Thursday morning i went out with John and Randy for a sunrise shoot just outside of Ridgeway, we got some pretty fall color with mountains in the background. While out with the boys I started to realize that I wasn’t feeling so great, and we opted to skip out on breakfast at True Grit to make our way back to the cabins. Once there i decided that i’d take the rest of the day off – i took a wonderfully long nap and bela and i laid low while the rest of the crew went off to Jimmy and Wendell’s for a tex-mex dinner. (and i believe there was fishing at Buddy’s as well as we had fish in the freezer that night)

Have you seen the Muffler Man?

Friday I was feeling better so bela and i decided to go geocaching. Neely and Jen went out with a local friend to go horseback riding and andy wanted to get a bike ride in. As it happened our first geocache happened to have the same name as the place andy wanted to start his biking. So as andy got his bike ready, we found our first cache in the area literally 50′ away. We made plans to meet up in a few hours and parted ways to our own adventures.

Our next cache was at the water reservoir near town. We made a quick side trek to the viewpoint – supposedly we could see all four states and i think we did see most of them… we enjoyed the view and moved on to find the cache fairly quickly right off the main road. The next cache ended up being behind a cemetery that had the coolest little outhouse. we didn’t go inside but i did take a few pics. Our final cache of the day was one of the best caches we’ve ever found – the muffler man. This was one of the craziest spots we’d ever been – this guy creates people and scenes out of old muffler and car parts. We were just mesmerized by all the scenarios he thought up – and then factor in there are goats all over and following us around. The goats helped us find the cache that was hidden right in the middle of it all. We wandered around and took pics of our favorite muffler concoctions.

We were about out of time so we headed back to town to meet up with Andy for a light lunch at the local coffee shop. Back at the cabin we enjoyed a quiet afternoon and it was decided to have a yummy final dinner of our fine local ingredients: freshly caught fish from Buddy’s pond and a puffball mushroom found in the neighbor’s field, in addition to some yummy garlic potatoes. Since the gals had been cooking most of the week, the boys were put in charge of cooking.

Things were just heating up when all of a sudden Jen asks if we’d seen Figgy (1 of her doggies). None of us had, and after John had been taunting us all week with the “better watch out or the coyotes will get them!” we were a little anxious to find Figgy. After an initial check around the cabin with no doggie, things started getting a little crazy. Everyone goes out to search – Bela opted to make sure the cabin didn’t burn down and watched the food and I took over with Fiona (Jen’s youngest), while she assured me she knew where Figgy was, as we kept wandering around the cabin looking and yelling for the doggie. Luckily Jen found Figgy a mile or two down the road on some private property and the search party was called off. Dinner was started up again and we all enjoyed our dinner with relief and a bit of sadness knowing we’d be heading out the next day.

Rock Art and Fine Dining

Saturday morning we finished our packing and got on our way to Albuquerque, waving goodbye to the family and wonderful cabins in the mountains. The drive went by fairy quickly, even with all 4 doggies. I have to admit i liked having the wee doggies – they seemed kind of kittie like sitting on our laps. We convinced andy and neely to make the side trip to Petraglyph Nat’l Monument – we weren’t supposed to have doggies so the kids dropped us off so we could do a quick look see. We enjoyed a quick trip around Boca Negra Canyon, which literally borders the city. There were some cool glyphs and some obvious graffiti but overall quite cool to see all of the rock art with a complete view of the city and mountains in the background.

We all opted to take an afternoon nap (actually i think andy may have gone for a ride/run but he’s crazy and we already know that) after checking in to our hotels. The doggies even had their own bed! The kids picked us up and we were on our way to a wonderful dinner at a little french place the urban spoon suggested. While enjoying the excellent food we also were entertained by the kids coming in for their homecoming dinners. We had great fun guessing who was with who and why they dressed the way they did – Neely did not approve of the hat at the dinner table! We found it pretty cool that our waiter was born in chicago but had lived in texas for a while but was now in ABQ – what are the odds of that!? Just another sign of a great trip we think!

We flew home on sunday morning while the kids finished their long drive to Austin. Overall a wonderful trip with great friends as always!

Tuesday morning we got up early and made our way to Moab, Utah – the outdoor mecca of .. well everything outdoorsy! We opted to find a hotel first and as luck would have it they had a computer with a printer in the lobby. With the weather being wonderfully comfortable in the high 60s and low 70s we had to change some of our plans a bit. We had planned to do some canyoning in nearby Arches NP but many of them had wet portions and we were not dressed for that. With our new routes in hand we made our way into Arches. After the obligatory stop at the visitor center (yes i had to get my stamp) we stopped fairly quickly and parked at the Park Avenue Trailhead to begin our first adventure – “U-Turn”.

