Chapter 16.5 - The Christmas Day Scout

On Christmas day, two adventurers set out to scout the route for chapter 17 of ch8sing waterfalls, which would happen on the first day of 2019. Dynamic Deb and Awesome AyJay is the craziest scout combination ever. We venture into the unusual spaces, the somewhat complicated places, in order to afford the best ch8se experience for the ch8sers of waterfalls.

We have scouted a few locations together. We have funtastic experiences, laughter and the hundreds of miles to prove it. Oh the wonderful places we have scouted.

Christmas morning we decided to ditch tradition, and I may have started one of my own. We headed out to Cochran Mills Park in Palmetto, GA, on what was a pretty cold day. AyJay had been to this park before, so she took the lead.

This is how we jumpstarted our scout. AyJay brought us some good, good. She made us some homemade goodness to ward off any possibilities of getting sick. The perfect morning toast. You see once before, despite having a cold, and not feeling well, she insisted on scouting. Needless to say, after a three hour roundtrip ride, I took her cold home with me. This time she wanted to make sure there were no germie hitch hikers.

It worked.

The weather didn't stop these adventurers. Off we went, ch8singwaterfalls. We explored every trail, every off trail, every off, off, trail, and every nook and cranny we could find. We had the best morning venturing off into the unknown. Part of it was familiar for her, none familiar to me, some we just took a chance and allowed our inner Dora the explorer to take charge.

At one point the tree whisperer received her calling and left her mark. It was the perfect tree in the perfect place, that could not be passed by. She left a smile.

Perfect, right?

It was an irresistible moment.

The scout led us to one of two waterfalls. This fall had a landing that was easy for us to walk out onto, and of course we did. The first waterfall was sort of the half way mark, and the perfect spot to stop and catch our breath, take pictures, and endless selfies. The scout afforded us the opportunity to explore controversial topics. We shared great conversation, we learned a lot along the way, at least I did.

After leaving our mark at the first waterfall, we ventured on to the next. It was here that Dora 1 and Dora 2 took charge and the exploration elevated. While approaching the fall, yet another tree called her out, and it was here that you know it, the climb ensued.

I can not explain the belly aching laughter in that moment. She is crazy in a good way.

Down from the tree, the foolery continued. On the way to the fall, somebody remembered seeing a man climb to the top of the waterfall. Out come the Dora's.

Uncertain of where we were headed, or how challenging it would be to get there, we struck out to discover the unknown. We found a trail to the side of the waterfall that we followed to the very top of the fall, to the place where the calm was simply amazing. We paused and took it all in, and captured some spectacular pics and selfies. To ch8se the falls is one thing, however, to be in the fall or on top of it, is something even more special. This was a really great discovery.

Not only did we walk along side of the waterfall, and to the top of the waterfall, the venture took us to the other side of the waterfalls, to a calm body of water which clearly fed the fall. If one had never seen the waterfall, and entered from this side of the park, the calm and quiet would have never revealed the fall. This side of the park was as peaceful as the rest of the park, except it was the source of the waterfall. Amazing.

It was here we discovered the geocaching jar, and adopted the idea and its concept for future ch8ses. Go on, Google geocaching, and know that what you discover is an idea of an environmentally friendly scavenger hunt. Though ours will be similar, we will not align ourselves within the geocaching app, at least I don't think so. Take a look at our geoch8sing tab above for more details.

Our geocaching find.

The explorers finished the ch8se with some great selfies, and pics, carefully using the ten second timer on my cell. I have got to order a remote control for my phone. There were a few tricky spots trying to get in position after starting the timer that almost left me with a completely different story.

After returning to our vehicles, we decided to see what was on the other side of the park. It was here that we took the bike trail and encountered quite a few dirt bikers. We found an intentional downed tree, unlike a much larger one near the top of the fall that one of us wanted to scoot across, and the other said no. This tree was much lower, and had no big boulders beneath it. In other words it appeared to be a much safer tree to cross, be it a scoot or a slow walk.

The Christmas day scout was epic, and this narration may not thoroughly express it as such. But it was everything awesome. We learned a new area, and gathered ample details to collectively lead a successful ch8se on new years day, 2019.

We chatted with a guy using a metal detector to find hidden treasures. We met a local photographer who gave us names of waterfalls in the area that would be great for us to visit. We met Bailey and Bama, two professional polo horses, and overall enjoyed a great morning.

Ch8singwaterfalls is contagious, we hope you catch it soon.

Until we ch8se again, peace, light & waterfalls.

Deborah McGlawn

p.s.....often I reference "we" I learned a little while ago, that I'm never alone, nor will I ever be. I told the Ch8singwaterfalls story in the beginning of this website. If you have read "In the beginning," then you know, we is my angel and I. We are ch8singwaterfalls, now and forever.