Waterfalls,waterfalls,Gaby falls....

We've been having some beautiful fall weather the last couple of weeks : sunny, quiet,warm days,temps in the high 60's,lower 70's.

So John and me decided Sunday afternoon to take Skimpy on a little hike in the woods behind our house.

We have two beautiful waterfalls just a few hundred yards below a bluff that surrounds the whole top of the mountain we live on.The shelters behind the falls had been used for hundreds of years by the local Indian tribes as shelters.

To get there we go through the woods about 400-500 yards until we come to the bluff.

There is only one spot where it is possible to get down into the creek valley without ropes or a ladder.

It is about 7-8 feet down ( the rest of the bluff is up to 25-30 feet down.)

we've used that spot lots of times before and never really had a problem, except for this time.

John went ahead and passed by a narrow spot right on the edge of the bluff .He told me to be careful the leaves where slippery. So carefully i placed my right foot and then my left foot and before i could shift my weight i went over the edge feet first.Halfway down i hit the trunk of a big tree with my right lower inside arm and slid down the trunk the rest of the way.

When i hit the tree the momentum twisted me backwards to my right and i overextended my arm and shoulder. A sharp pain went through my back and i thought:

" oh no, i broke my back!!" the pain knocked the breath out of me.

Almost at the same time i heard a snap in my shoulder and i thought: " ...and there goes my shoulder or arm"...

I finally landed hard on my butt , i just sat there for a minute trying to get my breath back and trying to assess my injuries.The back pain went away after just a few seconds and i moved my feet and legs...back not broken... thank God!!

By now John had safely made it down the bluff to me. He was white as a sheet.He said he had just got past the iffie spot and turned around to help me past and all he saw was me going over the edge and hitting that tree.I sat there for awhile getting my bearings back and moving my extremities,i knew i hurt my shoulder, it hurt BAD!!

Nothing is broken but i think i very much overextended or even tore a muscle in my chest and shoulder.

By this morning my whole right side ,shoulder ,ribs are very,very sore.and on top of that i got allergies and am constantly sneezing and coughing. oh, the pain!!

but, i can still knit! that doesn't hurt at all !!

and we did go on and i made some pretty pics of the falls:

Fall #1:

Fall#2:

I also found the tree John carved our initials in five years ago ( the old romantic :)

Update : Here it is three days after my fall (been trying to get online long enough to finish this post (phone lines are messed up again since yesterday), and I'm still hurting but it's much better already. I should be pretty much back to normal by the end of the week.