This canyoning route took us up onto the mesa which required some scrambling and included all of our vertical rise in one fell swoop. The boys of course scampered up like they were walking on flat land, while Neely and i shared a bit of sense and took our time. The hot morning sun started beating down on us and we all stripped down to bare essentials – ok so i had leg warmers at one point – whatever it was easier than taking my shoes off! We had spectacular views from the top of the mesa. We could see for miles and got some great views that most visitors to the park will never get.

The boys were leading us and found our path to the first rappel. We had to cross a small path with drops on each side and even scramble up a bit more before we came to a canyon. We all got our gear on and rapped down – Neely even did it no handed !  just kidding – we thought we’d give her parent’s a small heart attack just for fun and it was only like 10′ from the lip of the cliff – she would have lived

We continue exploring the area quickly come to our 2nd rappel, which is an open space rappel so it was kind of fun…. you pop over the lip and just swing!

We landed on a fairly flat area that just had to be explored for a while. Now the whole time during this adventure, we’d all been commenting on the “balanced rock” which the route description had called Wile E Coyote Rock which we assumed was one in the same… only once we were walking towards it (after about 5-6 different mentions during the day til that point) Andy finally realizes what we’re talking about – we weren’t really sure what he thought we were referring to the whole time but it was like a bulb went off and he went off running towards it. sketchy bouldering followed as well as all of us taking our turns standing underneath it. no comment on getting down from the precarious stance (NEELY) haha! the boys had their fun as we were working our way back to our 3rd rappel. Andy spontaneously attempted head stands, while bela really took the grand prize by doing multiple hand stands on a rock outcropping. (oddly i wasn’t too freaked out, even with the drop-off 10 ft away)

One of my fave pics was on our return walk when andy’s hat flew off and i happened to catch it mid flight!

so our last rappel was the longest of the day at 75′ and i got to be the first one down, which was kind of exciting as the boys tend to take charge a lot. we enjoyed the short hike to the car at the trailhead and truly enjoyed the fact that we got to see a few of the features up close and personal. A great intro to canyoning – 2 hrs short and sweet!

After a yummy lunch and a few quick stops at the local climbing shop and hotel for a quick nap – we were on our way again. this time I’d put my request in to hike to Delicate Arch – one of the most famous arches of the park or possibly anywhere. Andy decided that he needed to get a good bike in so we parted ways at the trailhead and he went off for some real mountain biking fun. We had plenty of time before sunset and I wanted to see the petraglyphs near the trailhead. I’d only read a quick description and had all of us looking around in the brush trying to find them. We finally gave up and wandered upon a big sign just a 100 yards down the trail pointing the way to the glyphs. After the side trek to see them we started the 1 1/2 mile trek to the arch. It was mostly uphill but luckily included many pretty views and cairns to lead the way. There were quite a few people doing the hike as well but many of them were coming down (and miss sunset?!). We got to the top and basked in the view – getting the “i’m in an arch” picture and making many of the photographers anxious. Now being a photographer i can kind of understand some of the anxiousness but come on people – do you really need to freak out every time? Ok so the people camped out at the base of the arch were mildly annoying but they stayed in the shadows so it could have been worse. I decided to camp out to get ready for the nice light right before sunset and I was glad I did – many more people kept coming and ideal spots got more precarious as it got closer and closer.

We were entertained though – there was 1 woman who just had to keep checking to see where the sun was – this included her leaning very carelesly to keep peeking around the corner – 1 time almost falling – we held our breath on that one. There was this other couple as well- the woman kept forcing the man to pose for pictures with the arch in the background. What was awesome about it is that she made him do it at least 3-4 times and each time he wouldn’t smile at all – even the 1 time they did a timer and took a pic togther he wouldn’t smile then either.. we started making jokes regarding smiley man, maybe you had to be there But the best part was that we were just watching the sunlight on the arch and in 1 moment the shadow was gone – which is also when Andy popped up and joined us! He’d finished his bike ride and thought just maybe he could make it in time. He had people cheering for him, some saying “you can make it, hurry!” or some who never thought he would, but he ran and ran (and didn’t kill himself)… we think he just missed the sweet light but he did get to see it with a cool twilight sky and got a pic under it with neely – so we all thought it was well worth it and were so happy when he surprised us We finished the night with a dinner in town followed quickly but all of us passing out almost immediately back at the hotel.

