Auger Falls by Marva

Auger Falls by Marva - October 2013 Scholarship Essay

Do you remember those horror or action movies where the main character is so frightened that they become seized with fear and can’t move? Have you ever wondered if being momentarily stunned is realistic or not? Well, I definitely have. I have always thought portrayals of this characteristic were for entertainment purposes only, until one day I witnessed it myself.

Here we are, four friends hiking down a trail on a beautiful day in the Adirondacks. We had just come from cliff jumping the day before and wanted to try a new location with some waterfalls. We were headed for Auger Falls in Northern New York where the scenery is simple yet beautiful. Once we reached our destination I witnessed the beautiful creation of a serene stream located between the two rapid waterfalls, where water swiftly flowed from one to the other.

My three friends, Pam, Adam and Nate, quickly got ready and swam from one side to the other to prepare their jumps for the day, while I stayed behind and sat down on a boulder to read and enjoy the scenery. One by one they jumped and swam back to climb the rock wall so they could jump again. It seemed that each time they jumped; they would swim out a little farther, closer to the edge of the bottom waterfall. Peacefully, I enjoyed this moment of freedom in nature, and then it happened. Silence was interrupted by an awful scream from Pam. She had swum too closely to the edge of the waterfall and had gotten sucked in by the current. In that instant while being sucked in, she reached out and quickly grabbed onto the rock that I happened to be sitting on.

In my mind, this situation had not fully registered. I thought to myself “Is this really happening?”, while she was struggling to hold on for her dear life. There I was, seized with fear and stunned like a deer caught in headlights. Blood raced through my body, wanting to do something, but my mind kept me immobile. Pam screamed a second time with the words “Marva, what are you doing? Help me!”. Hearing those words was like hearing the gunshot at a horse race and catapulted me into action.

I had learned that the safest and strongest grip to pull up someone is the “clipper grip”. Using this, I grabbed onto her one hand at a time. As I was pulling her out of the current, Adam tried to swim over to push her out, but in a blink of an eye, the same fate happened to him. Adam was now, not only sucked in by the same current, but was stuck midway under water, for a loose rock had fallen on his foot keeping him there. He quickly laid hold of Pam’s body to keep his head above water, making it impossible for me to lift her out of the water. In that moment I thought that someone was going to die because of our carelessness in understanding both the beauties and the horrors that nature presents.

In a last attempt of rescue, the cavalry came through Nate. He carefully swam to shore and grabbed onto Adam so that I could pull Pam out. It took all three of us to pull Adam from under the rock and out of the water. For those few moments after this life and death experience, we all laid on the ground thanking God that no one died that day.

I realized that no matter how much one may know themselves, when a test of panic comes they may learn a new part of their personality.

Not only does this story relate to the outdoors, but it can be applied to education in the college experience, growing up with a family or making one of your own, or even throughout your career. There will be many challenges and opportunities in every area in life that may be daunting so much to the point, where it makes us immobile and unable to make a decision. What major should I pick? Will I ever graduate? How will I pay for my loans? Do I make enough money to support a baby? Is this the career I want to live with? These are just a few questions that can often plague a person’s decision to move forward because they may be afraid of what’s happening in that moment. This is when we need to grab hold of what we know, like a “clipper grip” of sorts, and push ourselves to overcome the odds set up against us.

Through my Auger Falls experience, I have learned that fear can come in an instant, but bravery and action comes from deep within. Sometimes we may need a catalyst to bring us to that point. Who knows, you may surprise yourself in doing something that may not seem to be realistic. That day will forever go down in my memory as the day I literally saved a life, but I had to push through fear and the unknown to be able to feat such a tremendous task.