Back with a camera
Mood:  special
Now Playing: the old main drag
Topic: Ma Nature
Took the camera today, and explored off path a lot. It is surprising how it can take you an hour going in, then you realize you need to go back and it only takes you 10 minutes to go back efficiently. We found a quarry we didn't see yesterday, climbed a ridge in the woods that runs s-n, which means if it is glacial, it is more likely an esker than a moraine. Its quite steep and pointy, so I imagine that it might be earthworks like the serpent mound, or something like a mayan building covered over with trees and leaves. imagine!

We are lucky to take this walk now, between the snow cover and the leaf cover- everything is open and you can go investigate large rocks you might partially see off the path. This is how we found a new quarried stone. I also noticed - now that Jeanne showed me what to look for- drill holes on other stones that we had not noticed before. I went back to take pictures.

One thing you notice in the forest is how goddamned noisy you are, crashing around, snapping twigs and tripping yourself. I saw not a single squirrel. Its a quiet wood that I think sees few people. A real joy, peaceful and alone. Rei was very happy and would leap logs, lean into turns and race back to me. She trotted ahead, and followed me off path, circling around and meeting me and circling around and meeting me. She is strong and fast and sure footed and when I remember Reilly later in her life, I can sort of tell now that this is the highlight reel I will play to remember her young.

We climbed the ridge- it is interrupted in two places, one where the mendon road goes through and one where the brook goes through. This brook comes down jumbled boulders and forms little pools and falls over fallen trees. Rei waded and drank and we hopped rocks to explore the far side.We followed it down to the forbidden land, marked by a particular stone wall in the woods. Stone walls are all through these woods- once upon a time nearly all of New England was bare of trees for farming and logging- there is very little old growth remaining. Consequently the stone walls marked boudaries of property and fields and with all the farmers long since gone to places like Ohio, the land was left to run wild again and all the old pastures and orchards are the forests Rei and I are exploring today. Everyone left for Ohio because Ohio is not full of rocks like Massachusetts is, due to our glacial terminus history, and you can grow things much more easily there without busting up a plow and chucking rocks out of the way.

I am excited to walk here this weekend with Jeff and with Laura when she comes up, all before things get too leafy. It is cold- 30 degrees when we began our walk at 9am, 40 when we ended at 11- so we have not had any ticks. That fact keeps it fun.

At noon we went to the vets, where the microscope showed that Rei does NOT have ANY organisms in her ears. No yeast, no bacteria. That the brown stuff is scabbing and sloughing of irritated cells. We determined that her antihistamine is not preventing her ears from reacting- they are still reacting because of her allergies. But what is she allergic to? We are going to try to eliminate food as a source and will try an 8 week course of fish and potato dog food. It is a skin-beneficial recipe and has Omega 3 fatty acids to help improve her tissues. Since Reilly is not a complainer, I do not seem to catch her ear issues until she is quite advanced in them. I hope this works.

Noisy
Mood:  lucky
Topic: Ma Nature
Today is calm, rainy and no one is around. I am still very drained from an intense weekend of rather bad hockey, in which I played one really good game and a rather ordinary to bad one. I am happy to be home alone and hitting the RESET button.

Rei and I walked up at the golf course today- it is still too early for golf season. We avoided the Rawsen's backyard line where the pond is on the 7th hole and stuck to the construction site across the fairway. The mud is thick and deep and the trees are bare. The sky is slate grey and hung very low. very large stumps and twisted roots have been dragged into heaps from their rooted places where the homes were built. There are huge rusty trucks, wheels and attachments for trucks on the open hill and piles of gravel and topsoil. It makes for interesting stomping.

Rei and I - or more accurately *I*- scared up two whitetails among the high ridges of dirt on the edge of the last stand of trees between the 3rd fairway and the 5th. They flicked off into the trees very quickly and even though I showed Rei the tracks and she leaped off on their trail, it was far too late when we got to the spot we saw them and we never caught them up. Still Rei was excited and ran through the woods, jumping logs and hurling through brush. I don't know if dogs can pretend, but she seemed to be having a great deal of fun flying through the thickets, even though the deer were gone. She came back and sat as if to say, "Did you see me? Wasn't I just FLYIN' through that brush?" I asked for her paw and gave her a tiny cookie.

