Had very little rest last night. Y3 and Earth partied till late and the door slams from the others who got up early to head out kept waking me up. Oh yeah, the chilly wind coming in from the only window in the room that won't shut also made it difficult to sleep during the night
I finally got up made myself a cup of oatmeal and ordered noodles with cabbage. The noodles were soggy and gross, very gross. I knew it would be the only meal I would have for the day trip so I ate it. It took me a long time to eat it because it was so gross.
I was encouraged to go to Ice Lake with everyone else. But I learned that to go to Ice Lake it is easy to get lost on my own and that I better to go on horse back because there are guides and the trails are rough. So I ended up picking the easier path of Sacred Waterfall.
I got directions from people, they all told me to, "follow the river". Yes those were the directions and I did. No one told me to cross the river, so I didn't. I kept walking along the river except there were no trails. I had to hop over this, swing over that, duck under, roll over logs until I couldn’t anymore. I heard voices from above and decided to cross the river to the other side and climb up where I heard the voices. Ah,… yes, a trail.
I passed by another station of horses and asked the guides which way, they all said, “take the trail path”. I continued on this trail and I kept going. I would stop for water and admiration of the view of the mountains that lead to the Sacred Falls. I kept wondering how was I suppose to get to the falls were? I realized I had to cross the river even though I was not instructed to. The path kept leading me further away from the river and the Sacred Falls. I kept going, staying on the path until 4 hours later, the path was now a run down path and appeared as if it hasn’t been traveled on for months.
I realized I should have been to the Sacred Waterfalls and back with the amount of time I spent already. I had to admit to myself that I was lost. I was avoiding the whole getting lost thing today but I managed it anyways. After all that enthusiasm and adventure, it was destination unreached, I was a bit disappointed. I comforted myself with, “there’s a good reason for this, I just don’t recognize it that’s all.”
I found a lovely spot to view the mountain scenery again and tried to retrace the steps in my head on how I could have missed the crossing of the river. I said to the Sacred Waterfall that I wasn't going to make it today. I would like to ceremonially do my circumambulating here and 3 half bows as if I was at the Sacred Falls. I aborted my mission and headed back.
As I was heading back, I noticed in the mountains the clouds were building thick and that there rain in the mountains. It was then that I realized, if I had not been lost, I would have found myself in cold rain and getting ill. Glad I was lost.
Everyone laughed at how I got lost on the only trail to the falls. I didn't mind. I really enjoyed the journey and was glad I was not in the cold icy rain. Having been lost, I got to see beautiful sceneries from the other side, it was magnificent.
