Spring break in North Carolina

I traveled to Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina with the Outdoor Club for spring break. Every year the Outdoor Club plans a trip to somewhere south of Alfred in order to experience the outdoors in all its beauty. This is a trip open every year to students with all levels of outdoor camping experience.

We left Alfred at midnight on Friday, some of us more mentally prepared for a 14-hour drive than others. Several stops and four tanks of gas later, we pulled into a heavily wooded park with no cell phone service, no internet and nothing but fresh air. This was a shock to some, including me. Life would now be without any college essentials.

Once we pitched our tents and picked our tent buddies, we came to the sudden realization that we would be living, eating and sleeping with the same people for a week. I heard a few mutterings of, “Oh, we’re sleeping on the ground?” and ”That’s what we’re eating?” Many of us were absolute strangers to one another and it felt like New Student Orientation all over again.

We didn’t drive 14 hours to sit around and make s'mores on the campfire, though. Activities planned for the week included hours of white water rafting on the Nolichucky River, zip-lining through the trees of the Great Smoky Mountains and for those of us who wanted the true camping experience, a three-day, 30-mile backpacking trip.

As one can imagine, the water in any river in early March is less than comfortable. Once we donned wet suits, splash jackets, helmets and life vests, we were ready to battle the category three and four rapids in teams of four to six people. As we waded into the water and mounted our self-bailing rafts, the 42-degree water sent chills down our spines and reminded us that this was serious. The rapids came early and often, splashing us with spray. Fortunately no one had to be rescued from the water (unlike last spring) and a good time was had by all, despite some cold feet.

While I had previously been rafting, I had never experienced zip-lining before, so I was very excited for it. An hour and a half drive only prolonged the butterflies in my stomach and kept us waiting and wondering what it would be like. Once all 15 people were strapped in, we started giggling like five-year-olds. The feeling of flying in the trees is so unnatural, but so much fun. It was a great experience, and one I highly recommend.

Only three members of the group departed midweek on a three-day hiking trip through the forests of Pisgah, myself included. With a detailed map, a 40 plus lb pack and some useful advice from a well informed forest ranger, we set out. Day one consisted of roughly 10 miles of snow, slush, fallen timber, Black Mountain, switchbacks and fording a river. Dinner always tastes better if you’ve worked for it and that night, we worked for it. Hot dogs cooked over a camp fire with extra spicy mustard–yum! Gourmet fare out on the trail.

Day two started out the same as day one, but soon took a turn for torment, despair and misery. We knew that rain was in the forecast, and soon the clouds opened up and drenched us. Starting at 10 a.m., it rained until we finally made contact with a shelter seven hours later. As you can imagine, everything was wet–not only the clothes on our backs, but the clothes and supplies in my backpack as well. My fellow hikers had packed their clothes and sleeping bags in trash bags. What a novel idea! Getting warm that night was a task in itself when everything I was wearing was damp.

Day three began at 6:30 a.m. and we decided that because of how the previous day had ended, we would cut our hike short and make for a ranger station three miles east of our shelter instead of huffing back to camp nine miles south. Our map was our best friend and we found the station without a problem. With dirty, wet, smiling faces, we bummed a ride back to base camp and recovered enough to sit through 14 hours of travel back home to Alfred.

If you would like to participate in the Outdoor Club, you can e-mail forest@alfred.edu for more information or come to our weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. in the Kenyon-Allen room in Powell.