We went around the 3rd and 4th, whch border the Last Stand and we looked hard into it and tried to walk quietly, but we did not see the deer again. On the 5th, we kept to the edge of the Stand, but here it was former cornfield and is now weedy, so we crossed into it and walked around. The birds were very loud in the trees. Robins, and loud birds I don't know by their call. Rei checked some holes for rodents and snakes, and climbed on top of a four foot pile of mulch to sniff and place a mark. We saw bluebirds here a week or so ago, but in two return trips I have not seen them again. Back by the trucks again we saw three kildeer- shorebirds that come inland to scurry around baseball fields saying PEEEEEEE! A particularly large dumptruck came on the muddy road so I called to Rei with a quick "Hey, REI." and she hopped over to me from behind a section of four foot-ish corrugated pipe, I gave her a liver treat and we leashed up and returned home.

We met Izzy (a yorkie) on the way home. She calls to us when we walk by her house, and she can't come out. Sometimes she gets her owners to let her out to see us. She is very small and has a short, sensible haircut. She turns herself into a U shape so she can both face you and show you that she'd like it if you scratched her rump. She is a very cute dog with silvery-gold silky fur and is never a pest. She gives terriers a good name. Buster is the other terrier in our neighborhood, a Jack Russel, and he is also a good dog. Very much a confident terrier personality- happy go lucky and fearless but fearless about licking you, or about asking Reilly to dance. His best friend is a kitten. I don't know if I would be a proper terrier owner. I am good at Reilly.

I brought Reilly to meet the Sharks this weekend, she waited in the car while we played and hung out with us for beer afterward. Colby observed that Reilly loves adoration but not so much affection. I thought Rei represented herself well and was reasonably sociable. She wagged her tail in greeting and perked up to people who were eating anything. She met Xena, our friend's german shepherd, but Xena was very talkative about her stresses and did not seem particularly interested in Reilly that day. Xena wanted to get her owner's attention, perhaps to have a drink, and had a list of things to say. Xena is a good dog, too and in less busy circumstances they could have had fun just being dogs.

Lucky at Lunch
Mood:  lucky
Topic: Ma Nature
I had lunch with mom- Chicken salad spiral with sundried cranberries, lettuce and carrots- and returned home to find a large thick pine branch lying in the driveway right where I park the Scooby. Thankyou mom for inviting the car and I to lunch!

Had a fantastic brownie as well...mmm!

It is extremely windy here, 65mph wind warning. The rain came through and is gone so we have sunshine, blue skies and howling wind. It is also trash day, so the cans are rolling around the road and the lids will need to be tracked down. I am doing work - waiting for checks on 4 new Team ID projects!- and Reilly is doing this:

She loves that ball. I sewed it up for her after she unstuffed it to Kill Squeeky!! so it now resembles a bean more than a soccer ball.

For the record- Jeff says a second dog will NOT have to shake gold coins out of his ear for him to consider the idea. But it would require a lot of convincing. We'll talk.

I think if we might like to have 2 dogs, then we should think about it proactively instead of reactively: what would that process acceptably be like? Considering what we learned from the Kaylee Fiasco.

- researching breeds, choosing one, finding a breeder and waiting on a litter?
- wait for an appropriate time of year (such as june when Raye is home to help me all summer) and find a male baby pup at Sterling/ Salem?
- rescue a promising young male from a shelter with sufficient information and actual meet and greet?
- other?

problems with the way we got Kaylee
-Brought here sight unseen, could not meet Reilly before a decision was made, had to rely on the judgement and description of strangers
-had been in the shelter too long and thus developed behavioral issues that required intensive work not appropriate for a family with an existing dog and a child to handle
-adult female= worse odds with Rei

Rei loves Timber. He is our neighbors' puppy. When we go up the road when he is outside, she makes noises to him. We'd call it crying or whining, but she isn't SAD, she is excited and wants him to come over and play. Days ago, we had a quick play time with Timber on our way to school bus and she got real low and rolled down the snowbank on her side. He rolled with her. They got up and rolled again and lay on their bellies in the snow whuffling their snouts under the snowballs. Yes it WAS cute.

She met Buster, a JR Terrier who has no idea that he is only marginally bigger than a cat. He rears up and puts his chest against Reillys, and she opens her mouth to say Yaaaawwwww!, they bow, and she gets real low to put her head under him and catch his front legs. She knows how to play with the young and small or the small and mighty. When she plays with dogs her own size, she can go full force, and the body slams and tumbles and leaps she has in her matches with Hobie are the stuff WOWS are made of.

