Date: 2009-05-23
From: Mountaineer Shelter

To: A little after Laurel Fork Falls
Miles today: 17.0

The day didn¢t start at 5pm but the interesting stuff did, so that is where I shall begin; on the steep descent to Laurel Falls.Now I like waterfalls, I like them as much as the next man, woman or child, but similar to sunrises or sunsets I find it difficult to differentiate very much between them. They are all nice enough but some I appreciate more than others and some (sometimes) don¢t live up to the hype.Laurel Falls, I think, is worthy of some hype. It¢s a nice spot with a broad, high and fairly vertical cascade of water that plunges down into an explosion of foam before giving way to a fairly calm pool of water that in turn flows off down a rather lovely fast running rocky mountain stream. I will hopefully remember all of that as it would be a fine memory but what I know I will remember is a rather strange association with ¢intoxication¢ that perhaps surprisingly was not my own.Three locals were there with their two dogs and we shared pleasantries before I found the rock where I planned to sit to eat dinner while watching and listening to the falls. The three locals then went for a bit of a dip (reference the fairly calm pool of water mentioned above) and somehow (maybe by default than design and certainly with no positive input from me) I seemed to be left on dog sitting duty. That was all ok with me though, the dog seemed to be securely tied up, I was in no hurry and it brought me a little more into the ¢body of the kirk¢. The highlight of the day was when during a later conversation Kelly said that her boyfriend is ¢a little intoxicated¢. I don¢t think I will ever forget hearing that phrase. It was funny for so many reasons: intoxicated is a word I don¢t hear very often in everyday conversation; because the use of the adjective ¢little¢ so obviously, completely and even absurdly understated the obvious; and just because when the saying ¢a little intoxicated¢ is said with a southern accent it takes about 15 minutes from start to finish (it sounds great, almost soothing, but it is certainly not said in a hurry).I¢m certainly not intimidated by a little intoxication (having been there once or twice myself), so we chatted. When time came for them to make the long and steep return journey to the top of the Trail I offered the necessary assistance to avoid the potentially serious accident that was so very obviously waiting to happen.I offered a steadying shoulder to the rather ¢rubbery¢ Josh but was impressed by the drunk¢s innate homing instinct as he shot up the Trail with both speed and balance that I would have thought well beyond him. It was a long way up and there were moments my assistance seemed beneficial as we walked, rested, walked, rested, walked, rested our way to the top. My good deed done for the day I plodded on back to the Falls with only a couple of scratches to show and a little out of breath.You don¢t do good deeds for the recognition or to get your name in the paper. That said it¢s nice to have a little acknowledgement and so, as I sat there with Pete, I was delighted to be offered a lovely piece of cake by a young lady for ¢helping the drunk man¢. I thanked her most graciously but failed to mention that in fact he had only been ¢a little intoxicated¢.