Tadake Falls

Today is our 7-year anniversary!  We always try to do something special for our anniversary.  Year One we went to a wonderful B&B in Maryland, Year Three we got a cottage in Wisconsin, Year Five we rented a Harley and went to Des Moines for the weekend.  This year, we did a river trek to beautiful Tadake "Taa" Falls about an hour and a half north of here.

The day was absolutely gorgeous - about 85 degrees with considerably less humidity than we've had for about 5 months, which in itself was amazing!  Clear blue skies and clear blue water.  We started our adventure trying to find the river's entrance, and once we did so, we set out for a walk in the river.  It hasn't rained at all this week (a major accomplishment here in Oki!!) so the river was pretty low and very manageable.  We made our way through the rocks in the shallow water and in the deeper water, we took to the river's edge.  You can see a series of ropes in the picture below, put in place by someone more adventurous and kind than us, to help you get to the edge and walk the upwards path.

The canopy cover from the trees was beautiful with the sun shining down through it.  There were awesome vines that you could actually swing from... we felt like Tarzan & Jane! 

After about 30 minutes of walking we rounded the corner and ..."ta"-da!  We were treated to a most amazing site:

Taa Falls is a waterfall about 50 feet in height.  It puts out some serious power with that water!  It was so beautiful and serene to just sit and watch.  So very quiet compared to the noise of every day life!

After we took in the falls we got curious about where the water came from... what do they say? Curiosity killed the cat??? :)  We saw what looked like a foot trail leading upwards toward the falls.  Then we spied some ropes that had been put in place and thought, what the heck?  So we climbed upward...and onward...and upward...the trail narrowed from 3 feet to about 6 inches with no more ropes and heavy greenery, and for a minute I definitely thought we were lost when I could no longer hear the falls.  But we kept going...down...then up - STRAIGHT up! And we were rewarded with the river that leads to the top of the falls!  There was not a soul to be found, and it was absolutely gorgeous. 

What a wonderful day with my wonderful husband.  What an adventure these first 7 years have been!!