Thermometer
Mood:  cool
Topic: Ma Nature
It's a Thermometer Day- rain is misting and freezing, coating every tiny thing with ice on all sides. The field was crunchy and all the tufts of weeds gone by are coated in ice, like themometers with a thin tan mercury thread. My boots brush against the long grass and the ice shatters and kicks ahead of me like little beads and shards. Its damp and raw and dark. Rei hunts, and the mist forms droplets on her fur. We met McTavish and Duncan today, and the dogs ran around a little bit, but everything is crunchy for barefoot creatures and the mist gets soakey. It was a short hike today, now we are home. I am having hot mango tea in a well lit studio, dry and warm whiel Rei curls in her dog bed. She did not get a lot of exercise, so we'll have to play rough later- catch, tug, pouncing on the big ball. But first I'll get some music going and do a bit of work.

Scary weather
Mood:  special
Now Playing: winter weather- SqNuZi
Topic: Ma Nature
Our walk today was damp and raw. The snow heavy and rolling, slipping under the old boots, not deep enough for snowshoes at all. Lots of grass appearing again, and ice with puddles on it- you can't always tell if it's ice, ice w/ puddles, or slush. The warm (for December) air filled with mist from all the moisture and a light rain fell. The sky was light grey and became dark- like dusk, actually.

Rei and I went around the field with Hera, whom we also walked with yesterday. Hera is a 55 lb doberman pinscher, she is thin and light and springy. Yesterday we met Hera after Rei and I had done one pass (a rather circuitous one to linger long enough for friends to show up but not cause us to have to go to the manurey part of the field- we took a little-used path through the Nutty Forest, and doubled back to the high hills to hunt in the meadow there. She did not tally any kills.) and Rei had burnt off a lot of her top energy, while Hera was quite fresh. They ran well together but when it came to wrestling, Hera danced around Rei like an insect. Reilly, who seemed so light and lithe compared to Cleo just a week ago, now seemed like a big mastiff and Hera flitted in and out, fencing with Rei. She got a hold on Rei's mane and Rei had a tough time shaking her- she rolled her off, but Hera flicked away and they chased for a while.

Today the dogs explored and hunted but didn't play a great deal till we were coming back down the hill and met Hobey beginning her walk. She had her whole family with her, and the sky grew very black. The dogs really tore around now, the power in their legs and shoulders is amazing and beautiful to watch, their claws throwing up showers of snow and mud behind them. We walked on to the end where our cars were parked and behind the crunching of our feet on the snow and slush we thought we heard thunder? Hobey's family and Rei and I got into our cars to go leave, but Hera's owner said he wanted to make one more half-pass. Going out the fence we met Cody the Basset just arriving and I pointed him toward Hera so he could catch up and run with her.

Rei and I drove home- it's only 7 miles or so- but as we got into abotu the 3rd mile, mist became rain, and rain became hail. It WAS thunder we had heard, coming loud and hard now. In the 5th mile we saw flashes of lightning, and passing the baseball field a tremendous CRACK pounded the earth right beside the car and a white flash took up all my left eye could see for an instant. Rei leapt over the seats from the way-back of the station wagon and squeezed into the front seat with me. She put her long front legs in the feet area and coiled her backs on the seat, her chin on the dash. I kept driving steadily toward the town center and told her we were all right. The thunder rolled and a thinner flash broke again to our left but farther. Only a mile and half home. I remembered that books say you shouldn't reinforce fearful behavior by stroking and calming your dog, but damn! We were both scared with good reason, so I spoke to her gently but strongly and petted her ruff and back slowly. When you have to be the leader, you have no time to coddle yourself, which is good for each of us, actually.

More Dead Things
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Jesse's girl
Topic: Ma Nature
On our nightwalk last night, I went lightless due to there being an ample moon and sufficient light from the houses on the dirt road that there were few really dark patches. We went down the dirt road and were ambling back when Rei perked her head up and began to give chase. I held her backon leash because it is still icy. I could not see what she was seeing, but she saw something chaseable flee into the woods to our left. I walked her slowly over there and she put her head down and was sniffing something in the dark patch. As my eyes adjusted, I saw it wasn't a hunk of ice as it first looked like, but a rabbit. It was just about dead, limp and flexy, and possibly slightly moving- It was hard to tell in the dark and maybe in retelling I kindof want it to have been OPD already.

