So we hiked and hiked some more and it was really nice, I rather liked that part of the hike because it was pretty, and calming, but it really wasn't far before we hit the shock of our lives. We could hear Norm and Joe hollering ahead of us but we had stopped to change our shoes (refer to last page) so we took our time. When we finally got to them, this is where we found them.
They looked fairly casual here but they kept telling us that the water was cold. Well Norm has poor circulation and Joe will do anything to get a reaction so we kind of figured that they were just making it sound worse than it really was...well
I was the first of the girls to get in the water...Joe graciously carried my pac across for me and I plugged my nose and plunged into the unknown. IT WAS FLIPPIN' FREEZING! To describe the way it felt, I once lived in the high mountains of northern Montana (around Fortine and Calispell) and I remember a couple of times, we broke the ice ontop of the creek so that we could wash our hair in the water. Next to that, this was the coldest water I have ever been in. The minute your body hits it all of your vital organs shut down for the briefest beat its almost like a tiny taste of death. As it rushes over your head you feel intense pain and complete numbness at the same time and its hard to breath. WHAT A RUSH! I absolutely LOVED it!
After regaining my composure and hollering incredibly loud, I took Cherri's packs in hand and swam them across for her so that they could stay dry...that became a futile effort very soon.
I don't know how well you can see it on the computer, but I must say, in this picture Cherri's face is really an incredibly good depictment of how we all felt when we hit the water for the first time.
And I KNOW you can't see Eric's expression in this picture but it was indeed a classic. He was the last to jump in the water but one thing this picture CAN show you, is just how dark it really is at this pool. The other pictures were taken with a flash but down in this narrow canyon with the sun still on the western sky, the water was bone chilling and butt numbing!
~Cherri, Joe and I continued to play in this freezing pool for some time reguardless for a couple of reasons, for one we are all extremists and for another the refreshing rush of the cold water felt better than you can imagine...we didn't want to get out. But then we heard everyone hollering again from just around the corner...
