"I would like to describe the experience. From the bedrooms the murmur of the falls is constant but faint. From the living room, the din elevates, beckoning you out onto the overlook deck. The roar is not so loud as to preclude conversation, but it is uniform and powerful. You must go to the edge. Look down. Ten feet below you is the crest of a mighty waterfall and stream. Water pools up and falls over huge boulders. The main cascade is joined by a secondary stream. Water bounces and rushes down a forty five degree slope.

The water draws your eye down the mountainside. You see stone bridges and a wooden bridge much like in a National Park. You look down on falls and fast mountain streams and an alpine lake. But there is more. You just cannot see it all. You move around on the deck to see more. To your left are the headwaters, fed by two waterfalls streaming under a stone bridge. The bridge leads a path to the top of steps that beckon you, “Come down the mountain.” You must go down and explore.

The headwaters pool up peacefully with water lilies, cannas, elephant ears, bamboo, and exotic tropical flowers. It is a peaceful pond, with a murmur behind it. A few steps across the bridge, the top of the steps down reveals the crescendo.

Rushing water roars over the main falls. Look down, step carefully, and then look back at the magnificent waterfall. Descend deliberately. Hold onto the railing. You can’t take your eyes off of the falls. Smell the fresh, clean mountain air, the mist is on you, you realize you are getting wet. Take a few more steps down and the sensations change. The roar is more of a splashing rush. Water is carving its way between massive boulders, twisting and turning and splashing down. Some ferns grow in the cracks of the boulders. At the bottom of the stairs the path turns right just below a hydraulic pool. Water swirls violently then flumes out and under a stone bridge. Your eyes follow the water that zigzags down the hill.

The path leads away to a resting place at a switchback. The sound mumbles, pierced by bird’s calls. Smell the woods, pine and locust. Turn around, look back up at the waterfall, and see the wild flowers in the light shade and along the water course. Look further down stream. Another stone bridge over a fast, deep and narrow section of stream awaits you. Next down to the wooden bridge with a diagonally braced railing. The journey begins again.

At the stone bridge you look up the fast, narrow, deep and loud stream section through the locust trunks. Some logs lay in or near the stream. Others are used to line the path. Turn and look below you. The stream widens. Boulders, logs and gravel from an island that the water spreads around. Plants are colonizing the sediment.

Just beyond the water races down and under the wooden bridge and out of sight. If you are daring you may climb down from boulder to boulder to the last bridge. The path calls you. It is easier, softer, and safer. It leads through the pines, switches back, then forks. A choice. Down log steps to an old picnic table in a wooded clearing, or straight to the bridge you have seen from the beginning. A picnic would be nice. I bet you wish you had packed one. Through the pines you see the small alpine lake below the bridge. On the bridge you rest and look up the mountain. The sun shines on the cascade at the top, and glistens in spots that move about the white water as the trees dance in a gentle breeze. Below you the water rushes under the bridge then fans out into a delta that quietly joins the small shady lake. The bridge turns left and down another flight of steps onto a rustic deck built under two Adirondack chairs. Sit down and relax. Look across the lake to the picnic area. Fish, then nap. It is much quieter here than on your journey down.

After a retreat, it is time to go up again. It is a long way, but the energy of the water and the many wonderful views and sounds and smells and sprays make the journey back up as beautiful as down. And you are refreshed and ready to take on life again. Besides, your oasis will be here tomorrow."