Medieval Canyon Rules

Wednesday morning we chose another canyoning route that promised to be dry with a few longer rappels. The Medieval Canyon route started up at the Sand Flats where many of the mountain bikers go for the classic slick rock. We opted to leave the car at the “put in” (beginning) and left Andy’s bike at the “take out” for our shuttle back to the car. We weren’t entirely sure where the hiking began but apparently all of the drainages lead to the same general area .

We follow a series of canyons and most included small scrambles or small jumps to get around any puddles or brush (Neely had an awesome jump!). We come upon a slot with a steep rise on each side and we weren’t sure we could scramble up them – so bela started doing this crab crawl between the too walls and Neely and I followed suit. It was kind of fun, but as we found out shortly thereafter really not needed as Andy just hiked on up and took pics of us from the one wall top. Shortly after we come upon a cliff on one side and a slot with a dropoff into a pool of water. We didn’t think we needed to swim anything but we also weren’t sure just how deep this pool was or if there was any way to make it up or around. So Andy is well… Andy and he decided to scramble on down to see if he could determine the depth – let’s just say 1 whole leg was a bit soggy and we ended up scrambling (the most precarious scrambling we’d done so far) and ended up finding a rappell down into another canyon bottom that seemed passable and led us to a view of the pool and cliffs that we opted to go around.

Just a short hike further we come to our first major rappel into Medieval Chamber, a 100′ rappel into a slot canyon with 2 levels. The boys set up our ropes and Bela decides to head down first. We can’t see much from the top except a pool of water at the bottom, but we got updates from Bela as he made his way down. He yells up for clarification (is there another rappel? No, keep going! slosh slosh, whoah, hmmmmm, cool!, slosh slosh). Neely and I had heard all that sloshing around and Bela would only tell us that it wasn’t THAT wet. We both opted to go shoeless. I took the camera down with me and got views of the 2 pools of stagnant water, and the awesome view in general. I made my way down the first section and this is where the first sloshing came into play. The ropes led right into the pool – no way around it. I think all of us attempted some kind of pendulum to try to get to the opening to the second drop. The boys made valiant attempts, but still all of us ended up getting wet working our way over to the lip for the 2nd drop. Neely made some of the awesomest sounds during this section – hilarious laughing and squeaking – i don’t think i got all of it on video but i did catch some of her excited squeaks.

The 2nd section also went straight into a pool of water, but luckily Bela helped us gals not get too deep once we landed. Once down we could take in the sights – a small slot canyon leading out the back while the chamber itself was dark and cool- quite the opposite from the desert on top and out the back. Now none of us are rappel fans, but we all agreed that that had to be one of the coolest rappels ever. We could almost understand why people might only go rappeling if they were all like that – but of course we know that they aren’t all that awesome

So we literally walk out the slot into the sunshine and within just a few moments we’re at the top of Morning Glory Arch (which we’re told is really a bridge). We didn’t argue as we went to explore and walked on top of the arch and all around to scope out our rappel. We’d hoped to have 2 ropes so we could do a simul-rappel off the arch (one person on each side of the arch rappelling at the same time) but we didn’t so the boys set up our rappel from the side which meant we got a really cool view looking over at the arch.

While we were checking things out Andy’s hat blew off yet again, but this time went all the way down to the canyon floor – 100′ down. We hadn’t realized but there were hikers down there that had come from the Negro Bill Trailhead (where we’d left the bike) – they were quite confused when a hat came floating down! They yelled up to us and were concerned about how we’d get the hat back – but once our rope came down they figured out what was going on and were a tad bit jealous. We didn’t blame them as this was one cool rappel as well. Once you get over the lip it’s about a 90′+ drop in open space, we all took our time coming down to enjoy the view. Once down we retrieved Andy’s hat and rinsed our hands in a small natural spring that came out of the canyon wall (the ropes were a bit messy having just been in the water and mud from the chamber). Andy decided that since he had to the shuttle back to the car still that he’d get a head start and run the 2 miles back to the bike and power book it back to the car. We took our time knowing it might take him a little while, and enjoyed the hike back to the trailhead. We lost official count but we believe we crossed that creek at least 5-6 times and the trail seemed to be in every direction – a little confusing but quite green despite the desert setting. We decided to continue hiking along the road in the hopes of saving a little time on the shuttle run. Andy made great time and even hit the slickrock a little on the way back to the car – it seemed wrong not to!

