Lunch, class, trailer loading... all at the same time.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Day 8 Blog post continued
Lunch was fast as well; it seemed like there was a sense of urgency because we all knew what lay ahead in just a few hours - a hot shower! Before we headed off, and after we ate some delicious gluten free brownies, Jenny gave us an ultimatum; we could either paddle Tuckertown lake or take our time site seeing and go to our campsite early at Morrow Mountain State Park. I'm sure you know what option we chose. So we all piled into the van and headed to our first destination High rock dam. On the way I absolutely got what I asked for, we went from seeing water and trees to small towns and stop lights. It was a new perspective of the river basin that I didn't expect to see. We listened to some awesome classic rock and before we knew it we were pulled into parking lot in the town of Badin across the street from the ALCOA factory. We took pictures and made mean faces in front of the factory then Cameron informed us that ice cream was on him! We were stoked. I had delicious vanilla Orange cream on a waffle cone. We sat outside in the hot sun and ate that ice cream fast as we could. I don't remember how it happened but someone brought up the showering later and I freaked because we had no shampoo nor conditioner. By the grace of god I remembered my credit card and we were by a gas station and bought the last set of shampoo and conditioner left. It was an exciting moment for everyone, we would finally smell good! We arrived at camp around five and luckily, since I bought the showering supplies I was the first to use them. That was honestly the best shower I have ever had; and of course after the fact I found out that shaving my legs was a possibility because Aislinn had a razor! After the life changing shower the rest of the day and night were pretty relaxed. Dinner was so so good, we ate potato soup with all the fixings made by Tucker, I think it's everyone's new favorite camping dish. Before class Austin and I made a trip down to the lake, it didn't last long though because for the second time today he was attacked by some vicious ants. It was pretty funny watching him dance around like a crazy man. My favorite part of the night and the last event to occur before I begin this blog was our group discussion on the communication of recreation, conservation and education to the people who inhabit the Yadkin river basin. Everyone expressed some great ideas and opinions on the subject, seriously we are a bunch of smart and creative individuals! Before bed we also reflected on what each of us has learned so far on the river. In all I really enjoy our group dynamics and our ability to communicate effectively, it makes for bunches of interesting conversations. I am looking forward to our upcoming adventures but for now I am hitting the sheets!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Day 8 Blog post: Teresa Musick
Today was the most interesting and out right different day so far on the trip; it was the the change in scenery I was asking for last night after a long day of paddling the great Yadkin. We woke up in the morning a little later then planned, but after Jenny birthday wishes, packing gear and preparing to pack up the boats once again we ended up being ahead of schedule by a half an hour; since that rarely happens, why disturb the consistency? It was then decided after packing the boats that we would visit some of the sites in Boone cave state park, that were just a short walk from our put in. We hiked to the 3rd largest cotton wood tree in North Carolina, it was so huge standing 160 feet tall and 16 feet in diameter, it took 4 people to to hug the entire thing! After the refreshing attention given to our legs we officialy took off around 9:30 AM. The paddling days short in milage, at only nine miles to our take out, but in effort it was a challenge for us all. I know at onep point I had closed my eyes for just a second and literally dozed off in the middle of taking a stroke! Along the way wildlife were out and about all around us; fisher jumping constantly, we spotted four turtles, one I named squirt because of how small he was and we also had two blue herring gliding along with the group. It was awesome to witness nature in such a wild state and just how it was ment to be seen, uninterrupted. Towards the end of our paddling day the river started to feel more and more like a lake, which ment a harder and harder time moving the boat, our speed dropped and for the moment our spirits did too, we had in the past two days paddled 50 miles, we were tired and cranky. A few words of encouragement from our sweep man, Tucker and we got back in to the grove quick. As we approached the greatly anticipated boat ramp it looked like it was snowing, white bits of fluff covered the river it seriously looked like The clouds were falling out of the sky. This was also the point when we realized we were deffinetly on the first lake, High Rock lake. We finally arrived at the boat ramp at 12:15 and quickly unloaded gear and reloaded it on to the trailer along with the boats. Link was fast too
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Day 7 Blog post: Chelsea Preciado
I've learned on this trip that to truly open yourself to the experience, you must learn to accept the filth. I smell bad, my hair is dreading, I have cuts and bruises all over my body and I am having the best time of my life.
Happiness was found this morning when I woke up on a beautiful horse ranch listening to the birds outside singing. I'm getting used to being the first one awake in the mornings. I like the quiet and if you wake up right as the sun begins to warm the earth you can see this beautiful mist rising up off the.river.
This morning at Dana's farm I had the pleasure of washing my face in a sink and using a real bathroom. So quickly do we all forget how convenient modern facilities are, a porta potty has become luxury to us.
This morning we had pancakes for breakfast and even the latest of risers were up with their plates ready. We didn't get on the water until around 10:30. This was one of our longer days, 24 miles. I think our longest day is a 27 mile paddle. The river was beautiful, as always. We had a little rain but luckily, later in the afternoon, the sun came to warm us up.
Lunch was interesting today, all 15 of us were crammed on a tiny beach attempting to make veggie pita sandwiches, I opted for some PB&j - it was a peanut butter kind of day.
Our final take out was at the Boones Cave Park. It's a pretty small cave to have such a large park named after it but I must admit the surrounding area is beautiful. The take out was pretty steep so we left the boats in the water, tied to a tree, and hauled all of our gear up a massive wood staircase up to the pavilion where we would be spending the night.
We had fried macaroni and cheese with veggies for dinner. I swear I eat better on this trip than I ever did in the school cafeteria. Compared to yesterday, today was pretty relaxed. Once dinner was over we had a short briefing on what tomorrow would bring and then everyone broke out the sleeping bags and hit the hay. An employee of the park came by earlier to tell us to watch out for coyotes and bobcats. I set up my hammock with hopes of seeing some pretty cool wildlife tonight.
Well, it is late and we have an early morning tomorrow. So far the trip has far exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.
- Chelsea
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