Monday morning we woke up ready to pack the van and drive only to find out that the river we had to cross to get to out campsite at Dolan Falls was nearly 3 feet high due to the mass amount of rain we got the night before. Dolan Falls is located in the middle of a Wildlife Reserve privately owned by the state. Dolan Falls is the largest waterfall per volume in Texas. Dolan Falls is not open to the public and only potential donors, educational groups, and the media are invited to camp there.
Eventually Wyman got a phone call from the wildlife reserve that the river had gone down enough for the vans to cross the river, so we loaded up the vans and headed down the road towards Dolan Falls. Once you reach the main gate of the wildlife reserve the falls is 30 miles down a dirt/rocky road. After about an hour of slowly trekking down the road we finally reached camp. The reserve has two person screened-in cabins with cots. It’s nice out at the falls until night falls and a hunting war begins. You are hunting assassin bugs and the assassin bugs are hunting you. Dolan Falls has assassin bugs also known as kissing bugs. These bugs seek you out while you are sleeping in order to suck your blood. I think I only slept an hour the first night at the falls. I kept waking up to turn on my flashlight to check and see it there were any assassin bugs on me. When I woke up in the morning I sighed in relief because I had made it through the night without getting bit. Finally I was able to relax or at least I thought. I rolled over and saw an assassin bug on the floor right next to my bed. Luckily, that was the only assassin bug I saw while I was in Dolan Falls.
We got lots of rain on Monday night and when we got up in the morning to shot the falls Wyman said that in 16 years he had never seen that much water come over the falls. In this class we have a lot of down time since the light is not good to shoot in between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. So in our down time we either catch up on our sleep, blog, upload our digital photos, or make jalapeno poppers. Every year Wyman makes jalapeno poppers for his classes at the falls and Independence Creek. I had helped Wyman make the poppers on Monday without a hitch. Tuesday, however, was a different story. I was shelling the seeds and veins out of the jalapenos when juice shot into my left eye. If you have never had jalapeno juice in your eye let me just tell you it burns! Luckily, I was able to rinse my eye under the faucet in the kitchen and get the juice out of my eye.
Wednesday morning we got up, packed the vans, cleaned camp, and went on a hike to photograph the falls from one of the bluffs. We started walking up the road and I was fine until Wyman veered from the road and started to cut through the brush up a bluff. I was not prepared nor dressed to hike through thorny brush and cactus. I was wearing a pair of shorts and my sandals. Not only was I not prepared to hike through cactus, but also I did not realize that we would be hiking up and then down a very steep bluff. Needless to say I was not a very happy camper by the time we got done with the hike. I only took one picture from the side of the bluff because I was very afraid that I would lose my footing and slide off the bluff. It was very steep and covered in loose rock that came out from under your feet very easily. I look like an animal attacked me because my legs are bruised and scraped up pretty badly. There really wasn’t much I could do about it because I only packed shorts and sandals for this trip. Despite everything I am proud of myself that I completed the hike. Then we got in the vans and headed towards Del Rio for lunch and to restock on food before heading to Independence Creek.
Dolan Falls:
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