Bela and I convinced Andy and Neely to try to do a geocache or two in the area as we started to head home- so we ended up doing a quickie one in town. I’m sure there are some cool ones in the area, maybe next time we’ll get some off the beaten path. We spent the afternoon driving back to CO, already reminiscing about our excellent canyoning adventures.

so it’s become tradition to head out east for memorial day. Typically for me (heidi) this means that i have to decide if i want to paddle with the chicago whitewater crew or do i join up with the old NIU climbing crew? Most years i let bela make my decision for me – its just easier that way   This year Bela had a ton of stuff to do at home (pics will be shown as well) so he opted to stay back – which meant that my main activity for the weekend would be paddling with a side trip in to visit WV and my climbing buds. Totally worth the 2 hour trek…

So my adventure began Friday morning at 3:30 AM, not so bright and sunshiney but that meant we’d get on the road at good time- no traffic and plenty of time to sneak in a paddle on the way. Kris was my only driving buddy due to some last minute changes (poor steve got meningitis and couldn’t join us- we were very bummed about this- but luckily he’s on the road to recovery). So after some waiting past his planned arrival time, we decide to give him a call- lucky boy was getting some extra sleep! So we got on the road a little later than planned but it all worked out as Mel’s vehicle (complete with a sleeping Cody) also took the long way around in Indiana (why is it we always get off route in Indiana??) and we were able to get our full caravan set without too much extra time.  I just had a thought- Jack was in Mel’s vehicle with Haley the magical GPS unit- hmm now i’m wondering why they got off track!

The ride out was pretty uneventful and we decided to paddle upper section of Slippery Rock Creek and we were able to meet up with Greg, Susan, Randy and Theresa to make a nice big group heading down the river. Levels were a little low but it was a beautiful day – finally no drytop! We had fun surfing and playing in just about anything we could find

We still had a bit to drive so after a yummy dinner we were off driving again deeper into PA to find our B&B and a good night’s rest. We stayed in a different B&B this year, we love the old one but it does have a train that tends to go by in the wee hours of the morning RIGHT next to us and the screeching can get annoying if you aren’t already passed out or aren’t using ear plugs. So we thought this year we’d enjoy the lack of train sound effects… I think di and I jinxed us because as we were just going to sleep we made the comment about getting good uninterupted sleep, what do we hear just an hour later?? a train of course, actually i think 2! tho at least these didn’t screech and weren’t nearly as close… PA has a ton of trains!

Most of us woke well rested and ready for a fun day of paddling. I opted to go to Seneca Rocks, WV to go climbing while the rest of the folks went to the Lower Yough. They met up with a huge group – Jack & Tina, Mike & George, and i’m sure i’m missing a few… sounded like a great day on the river for them.  Lots of playing at swimmers and no major epics.

I drove on down to Seneca and met up with the group at the campsite – lucky for me they had gotten in late and were sleeping in so i didn’t have to find my own way up to the climbing areas. They were suprised to see me at 9am but it actually wasn’t that bad considering the 3am wakeup from the day before- it felt like sleeping in to me too   So i forgot to put my request in about doing the closer, lower climbs on the day i’m there, so we hike up to the top of the ridge. They hiked, i plodded… with Netty and Neely just staying in site to keep tempting me to keep going. too out of shape but it’s all good- i blame it on the midwest hehe.

So i’m not even sure what climbs we set up- Andy set up a nice TR for us gals who wanted to take it easy, Karen led another right next to it. Joe, Scott and Karen ended up doing a cool multi-pitch that took them to the top of the fin- again i dont know which one but it was near the old ladies route.  We had fun taking pics of each other and just hanging out til the sun came over the ridge. This is where i was stupid and didn’t put back on my other shirt… i got a lovely burn on my back where i forgot to put on sunscreen…

I hiked back with Netty and we decided to play in the river – we hung out below the bridge just watching the strange river critters and mating froggies and cooling down a bit after the hot hike down. We decided then that we’d definitly drive next year- that hike back up is brutal after a long day in the hot sun.  i contemplated just staying in town so i wouldn’t have to hike back up to the campsites, but the rest of the group was up there so i sucked it up.  We ended up taking a nice little nap (more like girlie gab session) in the shade on our sleeping pads. Both Netty and i decided taht we wanted to be Neely as she looked like a model – even after a hot sweaty hike! (that andy is a lucky guy!)  we enjoyed a quiet afternoon waiting for the multi pitch team to return to do dinner by drinking wine and margaritas.

