Listening: Colour Revolt
Drinking: Blackberry/Mate Tea
Thinking: How I'm going to pay my bills, What I'm going to eat
Feeling: Sore from yesterday's adventure
Wishing: I had more work/money
Praying: For people I have on my mind
Hoping: For a change to happen soon
Yesterday, Josh and I packed our lunches, stuffed them in a cooler and headed east. Roughly 1.5 hours away, Burgess Falls awaited. We arrived at 1pm with the sun high in the sky. We ate our lunches (blueberries, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, peanut butter sandwiches and water) then set off for our adventure. Not 10 feet into the trails a lady informs us that there is a copperhead snake under a rock in close proximity. I am deathly afraid of snakes. So naturally, my excitement for the trails was quickly smashed into bits upon hearing about the poisonous snake, chillin out under a nearby rock. We roughed through it (me praying the whole way) and managed to get through the day without a single snake in sight.
Burgess Falls has some beautiful scenery. God, is truly THE artist above all artists. The waterfalls where quite something to behold. We have video footage, as well as photos I will post later. The rough power of the falls crashing down on the rocks is something that definitely puts your thinking in perspective. You are so tiny and powerless. It's good to be reminded of that sometimes.
When we finally got to the biggest waterfall (I believe it was approx. 185 feet) we saw a group of 3 guys at the bottom in the water. They were starting to climb up the waterfall. We watched them from a cliff and said to ourselves; "This is not going to end well." These kids kept trying to climb higher and higher, flirting with disaster. Once one of the guys reached a platform, roughly 75 feet or so up the waterfall, a buddy tried to get up there as well. We could just feel it in our bodies...this kid is going to fall. We were recording them climbing for a bit and not 30 seconds after I decided to turn off the camera...it happened.
We watched this kid slip and drop about 10 feet, smacking onto another rock platform then had the rushing waters push him over the edge to a much longer drop, smashing his body like a rag doll onto the lowest rock surface. It had to have been at least a 65 foot drop, total. From there he rolled into the water...then, the blood came. We couldn't believe what we had just witnessed. We tried to call 911 but had no service in the canyons. Josh ran down the path to the bottom of the cliff to help. I had to run approximately 1.5-2 miles (mostly uphill) to the parking lot to find someone who could help. Long story short, 20 rescue personnel, 15 vehicles, and 1 helicopter later...he was taken up the cliff trails on a stretcher to be flown to the hospital.
From what we could tell, his jaw was completely broken, he lost a lot of teeth, split open his knee, cut open under his jaw, lost a lot of blood. He also possibly has a head injury and I'm sure some more broken bones.
That, is a day I will never forgot.
I hope the kid is alright. Some people just think they are invincible. Nothing is going to happen to them. They have it under control. Yesterday was a harsh reminder for one kid. We are not in control.
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