Some of you may remember that Morgan and I really wanted to hike back into Saint Louis Canyon in Starved Rock State Park this winter to see the frozen waterfall. It was one of our big goals for hiking this year. We'd planned to go on New Year's Day, but Mom and Dad were both sick, so we went on Sunday instead.
I have to say that we chose our timing perfectly. We had our third snowiest December in history here. We've had more than seventeen inches of snow total for the month. Then, on Thursday and Friday it warmed up. As a matter of fact, Friday it was almost sixty degrees and we had crazy thunderstorms, although we were spared the tornados that they had to the South of us. All that rain washed the snow right away. Then on Saturday and Sunday, it got cold and freezing again.
Hiking through the canyon was more treacherous than usual. Lots of places were solid ice. Combine that with a cliff off to the side and it did make us proceed with quite a bit of caution. As a matter of fact, Dad even fell once. Sorry, no photos of that this time, but one of these days soon, I'll get one.
We were surprised that lots of people decided to hike down the canyon with dogs. We saw more dogs there than I think we ever have before. It was pretty cool to see so many people enjoying nature with their pups in the New Year. Morgan would like it to be known that she was the only dog on the trails with no coat on.
After we hiked and skated our way down the trail, we finally got to the waterfall. Let me tell you, it was worth all that slipping and sliding! I am so glad we made it down there. It was like seeing something from a magical realm.
We even shot a short movie so you could hear what it sounds like as the water falls down the ice. It's still hard to believe that any sort of violence could happen in such a pristine place. We really felt like it was a good sign that 2011 will bring all sorts of wonderful and magical experiences.
Dad was so impressed that he thought about taking off work on Monday and going back. It was just that cool, no pun intended! So, who else is accomplishing their goals for the new year?
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