Cibecue Creek, part 4: We frolic at the magical falls; Jacob does a back-flop, Rex gets dizzy; we hike out in a race against darkness
Monday, June 7, 2010 at 10:51AM ;)
As an old man watching from an audience of stone faces observes with a wry smile, Caleb takes a big leap and plummets into the pool below Cibecue Falls.
How could a place where spirit faces peer out from ancient stone be anything but magical?
;)
You can be certain that when Jacob - who was actually the first to jump and jumped the most - hit the water on this plunge, he felt it. It stung; it felt for a moment like he had fallen into concrete. Later, when I asked him what in the world ever got into him to try it this way, he told me he thought that he could complete the rotation before he hit the water.
Remember, my children grew up in Alaska and never had much of an opportunity to hone their water-sport skills.
It looks to me like that old man who peers out from the rocks chuckled a bit as Jacob plunged past.
;)
Even so, Jacob swam away feeling good about the experience.
;)
I think he could have kept at it for hours - if we had hours available to keep at it. We didn't. The sun had long since left the canyon and we knew it would be getting dark soon.
;)
It looked like a decent enough jump for Rex...
;)
...but when he first tried to emerge from the water, he found that he had become dizzy, unable to stand. It took awhile, but finally Rex recovered enough to rise. He took no more jumps after that. Water had gotten into his ears and would stay there for a day or two.
;)
Charlie hit okay.
;)
As all this was going on, Kalib engaged in a game of "throw the rock." His mother stuck close by to guide and watch over him.
;)
Lisa didn't jump, but she did swim a bit.
;)
Melanie spent some time floating in the shallow end of the pool, where the jumpers would not come down on top of her.
As for me, I spent too much time trying to photograph it all with my pocket camera. Finally, I decided to go up and jump, but because of my shoulder, I began to climb very slow and deliberate, and then realized that it was going to take me so long that I had better abandon it, if we were to get out of the canyon before dark.
Anyone can believe that I just chickened out, should they choose, but anyone who knows my history in this life would know that is not true.
Still, I can't stop anyone from believing whatever they are going to believe.
;)
Even before the jumping finished, everyone posed for a picture... well, not quite everyone...
;)
Now it's everyone.
;)
Before we began the hike out, we refueled on mangos, a giant sandwich, oatmeal bars, assorted berry candy and other delicacies.
;)
Now we knew we had to hurry, if we were to get Kalib out by dark. Kalib himself gamely plunged forward.
;)
Sometimes, he needed a little help - but remember, he is only two-and-a-half years old. I think he was doing pretty well.
;)
Once he fell and completely submerged. Cibecue Creek took the hat that he had borrowed from Jobe and swept it right off his head. Still, he got up and forged on.
;)
Not withstanding the big hurry that we were in, we had to stop when Kalib needed another diaper change. A dark rock was releasing the heat that it had gathered from the sun back into the cooling air, so, while Lavina changed the diaper, my fellow hikers laid down upon that rock to absorb some of that solar warmth themselves.
;)
After his diaper had been changed, Kalib found a big stone and played, "strong man."
;)
Now we had to hurry as fast as was safe to go. The sun had officially set - even above the canyon walls. Arizona is not like Alaska, where daylight lingers long even after the sun goes down. In Arizona, after the sun goes down, dark comes fast.
;)
When we reached the small dirt and gravel parking where Cibecue Creek empties into the Salt River, the light was just about gone.
;)
Before we could drive away, Lavina had to change Kalib's diaper one more time. She had only the light of the inside car lamps to work with. After spending six hours with his feet either submerged in water or held in soaked shoes, Kalib's feet were wrinkled to the extreme.
He was also extremely drowsy. At the moment his mom finished changing his diaper and strapped him into his car seat, Kalib fell asleep.
;)
As we drove through the night along the dirt and gravel road that follows the Salt River toward the highway, the moon rose over the canyon walls.
;)
Kalib slept all the way back to LeeAnn's house - a drive of about an hour-and-a-half. He did not wake up when Jacob unstrapped him and carried him inside. He did not wake up when his grandma took him from his dad so that she could hold him on her lap and love him.
He did not wake when his mother got him ready for bed. He did not wake when she put him to bed. He slept until the following morning.
It was a well-earned sleep.
I think he did pretty damned good.
Remember - he is only two-and-half.
Reader Comments (12)
Thank you for letting us spend the magical day with you!
I'm impressed with him too and what a great place to visit
Kalib may be only two and a half but he has a wonderful family who loves him and will help him along any trail he walks. What a fortunate little fellow.
oh my gosh what a great series. made me remember how good it feels to walk in a creek on a hot day with good comany.
Thank you for providing a cool resting place for my weary blogger soul.
An excellent adventure! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Thanks for sharing your lives with us. I never would have gotten there without you!
Thank you Bill, that was such an enjoyable hike. As my Mum would say "it was just what you need to blow the cobwebs away".
breathtaking! my unanswered question is, Would I have jumped?
What a wonderful day! What a beautiful and special place! You are so fortunate to have such a cohesive and loving family and do these things together.
The photos of the "rock totems" by the falls were so striking. It really seemed like the eyes and being of Mother Nature watching over this lovely oasis in the desert.
Thanks for sharing!
I found myself longing to be at the magic falls. Unfortunately, I'm in over my head in A and P. Back to work. *sigh*
Really something even a 2and a half year old will remember all his life.
Lovely, just a lovely day with your fine family.