Rei sniffed it and mouthed it but did not shake it, she did not carry it, she did not crunch it. She just got information about it in the dog way of getting info. I wondered if it was fully dead, and if I WAS seeing it move slightly, slowly - was it?- then I would not have minded if she finished it off quickly. Although a memory of the snake she shook to death comes to mind and I don't want to see that spectacle again either. If it was repairable, well, I have the number for the wildlife clinic in my cell phone. It was certainly beyond salvage. Once again, neither Rei nor I was willing to deliver a killing blow to make sure. In the time we stood there thinking about the rabbit, it ceased all motion, real or imagined.

Rei would not have alerted and driven-to-chase like that over a dead rabbit, not for roadkill. She is interested in dead stuff, but in a milder way. Where did it come from? No cars had passed on the road since we had come this way, and in fact Rei had stopped to pee almost in the exact spot on the first pass, so I find it impossible that we would have missed it lying there. It was not mangled or flattened or bearing signs of injury consistent with impact of an auto or truck. It seemed quite intact and full bodied. I think that Rei must have seen the animal that killed it carrying it and her wanting to give chase scared the animal away, dropping its prize.

What animal would drop such a great prize in winter? A small one that figured it could escape Reilly better without a big rabbit in tow. But it'd have to be big enough to kill such a big rabbit in the first place- I have seen the tracks of a fisher in that woods (and the fisher itself, once) but those are tough animals and I don't know if one would surrender a fresh rabbit at the sight of a big dog. A fox? A cat could not have carried such a big rabbit. A coyote would have escaped with it... an owl? I feel like a dork of an observer to not have even seen the predator.

Going back today, the rabbit lies where I placed it, off the road. (yes, I picked it up by the back legs and gently lobbed it onto the snow on the other side of the old stone wall. yes, my gloves are being washed. I am kindof a sissy to not have felt it to see if it was warm or not- I want to know if it is warm, if it is soft, but my mother always told me not to touch dead things due to 'diseases'. ) I am a little bit surprised that in the hungry season, the animal has not come back for its rabbit prize yet. There are plenty of scavengers- crows, possums, etc. one of whom will be quite lucky to find this.

So back to Reilly. If the rabbit had been alive and running, she would have have loved nothing better than to chase it full out and grab it up and give it the shaking of a lifetime. But it was already down for the count, and the work was done.

Snowshoes
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Feast of Lights - TMBG
Topic: Ma Nature
A foot of snow is expected today. It started about 6 this morning and They say its going about and inch or two an hour. A different They cancelled Raye's school for the day.

[olde tyme townie] Back in my day they didn't cancel school unless the foot of snow was already ON the ground at bus time in the morning. In fact, I lived across the street (relatively) from Old Man Grew, the school superintendent who made the call about whether or not to cancel, and there was no such thing as hour delay or two hour delays like the young sprouts have today, it was School or No School, straight up. Our road is on top of a big hill, all the schools are at the bottom of the hill in the river valley, so its a tricky ride on twisty old country roads in the snow. One time we were coming home- back in the '70's- riding up Keith Hill on the rattletrap bus, windows fogged up, drawn on and fogged up again. We were going fine in low gear till we had to stop the bus and drop off Eric Tessier, the bus could not gain any purchase on the slippery ice and snow and in fact began to roll backward down the hill, which all of us K-6th graders noticed to our great alarm. I do not remember how we got going forward again, only the surprise of sliding backward down Keith hill Road. Going down the other side of the hill on Old Upton Road, things get quite twisty and on two occaisions in middle school when we naturally felt that Mr. Grew had NO right to send us to school in THIS kind of snow, our bus passed his car, tipped in the same ditch on the outside of the big curve past the goats on Old Upton Road. We felt that was justice served the first time, and a point not taken the second time. [/olde tyme townie]

Rei and I went snowshoeing this morning. No one was at the field. It was 25° but i became hot because I had my big fur hat and my neck gaiter on, and was working hard stomping around the hills of the field in the snow. Rei became coated with snow on her face, a mask- kindof a skull mask actually, since her eyes remained dark and her ears as well. Her back had a snowy cape. She did not mind.

