We wound our way through the woods, the ripple of water clearer in my sight. The footing became more uneven, sloping down, with rocks and small branches jutting out from the ground. The trees gave way to a clearing, festooned with rocks and grass. A small distance along, the rocks marked the border of a soft sand beach, more silt than sand, but a beach all the same.
The swimming hole was a widening of a small creek. The water flowed down, between granite stones and small gullies. The water moved placidly, lapping against the silty beach, before flowing down into a shallow rapid at the far end. Alongside the hole, there was a large granite stone which had been worn away by the flowing water, leaving a small cliff, about ten feet high.
As we came closer to the beach, I noted that my wife a
