Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Trail Never before Traveled

The River
Kids on a rock
Paul and his dad
Not far from Kudjip is an amazing waterfall, about 150-200 feet high.  I have been there 3 other times and despite the hills and the falls that usually go with the hike, the reward at the end of seeing the waterfall has always been worth it.  Today, our guides weren’t sure how well the trail up the garden was going to be and so they thought we should take the trail along the river and see all 7 waterfalls.  Having never gone that way before and with the opportunity to see part of PNG that we haven’t seen before, we let our guides lead the way. 
Our trail up
Elisabeth and me

The Goal - Big waterfall
The trail that we went on definitely took us to areas that we had never seen.  We got to see a number of waterfalls that I doubt many others have seen, but it also tested our guides and our ability to traverse the trail.  The trail was made as we were on it, our guides using their bush knives to cut down the bush around us forming a trail that moments ago, did not exist.  We were below, alongside and on top of waterfalls, we went up and down hills and rock formations that few have seen before, all the while knowing that a big waterfall awaited us. 

One of the smaller waterfalls
One of the smaller waterfalls
After going up and alongside the smaller waterfalls, we finally got into the river and made our way to the big waterfall.  Once again, the goal of our hike did not disappoint us.  The waterfall was as spectacular as ever, with lots of water coming down from high above us, the mist from the waterfall was quite cold, preventing us from going swimming at the waterfall, but not from some of the kids catching fish.

As happens on all of these journeys, we start with a few guides and then our group attracts others who go along with us.  Often those who join us are kids, and this time was no different.  We had a number of 1st-7th graders with us, and even one baby, who wasn’t more than 1.  In the US, if you take a baby out, you go with a diaper bag that often weighs more than the baby and has everything in it that you might possibly need while you are gone.  Not this dad, he dad had nothing more than his baby and went the whole way to and back from the waterfall, feeding him some cucumber and passion fruit, and giving him water from the river.  Paul, the kid, seemed happy the whole time, despite spending 7 hours going to a waterfall.  
Bill, Terry, Charity and I at big waterfall

Some of the smaller waterfalls
Our guides did a great job of getting us there and back again.  Elisabeth was my guide and despite being only 14, was definitely more surefooted than I was and helped guide me through many ups and downs on our way to the waterfall.  We had great weather and sure enjoyed our day.  
Kids that joined us