I was delighted to strap on my snowshoes again- mine are small and don't have a ton of float- meaning they won't keep you on top of three feet of snow, but they make walking in the snow such a pleasure due to pressing down the snow in front of your toe so you dont have to drag through that, and the big teeth on the bottom which bite as you roll forward over the ball of your foot and curl your toes, so at no point does your foot slip backwards. Every step sticks. No step gained forward is lost by slipping, no muscle engaged with power will slip out and twang. I enjoy snowshoeing even more than skiiing as a way to enjoy the outdoors in winter.

It is also true that wearing snowshoes inspires my hike- even if they didn't provide the above advantages, it is just plain fun to wear them and makes me really want to go out, knowing I will get to wear my snowshoes. We had 4 inches of snow as of my stomp this morning, which isn't a huge amount (yet!)- I could have worn my boots alone, but why just wear boots when there's the remotest excuse to wear snowshoes too? This is what is great about being a grown up and being alone, I can wear my snowshoes without anybody saying NO, or there isn't enough snow, or don't bother me about that, I won't get them down for you, or we don't have enough time for that.

Mental note to self- don't just be A Mom, be Yourself BEING a mom. A Chrystal-version of a mom.

I went to the art store yesterday. We dont have one near here, so I go when I am in Boston, 45 minutes away on a good fast road. It was fun to touch materials, to wander the aisles look and touch and imagine what I'd do with this or that thing. I was there for Christmas card print supplies, paper and red ink, but in the printmaking aisle I found rubber fish for making fish prints (a japanese tradition with actual fish). You can get trout, bluegill, flounder, bass- all in rubber but cut in half lengthwise. This is very funny to me, and I considered buying a rubber fish to print, but then i decided I wanted to think about it further. I mean why would I want to print the same rubber fish I DIDN'T catch however may times?

Across that aisle I bought a thin sheet of basswood to cut and make block prints out of. I have decided that I dont mind hand-pressing a few block prints because you get such different things with grain than with flat linoleum. Next to the wood was carving tools and next to THAT was stone for carving. I want to learn stonecarving, not to specialize in it, but to try it and see if I enjoy it. But this was not the day. I need to know which tools are basic and - I am smart enough to remember that stonework is dusty and not an indoor winter activity. I left with my card supplies and two drawing boards with clips for me and Raye because we both like to draw NOT necessarily sitting upright in a chair at a table. I still like drawing while lying on my stomach on the floor. On forbidding outdoor days. With warm cocoa or tea and music playing, a cat on my back, or a dog snoozing by my side...

Trackin'
Mood:  cool
Topic: Ma Nature
We have deer tracks across our front yard, three trails. They cross from our neighbor's yard into ours and then turn and head around the fireplace side towrad the woods. I did not follow them last night because it was dark and cold and I walnted to walk Reilly and get the results we were looking for ASAP and go back inside. But I lingered a bit over the tracks and played my light across them, pointed them to Reilly, who stuffs her snout in each track and snorts it in. (its funny!) We followed those across the yard, then discovered some other tracks which I believe are our possum friend- a tail drags and S's between drunken footsteps. I think in the few inches of snow we have this track is more recognizable than if it were 7 inches of snow, and it leads to our big spruce tree. I think our Possumy pal might be wintering in our tree. It is central to the locations we have met him over the past week, so it could be...

Playing Possum
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: Graceland
Topic: Ma Nature
Taking Rei out for her post-supper walk we came upon an opossum, curled up with its mouth slightly open, showing all its pointy prehistoric little teeth. Its beady black eyes were open, unblinking, its ears did not so much as twitch when Reilly sniffed it. It did not move at all. Its body was twisted kindof funny- back end upright and front end on its side. I could see its pink feet and its long smooth tail. She did not bite it, just sniffed it, I shone the light on it- I don't usually bring flashlights on my walk, preferring to let my eyes work at seeing in the dark and my senses work at sensing the surroundings overall. (search posts for my flashlight diatribe) Tonight I brought the light because there is ice on the road and I won't see it. It would be very embarrassing to be the hockey goalie that I am and have to tell anyone that I hurt myself falling on ordinary road ice.

