Or how I nearly fell off a cliff at Kaaterskill Falls. I made a photo reference trip to Kaaterskill falls in NY awhile back for the big Ronin oil painting I planned to do. Kaaterskill is the largest 2 tier waterfall in the state and an hour away. After seeing old Hudson River school paintings of the area I knew this was where I needed to go for reference shots. During that trip I climbed up to the second tier for more pics of the cascading water and vegetation. Coming down from that level I slipped on wet red clay, fell hard and nearly slid off the side of the mountain (about a 40ft drop). I now know the visual difference between wet and dry red clay. It wasn’t a shear drop. I would’ve bounced off a few trees and hit a boulder or two on the way down. I laid there for a moment convinced I had broken my coccyx, and then carefully worked my way back down. Some hikers who saw me staggering back to the main path gestured me over. One of them happened to be a Nun. Not just any nun, a nun studying to be a nurse and who just happened to go hiking with a first aid kit. She bandaged me up and blessed me before I set off for home. If you’re out there, thank you Sister Monica.
Way to go Eric. Beautiful work. ~Andy
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