finally found it

[piranha]

ammonite falls third try was the charm. and what a beautiful waterfall it is. that's the highest in our area, 24m (79ft). i had to take the picture in three sections and then piece them together. maybe next time i remember to lock the exposure when i do that, but in the meantime photoshop is my friend. map and trip report are here. well, more of a "how to get there" to help people find it. for the rest i'll only say "oy. 'twas steep".

ok, maybe i'll say a little more. because i am proud of myself. especially because of the steepness. i only wimped out at the very end -- to get to the bottom of the falls one has to go down a muddy slope of approximately 60° -- there are knotted ropes, but they looked flimsy to me, and anyway, who knows how long they've been there and how much weight they can take. i wasn't gonna do that without somebody else there in case something happens -- it's not exactly a busy spot. but for the rest of the steepnesses i did damn well, i didn't give up even though i had to walk backwards on all fours several times.

i continue to have fun with my GPS toy. it's making it much easier to find my way around than just a compass. i like making loops -- yeah, it was nice to finally find the falls, but i didn't want to walk back out the same way i came. so i picked another path and kept checking that it would get me in the generally right direction. unfortunately, while it did that, i ended up in an area with active logging and couldn't go through there to return to the truck. i had to walk way back down into civilization, and then back up around. which is why the trip ended up to be 10 km instead of 5.

now that i know exactly where the falls are, i'll be able to come at them from the other side, which is more fun to walk because it has a gazillion little paths used by mountain bikers. also want to do it from andres road and the quarry on a weekend; that's probably the fastest (because least steep) way in, but can't do it during the week because the quarry doesn't like trespassers.

Comments

[ebourland.livejournal.com]

Really nice.

[lorres.livejournal.com]

The falls look like they're nice and noisy. I haven't looked at the GPS toys at all and am glad you like yours.

I think I'd be tempted to upload the GPS data into a GIS and play with maps of where I'd been. Hm....might have to go see how much they cost...

GPS maps

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what you do with the Forerunner. I reviewed it here (http://aquaeri.livejournal.com/39206.html).

Re: finally found it

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Wow, looks like it was worth the effort!

[pameladean]

Scrolling down to get the whole thing on my screen was awesome.

P.

[platonios.livejournal.com]

The picture is awesome and captivating and you're right to be proud of yourself and I'm proud of you too!
From your description it sounded really adventurous and I'm happy to note you're taking precautions for your safety...

Which reminds me my plans for me and wilderness got canceled! :(
My dad had invited me to pay a visit to nature one of these days...it's a family bonding tradition of ours which I enjoy very much...but he called back to postpone it since he fears of snakes...it's the time of the year they're waking up from hibernation and as the weather isn't warm enough they're sluggish to move. So in the unlucky case scenario that they'll happen to be upon your path, instead of choosing to run away they most likely will prefer to attack. So I'll wait for next week!

Umm, what wildlife of the dangerous kind do you have there?

wildlife of a dangerous kind

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

let's see -- black bears and cougars. i've never actually encountered a cougar, but i've seen plenty of black bears.

we have only one poisonous snake, the northern pacific rattlesnake. i've seen one once, but not on the island; they prefer warmer, drier climate than what we have around here.

we have three poisonous spider: the black widow, brown recluse, and hobo spiders. i haven't seen either here.

overall, this is a very safe place to live. humans are by far the most dangerous species.

your trip with your dad sounds fun! hope it happens soon.

waterfalls: found

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

This is all so cool. I particularly like that you're using features of the forerunner I don't use :-). (I'm guessing the heart rate alarm is the big one I use you won't need so much?)

Re: waterfalls: found

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

yeah, don't use that. i don't use any training stuff at this point, i just collect that data and later look at how my heartrate did compared to my speed and the elevation. i have too much fun with the GPS stuff to be disciplined about keeping my heart rate in any kind of zone. i have oodles of trails left to map! :)

i expect that once the newness of the mapping wears off i will start using some of those things, especially on the standard walks around the house.

it's totally typical of me to do this -- when i played various dungeon type games i was always more interested in mapping the dungeon than in fighting monsters and acquiring loot. :)

forerunner

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I think it's great - that you can use it in several different ways, and thus keep it a cool toy for longer.

And I like the dungeon mapping aspects too - I'm the one who wants to overlay a year's worth of trips so I can identify the closest road I haven't been down, remember? :-)