As I watched the opossum- remembering that they play dead and trying to work out the likelyhood that it WAS dead or just faking it (our road is a rural dead end that few cars go down and none of them very fast, though opossums are slow...) I told Rei to Leave It and walked her away a bit- she kept away. I was suspicious that it might suddenly snap and bite Reilly as she sniffed it, and I knew that if that happened it would have been completely preventable except for a very stupid dog owner. It relaxed its mouth a bit verrrrrrry slowly and turned its head a bit. I nudged it with my foot and its body was very pliable. There was no blood anywhere. Faking it, I bet. So I put Rei back in the house and got my camera. When I came back out, it was in the same spot, but resting with its chin on the road in a more comfortable position. As i got close, it turned its head and opened its mouth again. I got the photo and felt sorry for bothering the creature so much, so I dropped it two small dog biscuits, and walked away.

I told Jeff and Raye about the possum, and thought that it might not like dog biscuits. I found some leftover corn in the fridge and took that outside. As I walked back to the spot, I saw headlights as my neighbor was driving home. I realized it was probably dumb to leave food in the street for a not-yet-dead possum. I saw it waddle a bit, but it stayed on the side and did not get hit. I called Mike over to see the possum he DIDN'T run over. It looked like this now,

Perfectly healthy, if a bit small for a possum. I sprinkled some corn on the edge of the road for it to thank it for letting me poke it and look at it so long. I am not proud of myself for frightening animals unnecessarily. It was good to meet a (living) possum, even more so since I recently finished this logo for a caving detachment in Kentucky- the Fort Knox Grotto:

Far Afield
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: locked out- crowded house
Topic: Ma Nature
What a brave dog! Jeff says that Reilly is a perfect dog for me because she looks tough enough that noone would bother with us out ranging in the wilds, but she actually only looks like a toughie. We hiked at Purgatory Chasm today because the hayfield still stinks and after 2 baths in a week, we decided to smarten up and make it easy for Rei to keep clean. If she still smells like 'Mango Tango' dog shampoo on Thursday, I may ask if she can accompany us to Thanksgiving at mom's. Its not automatic, though because there will be a lot of people and Rei is a big dog with a long happy tail...see you later, coffee table bowls!



Rei is peering down from the rim of the chasm into the tumbled blocks below. As you will soon see, the chasm is very deep and has huge boulders to scamper among. Rei feels confident! Yesterday was a gorgeous Novenber Sunday and we played at the field (and one of us rolled in fetilizer, requiring the aforementioned bath). The sun brought out almost all the dogs we know- our walking pack reached 12 dogs at its most and it is inspiring to observe how they get along and take joy in being together. From Malamutes to Dachsunds, Males and Females, pups and elders- no conflict at all. Dogs who have known each other for years and new dogs to the group- Rei has known most of these dogs for what must seem to her her entire life, she is confident being among them when new dogs are met, she is happy. Now let's go to the bottom of the chasm and look up!



Purgatory chasm was written up in the Travel Section of the Boston Sunday Globe this week, and in there you can get all the numbers about many feet deep it is, how many people have died in the chasm in the last hundred and something years and how far some of the caves go undrground. Here at the Ruff Guide, we only care about the joy we feel climbing around there, that we should come later some time so we can be in there around when the sun slants into the chasm and see what that looks like and how quiet it is with no people around. We feel scared looking up and looking down, but its an alive kind of scared. The boulders are huge and immobile and Rei and I feel no need to go on our bellies in to the caves. We are topside explorers. We took the NW side of the rim today, cut down into the bottom, poked around and then hiked out the back to a little path that we suspected ran along beside the brook. It did! and we went along past some only mildly inhibiting deadfalls across the trail and hiked along with the brook on our left till I began to wonder if the State Park and its NO HUNTING rule extended this far. I thought about how I didnt own any hunter orange jackets, but that in a pinch a Boston Bruins jersey would do the job effectively- and took off my jacket to reveal said jersey (#19 in large mac and cheese colored numbers) just in case. Soon the trail ran out and we found ourselves at a fork in the brook and lots of water sound to our right- Here is Reilly showing me the cool new waterfalls we discovered today. Looks like she wants a drink, too!
These falls jump down the rocks and make neat pools in the little chasm they run through. I don't know how many feet it drops but it is a very cool side trip I bet almost nobody goes to. On the official map, it shows the beginning of this spur trail but it just ends at nothing. It doesn't say "Awesome waterfall this way!"- in fact to look at it, it seems to say, "well, we went down here but there was nothing and we decided to go back to the BIG Chasm and the caves, perhaps after we chug a Mountain Dew.."