A Golden View, But Was It Worth the Fall?

A good photograph is knowing where to stand. - Ansel Adams.

Good luck with THAT! - Me.


Well, I did a thing on this day that I have not done in a few years. I fell while in the woods. My husband and I were at Dry Hollow hiking, and I was inching my way around a frozen vernal pond, taking pictures of all of the ice bubbles and the neat shapes, and photographing the golden reflections on the far shore. Not unlike young Luke Skywalker, I was NOT being mindful of where I was, and I tripped over a stump, and I fell.

My camera was in my right hand and it was not impacted. I hit my right knee pretty solidly, and got a bit of a twist on the back and neck that I suspected might ache tomorrow, but mostly what was hurt was my pride. I snapped a picture of the stump that got me; if it's ever mug shot time, I think I can identify the culprit!

Interestingly enough, I was wearing the same (ripped) hiking pants that I wore when I fell over at Shingletown quite a few years ago (in the DBB, which is to say Days Before Blipfoto), so I guess these are my falling down pants I had on.

My husband was a ways down the trail and the first thing he asked when I told him about my fall was, Did I hurt the camera? I said No; the bottom half of me is for the ground, the top half of me is for the camera! I guess I should be more careful, but it's been years since I've fallen, so I think overall, given the sort of terrain I tend to move on, I've been doing mostly okay.

But you know what? Next time I fall, with camera, I'm taking the first silly/ridiculous picture I can think of from way down there, instead of (or in addition to) a picture of the item that tripped me.

I spent the evening with ice packs on my neck and left butt cheek, which were both tingling. I've had issues with sciatica in the past (after three pretty bad falls in a relatively short period of time, back while I still rented in town), and so of course, the fall reactivated all of my sciatica tingles.

It is the next day as I type this, and aside from a few sore spots and bruises on my lower right leg, I am apparently mostly fine. Thank goodness! I'll try to be more mindful of my surroundings next time. . . Anyway, back to my question in the title: was the golden view worth the fall? Yes, I think it was!

My soundtrack song has to be Tom Petty's Free Fallin'. Here's a version by TP and the Heartbreakers. Here's a version by Stevie Nicks. And here is a version where someone combined their vocals, which I thought was pretty cool. More about Stevie and her days as a wanna-be Heartbreaker here and here. In 2006, Tom Petty gifted Stevie Nicks a platinum sheriff's badge with 24-karat gold and diamonds on it. It said "To our honorary Heartbreaker, Stevie Nicks." On the back, it said, "To the only girl in our band." Isn't that a wonderful story?  <3

Bonus: possibly related, a tale of that time I fell in Millbrook Marsh.