of course by this point i think i realized that i had a form of heat exhaustion or maybe my body didn’t appreciate getting burned so badly and decided to have its revenge… i went with netty to take a cool shower, now i only wanted cool, not freezing! no heat what so ever, but it did feel cool on my back for the 1/2 second i could stand to stand in it   thanks again to netty or helping me during my time of unpleasantness!  I ended up taking some advil and setting up our “bug hut” – our new mesh tent. fly-schmy. of course i was debating on that fly situation when i heard we might get storms but i was so comfy in my little hut that i just made a back up plan-  get in anyone’s tent if it starts raining.. i had lots of offers -it was quite nice. we taunted joe by saying i’d get in theirs but luckily i didn’t even have to decide as it was a lovely night with no rain (at least for us!). so we just hung out by the fire, eating pizza and passing out fairly early as everyone had a wonderfully long climby day

In the morning i had to head back, as i needed my day on the Lower too. On my way back i got sidetracked by pretty things- which tends to happen but i made myself stop for the good ones I scared the crap out of 2-3 deer who apparantly couldn’t jump over a wire fence so they tried to squeeze themselves through it – they finally did it but i have no idea how… the holes were like 8″ square. I also stopped for a cool looking barn with fog and then again at the top of a major hill/mountain for some wind turbines.. on just the other side i saw one of the most pretty views that i’d seen in a very long time. the hills were totally covered in big fluffy white clouds but with some of the tops just peeking out. it was hard to get a cool shot as they were kind of blocked by trees but i think it was still worth the stop

Back with time to spare, we packed up for the Lower while Kris packed up to take on the Upper!  We were all a bit anxious for him as it’s a bit harder than most of the rivers we’ve paddled but he looked super solid the day before so decided to go for it   I’m sure he’ll have his own write up but it sounded pretty cool (and he made it back alive, in 1 piece, with randy’s boat and my car all in perfect condition). The rest of us had a great day on the lower. Lori, Randy and Thersa joined us for the Loop. We were very proud of Theresa for making it through Entrance. We also decided that Randy will never lead her down Cucumber again- we’ve decided that Diana has that pleasure next year – no hero routes!

Speaking of hero routes, i think we’ve created a monster- or maybe cody has rubbed off on Bob – he’s a machine taking every hero route possible. We’re very proud of our Conant creations   the rest of us continued on and had a nice day surfing, playing, and just enjoying the river. I even attempted to get into Swimmers – just once it took too much energy to get up the stupid eddy! maybe next year i’ll get in more than once I was pretty happy with the day- i made my 1 goal- catch the eddy at river’s end next to snaggle tooth. i am pretty sure it was the first time!  As usual a great day on the river with good friends.

We got dinner and wandered through town for a bit before retiring for the night (and finally meeting the B&B owners). We all tried a beer Bob had brought – a belgian cherry ale.. i didn’t make the face! so that’s 2 now that i can drink…

Monday we got our usual yummy breakfast at the sisters cafe and decided to run the Loop one last time before we headed back. Jack and I opted out and decided to hike down to Cucumber to take pics. I saw a copperhead snake (we think) – i almost stepped on it! Luckily a couple warned me before i did, they ended up being from Chicago and actually an old CWA member- one of the originals! I absolutely love the small paddling world and chatted with him for some time before our group showed up. I took a ton of pics and jack and i ended up hiking back up to the falls to explore. by the time we had shuttled all the cars to the takeout our group was already walking up, so we were on the road home in very little time.

The drive back was also pretty uneventful – luckily we didn’t run out of gas this time!! Yay! actually we got super awesome mileage and didn’t really need to fill up on each stop – we’ll take those 2-4 gallon “top off” stops! nothing like spending a total of $90 in gas for the whole weekend (and that included both side trips for me and Kris!)

Now I forgot to mention what bela was up to the whole weekend. for some reason he can’t get anything done while i’m home (haha i wonder why!) so he ended up cleaning out our garage (much needed) and the office – putting in a new desk. he even got all the networking stuff setup correctly

after his days of cleaning and organizing he was enjoying some down time on the couch when all of a sudden he hears a “whap!” against the window. he looks out and sees a suicidal bird just lying on the ground, not really moving. he went out with some gloves to take a closer look and it seemed to be still alive. so he picked it up and it seemed to grasp his finger. so he took it to the front of the house and put it on a branch of our evergreen tree where it again grasped the limb and seemed to be able to stand up now on its own. he ran to get the camera and took a few pics as he petted it. he went to grab something again and this time on his way out when the door shut the birdie flew off. it was ok! which was good because he’d been considering what it would take to nurse it back to health hehe. we’re such animal suckers….

so we both had great long weekends, hope everyone else did too!  Full galleries can be seen of Seneca and Yough.

