Hike into the valley of Dry Creek and Lawyer Hollow
1/10/2022
Located just north of Richland Creek Wilderness Area lies a valley so deep, escaping its depths is uncertain. Breakfast was, unfortunately, at Waffle House. It's all that's open theses days, and it's always cold inside even when the temp is 22° outside. The fools! After, I entered the deep woods at 5:30 with 23° and unobstructed skies. Numerous bluff lines were passed heading down. At one time two sets of eyes blocked my path and refused to yield no matter how much noise I made. Their identity remain undetermined. Wrestling was requested but not confirmed. I continued on. The terrain was difficult. The valley floor was arrived at and the creek found to be without water. It was traced upstream. Water eventually did appear, but the flow was irregular in nature. Bluffs and boulders lined the banks. Creatures watched me from above as passage was made. None came down to wrestle. Soon a goodly sized waterfall was happened upon. It was also dry. The deep pool at its base was filled with a modicum of blue-green liquid. This spot had great potential, but would not be attained on this day.
After climbing around this obstacle, a narrow bedrock shute curved to the left. This was lovely to behold. Everything here was also that...all that was missing was the water. I found a dry rock surface in the sun a ways beyond and proceeded to take my respite there. Lunch was enjoyed with fine beauty all around...just no flowing water. After this, the climb back out was begun. After much peril and such, the final bluff line was climbed over. From there, the remainder of the hike was uphill and through game plots cleared for wildlife habitat. Evidence of elk was noted on the ground surface there. None of these animals were witnessed. At 12:35 and 46°, my journey ceased. The total loop distance was 5.4 miles. This valley has been claimed to be mine...so don't go there.
