Rufus, the Monk and I went on an afternoon hike Friday, which was exciting because a) I wasn’t at work and b) I had to actually do something with the Monk that required more from me than looking pretty, making funny quips or drinking wine. I had never been to Silver Falls, or even knew about them despite living in Oregon for almost 8 years, but the Monk, after a mere month after relocating from Taos, NM, had already heard about them and organized an outing there for us. Since the canyon trails are off limits to dogs Rufus got to spend quality time in the Jeep (which beats the hell out of hanging out in his kennel for hours on end) after we enjoyed our picnic lunch (see fig. 1) in the rare February sunshine.

Fig. 1

The Monk and I got to witness 7 fabulous and breath-taking waterfalls, much like this one (picture b, below).

Picture b

We took 2 separate trails, the first having two impressive waterfalls, the second with 5, one of which was a double waterfall (only I foolishly failed to capture the moment digitally). Both trails consisted of a nice hike down the canyon, a stroll from one waterfall to the next, and then a hellatious hike back up the canyon. Since it was sunny and I was exerting energy, I had managed to work up a sweat and decided to remove some layers of clothing, the first to go a faux fur-lined vest (such the stylist hiker am I, going lovely with my black Ugg boots). When one less layer failed to relieve the extreme heat I was suffering from, I then decided to remove my black fleece pull over (with the cutest black satin patches on the elbows). Now you’d think someone grown up and responsible could remove a fleece pullover without incident. You’d think so, yes, but like most things I do, I have proven you wrong again. As I pulled the fleece over my head I managed to get the zipper pull (yep, a functional zipper at the high collared neck) stuck in my nose as I flung the fleece off my head. Thank god the Silver Falls website kindly suggested hikers bring their own toilet paper, because I gave myself a nasty nose bleed * when I dislodged the zipper pull from my left nostril. Man it hurt like I had done too much really bad coke (not that I’ve done that, I’ve just heard stories, you know, people talk…….) and had to stuff a wad of toilet paper into my nose to stop the blood flow. Nice work, McGiver.

* (please note blood on toilet paper)

The remainder of the hike went without incident, thank god. I’d have hated for the Monk to have had to chop off a tree limb to splint a broken leg or something. Ah nature! You gotta love it.