Larry and Christina were able to join us for our last day of paddling on the Ocoee. We’d heard a few horror stories about a certain rapid on this river so a few of us were a bit anxious but Larry, Christina and Pat knew the river very well and were really great about leading us down and giving us all the scoop on each rapid. Most of us put on just below Grumpies but there were plenty of more rapids to come. Our biggest problem was having to wait for all the rafts and there seemed to be a thousand. Each rapid had big bouncy water with a few fun moves to make while making our way down… Diana had a few run ins with a squirt boat and raft but being the rolling master she is was able to roll over the squirt boater and get out from underneath the raft with little effort.

Throughout the day we had a few rolls here or there (nothing like going through the biggest waves of the day backwards!) We took our time and played a bit where we could sneak in but mostly we just had fun going down the many rapids. Near the end of the river we came up on Hellhole, a steep surfing wave. We were impressed when bob hopped in and got in a great surf

i think everyone had a great day and really enjoyed this river. The scenery was beautiful, we had great people leading us through tricky rapids and all of us felt this might have been the best river we’d ever run… we’ll most definitely be back!!! We ended the night with a yummy mexican dinner in a nearby town whcih included the quickest visit to Georgia ever (Bob had never been). Finishing the night with our usual drive home and trek up to the cabin and quickly going to bed due to the late hour.

Our last morning in NC was a bit more mellow as we had a long drive ahead of us. We scouted out a park and play spot just outside of Sylva where we encountered some really pretty butterflies along the tuck river. We decided not to paddle so we could get home at a somewhat decent hour. The drive home went pretty quickly by playing whitewater jeopardy and passing the honest ball around the car

A Big thanks go out to all who came along – there’s really nothing like a great weekend of great whitewater paddling with a super group of people! Here’s hoping i can get down there again…

So the morning shed light on just how wonderful the cabin was (despite that evil driveway). The sun shone in on us and we were able to fully appreciate the lovely waterfall in the front yard and front porch overlooking it and the valley (pics in the previous post). We weren’t able to stick around to enjoy it for long as we had to get on the river!

Our river for the day was the French Broad. Many of us hadn’t paddled it before so it was going to be a fun day, especially with the much warmer water and the toasty day. The river is located about an hour and half north and east of Sylva but still in and around the Smoky Mountains. Every area we go to is more of the same, wonderfully green mountains (really very large hills) with very fun windy roads where i try to make folks sick with my driving haha. The putin is located in the small town of Hot Springs which also happens to be right by the AT (the nanty is also right off the AT) so we’ve been seeing a lot of through hikers which is kind of cool thinking about what they are attempting (and reminding me of Weeks).

(pat and his PB & DB which i was converted to after trying although i even added honey- PBHDP- mmm pickles!)
Our paddle was full of playspots for surfing and the usual stern squirts and bow stall fun. We ended up with a bit of a quandry as we got to what we thought was the half way point at 4pm. We’d been on the water for a few hours and we started to wonder just how much further we had to go. We asked a raft guide bus driver and he said we had 4-5 miles yet, which was suprising to us and made a few folks nervous. We decided to keep paddling and just push hard to make sure we were defintely off the river before sunset. We did hit a bit of a flat patch but since we were paddling so fast it went fairly quickly. All the rapids seemed fairly straight forward alhtough we did sneak the last one (a class IV). We made it to the takeout at about 6:00 so we really had nothing to worry about it!

Larry B had to take off for home to get back to his family, and we all were getting hungry so we decided to head to a cute restaurant we’d seen on the way to the river. I was driving up the windy mountain roads when all of a sudden i felt a strong stinging pain in my back, and i assumed i was stung by something. After making sure i didn’t drive us off the road, i had Diana and Steve check my back and put on Benadryl to the sting point as i tried not to kill us – as i was still driving during this whole process. After 10 minutes (of some more stinging) we arrive at GRITS (Girls Raised In The South) where we’d planned on having dinner. As I got out of my car i found the culprit to my pain – a wasp was crawling around my seat (still alive). I let him go – i didn’t hold it against him seeing as i how i probably sat back on him in the first place. The restaurant was supposed to close at 8 and we were lucky enough that they stayed open to serve us, so we got to enjoy some good southern cooking including yummy sweet tea, okra and friend green tomatoes! After a food coma induced drive back to Sylva, we put in our nightly hike up the driveway. Due to the late hour, most of us passed out within minutes for another good nights rest.