Lower Sigua Falls Part 2

This boonie stomp was a close encounter with Guam MUD. I had experienced coral and lava rock and had heard a rumor that Guam actually had dirt. This stomp gave me proof that Guam does have dirt - red clay dirt that turns into red MUD.
This was an innocent beginning to an extensive encounter with MUD. Soon after starting our stomp, the MUD started building up on the bottoms of our shoes. It was no good knocking it off because within steps it was back. Not that it would fall off. Some implement would have been handy -- like a chisel.
This is dried MUD. It dried into this really interesting formation. I thought it was rock at first but it was just dried MUD. It's not red but it is still MUD.
The whole group. Feet covered in MUD. Our shoes will never be the same. Mine are still sitting outside my front door waiting for some cleaning. They were white. They are now red. They will never be white again. At this point I was still innocent and had no idea how completely covered I would become in MUD.
It's starting to get steep, I got a pull up the hill but I had no idea how vertical it was to become.
The teenagers took off ahead. They are the dots in the middle of the picture. I don't think they even noticed it was a tough stomp. Ah....to be a teenager again.
Wild orchids were common along the trail. Isn't it beautiful?
The scenery was gorgeous! Not a drop of MUD in sight in this picture. The darker greens are swaths of palm trees with fern looking plants much shorter between. We speculated that maybe some areas were more protected from the wind and typhoons which promoted the palm tree growth.
Back to the MUD. How would you like to cross this bridge. By the time we got to it there was slimy red MUD on it. We crossed very, very carefully. Note that I am still wearing my red back pack. That means the going had not got that tough yet. Someone else ended up wearing it most of the time.
Here is the source of the red MUD (clay so slimy you could make a pot out of it). It is really beautiful -- red is my favorite color.
Now it gets steep and this is where I picked up most of the MUD on my back side as in a lot of places the safest way down was to slide. One slope was so slippery that it was a good thing there was a tree in the middle of the path to stop myself on. As you can see this is not red mud but brown, but it is still MUD.

Lower Sigua Falls has a wonderful jumping platform which I declined to try. I'm not afraid of heights, it is the sudden drop I am afraid of. Here is our photographer taking the leap. The pool was not deep enough for diving. Feet first was the only way to do it.

The swim was wonderful. The MUD did not come off. Later on it dried on into a layer on my legs like armor plating.
Here is the map - five miles round trip. I believe yellow is fairly level. Red is an elevation change. Notice how red the trail gets as you get nearer to the falls.

This was a wonderful experience with the MUD that God made and a chance to see some of the wondrous things he has made with fellow Christians he has called.