Survivor, Waterfalls, and Other Nonsense

I've been a little lazy the last week or two so I'll try to cram a bunch of stuff into one post. First up . . . Survivor.

This week's episode (3/4/2010) was truly great. The villians won another reward challenge and then won immunity in a great match up pitting Boston Rob against Tom, two of the true Survivor greats. The villians won again and it looked like Colby was going to be out. But wait! Tom had found the hidden immunity idol earlier in the show and everyone knew it. The main group of six decided they would have to split their votes 3-3 for Tom and Colby. That way Tom would be forced to use the idol, Colby would be gone, all would be good. Except for one thing. J.T. made a great move by agreeing to vote with Tom and Colby to get rid of Cirie. Tom played the idol so his 3 votes didn't count, Colby got 2 votes, and Cirie got 3 and was gone. Brilliant move by J.T. as it got rid of the idol, got rid of one of the best strategic players in the history of the game, and got rid of the most useless member of the tribes in challenges. If you're not watching this season of Survivor you're not a fan of TV.

Item 2 - Waterfalls. Justin Ray and I went out last weekend to look for a potential waterfall on Anderson Creek along the east side of Baker Lake. We found several small waterfalls, including one that dropped out of a massive, very narrow gorge (left). There were no views into the gorge so we turned around. I went back up a few days later to try and get a view from above. I got right on top of where the waterfall most likely sits, but still no views. The only options now are to attempt to come in from the side and hope there's a view that doesn't involve falling 200' to my death, or learn how to repel. It's diappointing because this looks like it could be most impressive.

The family and I took a nice drive today to enjoy the beautiful weather. We visited two of my favorite falls that the wife had never been to before. I even took the opportunity to climb into the little cave behind Lazy Bear Falls for the first time. It was pretty cool. This waterfall really reminds me of Ponytail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon. We also visited Cedar Hollow Falls on Happy Creek, near the Ross Dam Trail. Micah found the experience to be quite spiritual (see below). On the way back we saw that the spillway was open on the Diablo Dam, allowing a ton of water to go pouring onto the rocks below the dam. It was an unbelievably impressive sight and the first time I've ever seen the dam opened up. Tomorrow after church I'm off to check out at least one small waterfall on Rocky Creek near Baker Lake. I'll explore further downstream and hopefully find a few more falls too. I have a feeling this one could be similar to nearby Bear Creek, with several nice waterfalls in a short stretch of creek. Stay tuned!