3.8 miles of hiking • 250' elevation gain •
Remember when I said I was going to do something easy and not do any climbing? Yeah, that backfired. Anyone who has followed social media this past two weeks knows how much of a overcrowded nightmare Lower Lewis River Falls was.
I didn’t set out on my day intending to be part of a problem. I knew it was going to be hot, and I wanted to swim. I didn’t want to do anything strenuous as my knees have been barking from my consecutive weekends of hard climbs. I just wanted to relax in some cold water. Apparently, so did hundreds of other people. Behaving in so many terrible ways. Saw a cliff jumper bite it, attempting to jump from a huge cliff edge he slipped as he started to jump and slid down, ending in a massively painful belly flop and giving himself a bloody nose. He was carried away by some friends but we saw an emergency vehicle heading in as we left. Saw someone else climbing up a tree that had gone over the falls. So much garbage and human waste everywhere. I am sickened and I’m sad. But I was there and also part of the overcrowding problem.
Either way, I learned my lesson. Don't go where people are. It will only make you angry no matter how pretty the setting.
