Before we headed out to Maui, I was able to spend a few days in San Diego with Courtney. I truly love this city. She lives in Pacific Beach, which is possibly the best place for young people I've ever been to. Ride your beach cruiser down to the water along the beach and you'll come across a nice handful of lax bars and restaurants.
Courtney had heard about a spot called Tar Creek a few hours away where we could go cliff jumping, and was apparently the best place to do so in Southern California. We though it would be a great way to spend the day; take a road trip, go hiking and finish off the day by cooling down in the pools of a mountain. Sounds like a sweet day right? Well our actual experience was quite different.
It took us about 4 hours to get to the town of Fillmore, then another 20 minutes to drive up the mountainside to a small parking lot. There are no signs anywhere to direct you where to go, so we started on a trail hoping it would be the right choice. We looked up Tar Creek on the internet and from the reviews we read it was only about a half mile walk to get to the pools, which we figured would only take maybe 10 minutes, piece of cake. After about a mile and a half I start to question whether we're on the right path at all. It is blazing hot, and I'm starting to chafe. At one point we come to a pass with 3 different paths and we have no idea where to go or if we're even in the right area for that matter, so we decide to turn around.
On the way back we miraculously pass a group of young guys who knew exactly where to go and told us to follow them. They said it wasn't too much farther from where we turned around so we figured we came all this way we better go. If only we knew what was really in store. The path took us down in the valley and straight into the depths of hell. We climbed and jumped down rocks the whole way, which pounded our knees and backs the whole way, did I mention I had a 20 pound backpack with a tripod on?
After another 45 minutes we finally reached the first pool inhabited by water snakes, turtles, and surrounded by 20'-25' rocks. Courtney took the first jump while I set up my tripod to snap a few pictures, then I soon followed. A quick exhilaration followed by a full body shiver. We both jumped a few more times before we packed up and followed the guys to the second pool that they said was just another 5 minutes away. Lies. It was at least another 15 minutes of sliding over sharp rocks down the canyon to get there. When we arrived there we were greeted by a 100'-120' drop down into a miniscule pool below, and though I love a great thrill more than the next person, that was a death sentence.
The guys tried to convince us to carry on to the 3rd pool but we wouldn't be swayed this time. We turned around and headed back for the car. The trek back up this mountain was one of the most grueling tasks I think we both have ever been faced with. First we ran out of water, and with the sun still beating down strong at our backs it wasn't long until we became severely dehydrated. The next 2 hours was scaling boulders, trying to avoid worse chafing, and getting out of satan's ass crack before the sun set. At one point we lost the trail, and almost lost our will to live with it. I thought that was the end for me. By some will of God or just pure survival mode we both made it out of that forsaken crevasse and floored it to the closest gas station to chug 4 Gatorade bottles.
I rue the day I walked into the mountain trail.
We arrived in Maui very late last night and crawled into our new apartment, threw on the AC and climbed into bed. We're on the northshore in a small town called Paia; it's adorable with plenty of little shops and restaurants to keep us entertained for a while. But more on that later.
No comments:
Post a Comment