Day 5

On our return trip to Pook's Hill the next morning, we stopped at Clarissa Falls and ate lunch. Very good! Due to the recent heavy rains the week before our arrival, we were not able to walk to the falls. By the time we arrived at Pook's Hill, we were tired from the drive and got out and stretched our legs and had a delicious cup of hot tea. We had another wonderful meal that evening. It is a good thing that we walked a lot, considering how much we ate.

A couple from England had arrived and they had done the cave trip that we would have to miss. They said it was a great experience, but difficult. There were about 14 people for dinner and the conservation was interesting and loud. I exchanged book titles with one of the young people there. Some of our group had walked to the river before dinner and swum in the Roaring River, which was cold and swift.We were supposed to go to the cave, but Ben thought it best to give the river another day to go down. That was an unfortunate decision for us since it started raining at four in the afternoon and rained all night. To get to the cave, we would have had to cross a creek and go inside the cave and swim 15 or 20 yards to the place where sacrifices had once been made. We could not go because of the heavy rain. This was a disappointment for me, but I had learned to be flexible on my travels.