So, I collect photos of waterfalls. It’s kinda my thing. So when a park employee told me about a waterfall in Governor Dodge State Park, I was determined to find it. I knew that there were 2 waterfalls in my “Waterfalls of Wisconsin” book, but only one was on the park map.
“You just leave the trail at this one point, then walk up the stream less than a 1/2 mile and it’ll be there.” Hey, that sounds like a really fun walk with my kids. So, we took off, and immediately discovered that you have to walk *IN* the stream, not up the stream…. And right away, Sarah and Cynthia were out; Sarah was getting eaten alive by bugs and Cynthia had on new shoes.
So, we hiked and the creek was not really easy at all – lots of logs to climb over, very muddy spots where you would get sucked in and almost lose your shoe, branches that would scratch you, and just generally not an easy hike. But Elsie and Molly were troopers – they soldiered on for about a half mile before we reached a downed tree that it would have been VERY difficult to get past. And we told Sarah that we would be back to have her pick us up at 6:45pm – we hadn’t had supper yet.
We turned back. I was bummed out, but maybe I could go ask the park employee? The girls had had enough walking and it was time to eat…
As we got near the real trail, I saw a small branch creek – barely more than a trickle…. But…
I told the girls to tell Sarah “come get me at 7:20”. That meant 15 minutes to sprint up that creek, 5 minutes for a photo, and 15 minutes to sprint back. Well, that’s not quite how it went.
I sprinted up the creek, only there were several major obstacles – a huge fallen tree maybe 3ft around, a boulder the size of a large SUV that the stream flowed under, and a 25ft culvert that it flowed through forcing me to walk through grass and thorns to get back to the stream. It was a nice run, but I could see that the sides of the cliff were getting closer indicating that I was reaching the end of the valley. And sure enough – there it was – a nearly dry waterfall, but oh so beautiful!
I took enough photos to make sure that I had a great capture, and turned around…. It was 7pm, so I had 20 minutes to get back to the parking lot. So I started hustling, I figured Sarah would be annoyed with me, but I couldn’t resist that waterfall. I was booking it, and I was taking a video too of the path to get there. My tripod was in one hand, the iPhone in the other, and then my Nikon on my shoulder.
As I ran through the woods, dusk was just around the corner, and I was just ducking under and hopping over everything. As I got about halfway back, running through the creek, I ducked under a branch and a smaller branch grabbed the tiny frame of my glasses and threw them off of my face.
I’m definitely not blind, but without my glasses I can’t see very far at all; less than 2-3 feet with any clarity. And I was in a bush area and my glasses and frames are thin and tiny. Add to that the fact that it was getting dark…
I grabbed my phone took as many photos of the surrounding area, and then walked back. Sarah met me at the start of the trail, and only then did we realize that I had ripped the whole of the back of my shorts. So here I was, underwear hanging out, covered in mud, walking slowly because I did not have my very expensive glasses. Sarah was concerned and patient, despite having every reason to be very upset with my recklessness.
Most of the evening was filled with “Dad, can you … oh, yeah, nevermind” and “Dad, can you see those stars? Oh, sorry.”
I got my photo of the second waterfall, but I had potentially put my wife and family in a situation where she would have to drive with the trailer for the first time, and I couldn’t help much at all with packing, cooking, hiking; and I’d potentially need to replace my expensive glasses. Nevermind, that Molly, Elsie and I had each ruined a pair of shoes, socks and I’d ruined my shorts.
….
The next morning, Molly and Elsie dejectedly started traipsing back up the stream to find my glasses. We got to the location, and I said, “they’re probably somewhere…” and Elsie interrupted “I found them!” They were hanging about 3 inches off the water on a branch maybe 6 feet in front of where I was standing when they flew off my face.
….
When we got back to the house at the end of camping, I consulted my “Waterfalls of Wisconsin” book, and found out that the infamous waterfall was not in the book. So, now I needed to go back and take a photo of the actual second waterfall!