White Water Splashing and Mountain Falling Trip

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Crew:

What a fun weekend! We got off to a slow start because some folks forgot essentials like shoes, money, etc. but eventually got away. Stopped in Clayton for a Mexican fiesta and then on to the cabin in time for a quick camp set up and a rousing festival of twenty questions, card playing, etc. Up on time Sat. and away to Tsali for biking on time. Woo woo!! Most of us biked while a few picked the trail less traveled by and hiked. Nice trail and nice weather with relatively cool temps and overcast skies. After tackling our "spring" backpacking snow fest in April, Sameer was a seasoned veteran of the trail. Lots of excitement biking when Nathan decided to try off trail four wheeling. Since he only had two wheels on his bike, he decided to take Jake with him. First carnage of the day when Jake wound up with several lovely sprocket gashes on his calf. Advisor Don pulled a Henry Gibson and just fell over sideways into a creek. Fortunately I was almost at a dead stop so no real damage done. Unfortunately that gave me no excuse for falling. Chris and Adrian provided nice lessons in Leave No Trace. Nice lunch by the Nannie including some valuable Frisbee time. Not nice seeing that the water level was way too low for us to raft as we planned. Locals told us that the dam was not operating and that there might not be a release of water for the river as planned. We switched gears quickly and headed off to the Tuckaseegee River in Dillsboro. Miraculously, it rained on us on the way there, stopped as we prepared to take to the river, and rained again once we were safely ashore. Go figure. Much hi jinks on the river with water fights, the cutting of donuts, and assorted other silliness. Raft skippered by David and crewed by Chris, Mary and Jake received two parking tickets for camping on rocks too long and almost needed a tow on one occasion. Lily and Sam started many water fights. Matthew proved he could scoop great volumes of water with just a paddle. Kudos to all for mostly managing to stay in the rafts and to Vassi for ably piloting the raft on her first attempt. Back to the cabin for a wonderful meal of grilled Cajun chicken, red beans and rice, and salad all a la Jake. Much credit to Chris and Matthew for charcoal fire building and to Adrian and her spotted umbrella for protection from the elements during grilling. Everything cleaned up in time for lots more games and music. Early to bed for a tired Crew (esp. OF's). Early rise Sun. for our 8 hr. breakfast of meat, meat, and more. :>} Much fun with cleanup of every pan and utensil in the place. Congratulations to our Crew Goddess for successfully battling the egg pan. Cabin left in ship shape before our return to the church. Great job by Chris with assist by Jake in getting this organized. Many thanks to Mike for allowing us the use of the family cabin despite inherent risk to property and sanity. Special thanks to Paul, Vassi and Ganesh for their help throughout. With out them the trip would not have been possible. Thanks to all for pitching in to make this a really fun trip. Next time, Chattooga River or bust!!

Don W.
Advisor, Crew 149

Participating youth: Adrian A., Lily D., Mary E., David G., Chris M., Nathan P., Matthew S., Sameer V., Jake W., Sam W.
Participating adults: Vassi D., Mike M., Paul M., Don W., Ganesh V.  

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