil, haunted places, mojo, scary, wicked, wild, wilderness

Here’s what we know so far: The deceased–a Mr. Matt Mitchell (or at least his pride)–was hiking in a remote area known as “Falling Rock.” From evidence we acquired from his person, including maps, a GPS unit, and various other items, we’ve ascertained that he was searching the area for what are known as “Geocaches.” In the course of our investigation, we backtracked Mr. Mitchell’s steps and located one Geocache that he himself had located, opened and signed. He then replaced the Geocache in its hidden location and moved on to search for another one, this one at the bottom of the canyon. Mr. Mitchell descended into the canyon and, following the coordinates as entered into his GPS, was searching for the second Geocache, hiking delicately through an area infested with poison oak, when he suffered a fall and tumbled back down the hill. We believe he may have screamed “Oh no!!” as he slipped, and we believe his feet were pointed straight up at the heavens before he crashed down upon his elbow (we are also of the opinion that, if there had been anyone to witness the event, it would have been quite comical to see). Fearing exposure to the poison ivy, we believe Mr. Mitchell scrambled to his feet, only to slip again and go sprawling down the remainder of the hillside into the ravine–a tumble total of about forty feet, although his descent was cushioned by a slippery, leafy ground covering and a dense patch of poison oak. We do believe he screamed “Oh no!!” again upon slipping for the second time. We believe he abandoned his search at that point, having injured his left knee and right elbow–the elbow was quite swollen and bloody–and fearing that a large portion of his arms and face had been exposed to poison oak. Deciding that he had a one point five mile hike back to his waiting vehicle, he proceeded to climb back out of the canyon, whereupon he abandoned his pride and his man card to suffer humility for the rest of his days. He proceeded to the emergency room, where he was found to have suffered a shattered ego along with deep bruising of the knee and elbow, some superficial scrapes and cuts, but no broken bones. The poison oak exposure would not make itself apparent, if in fact he was exposed, for another 48 to 72 hours. Mr. Mitchell (and his pride) are now recuperating at his home in Montevallo, Alabama, taking steady doses of Ibuprofen and nervously studying every itch he feels on his arms or face. He is considering a return trip to the canyon of Falling Rock to see if his pride is still there and can be recovered.

The wound, 60+ hours after the fall (still rash free!!):

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Alabama, canyon, fall, falling rock, falls, Geocaching