Nantahala Summer Trip - Days 7 & 8 - Old Forest, Dragon Tail, Wild Cave , and HOME!

Evan and Michael here. Today is Friday, we woke up a 6:00. We ate and packed up camp. We started our day at Joyce Killmer Memorial Forest and hiked 2 miles there. We saw trees so tall and wide that some trees took 6 scouts to wrap around it. After that awesome hike we got on the road… and got lost again. We were trying to get to the cave we were going to sleep in without dragging all the cars and the trailer on the Tail of the Dragon- a dangerous road. We ended up doing it though. At The Tail of the Dragon we saw lots of exotic cars… stuck behind the uhaul and Big Blue. It was fun maneuvering the curves and sliding side to side. It was also fun watching Big Blue rumble through all 318 curves to. Congrats to Mr. G four successfully navigating the Tail of the dragon… while hauling a u haul. When we got to the cave we changed into our cave cloths and met our guides. We drug all of our camping gear into the cave and got started. We were doing a high adventure tour through tight places in the cave. Each tight spot was called a crawl. The crawls were rated 1-5 5 being the hardest we did a 1 a 2 a 3 and two class 5s luckily none of us got stuck to bad and we all got out of the crawls. We slept in the cave and it felt very nice in there.

Saturday

We had wake up call at 6:15 today. We then packed and drove to Hardee’s for breakfast I personally (Evan here) had a sausage biscuit with hash browns. I slept most of the way, but woke up at the rest stop. When we got to the scout house we unpacked the trailer and Mr. G got a T- shirt saying he drove across the Tail of the Dragon with the trailer. That is the end of this 2014 summer trip.

Where will 2015 take us?

 

 

 

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Nantahala Summer Trip Day 6 - A Day at Camp

Yo what up, this is Patrick and Ben speakin.’ Today was one of those days that we stayed at the campsite. Though it was fun, we went canoeing to Mystery Island and went rope swinging, after that we had lunch (sandwiches, pudding, animal cracks, celery, etc.) Then we went to the park and played tag and then rested.

It’s Ben here. After we had had a nice rest, a group of us paddled the canoes back to a beach to put them back onto the trailer. The next part of our day was making different flavor cobblers. Following that, we got to have a great dinner! Our dinner tonight was very large burritos made by ourselves. After dinner was finished, we got to enjoy our wonderful tasting cobblers. Our three cobbler flavors were, chocolate strawberry, chocolate cherry, and apple, Seamus , Declan, and Mitchell’s cobbler won the competition we were having. Now as I am writing this, we are watching some great skits and listening to Michael tell some jokes. Now we will be heading to bed and getting up for another great adventure!

Nicknames for this year’s Summer Trip:

Patrick G. = Evil Eyes

Seamus S. = Broadway
Mr. Cu = Twitch
Luke C. = Cracken
Evan A. = Voltage
Mr. A = Santiago
Matt H. = Guppy Jr.
Mr. H = Judy Moody
Mrs. M. = Rocky
Mitchell M. = Big Brother
Declan B. = Frog Whisperer
Mr. P = Tough Nut
Matthew K. = Giggle Fits
Liam S. = Jolly
Ben P. = Blue Boy

p.s. nicknames for the Meiman participants will be saved until the next meeting that they attend as their early departure prevented their participation tonight.

 

 

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Nantahalla Summer Trip Day 5 - Springer Mountain, Ga.

     Liam and Mitchell here to tell you about North Carolina 2014 Trip Day 5. Today was a hike on the Appalachian Trail and Benton Mackaye Trail. The day started with reveille, a wakeup call on a bugle, played by Mr. K at se

ven thirty. I, Liam, said a prayer at seven forty five and breakfast followed.  After breakfast we packed our lunches and headed for the trail.

 After car ride filled with Harry Potter movies, jokes, and a few sing along songs we arrived at the trail. We started on a six mile hike, and after one mile of hiking the Appalachian Trail we arrived at Springer Mountain. After twenty minutes of enjoying the scenic view we backtracked three tenths of a mile to the Benton Mackaye Trail and started hiking. About a quarter of the way down the five mile trail to the parking lot we stopped for lunch. As we finished laying out the food four army men with huge guns came up to us. Don’t worry they were just checking for hikers because they were about to do a training exercise. After they left we had lunch. After lunch Evan entertained us with some interesting trivia questions about the Appalachian Trail. We started on our way back to the parking lot, but not before another scenic view, some scout advancements, and a huge magnolia forest. After about three miles in the forest we finally arrived at the cars.  Shay and Mitchell, who were ahead, bolt for the cars like Spartan Warriors.

      After the long car ride home we went canoeing and fishing in the lake. Luke R. finally caught a fish and then we had coneys for dinner, and told stories around the fire. A special shout out to Mrs. Cu for her wonderful cookie crumble and to the Mr. Gr for their pudding and animal crackers. This is Liam and Mitchell signing off.

 

 

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Nantahala Summer Trip Day 4 - Gem Mines and Zip Lines

Hello all, Matthew K. and Luke C. reporting. Today we got up at 6:00 *sigh*. We drove down to Mason’s Sapphire and Ruby Mine. Once there, we went to the designated digging areas and filled 2 buckets of dirt each. Then we headed to the sluicing/panning station to filter the dirt from the rocks. Once we were done sifting, we had a supervisor come and check for any sapphires or other minerals. Our top finder was Mr. H. with 12 sapphires! After the digging and sifting, we worked on the geology merit badge with the head supervisor and Mr. C. We got to sift through pre-selected rock and mineral buckets. Those included other various minerals such as emeralds, rubies, garnets, assorted quartz, etc. We then ate lunch (enough said.)

After we ate lunch we drove to the zip-line adventure park, and Evan was sitting by the water. He saw a water snake and jumped back about 5 ft! Then we proceeded to the zip-line adventure park. We started at the ropes course. There were 2 levels of the ropes courses. Each level was different. The first level included a giant spider wed, bridges, tightropes, and swings. The second level was slightly more advanced, but contained many of the same obstacles. Everyone did the courses at least 3 times each! The regular zip-line included an incredible scenic view and Parker G. and Shay S. invented a new term, “stunting”, which included making cool poses while riding the zip-line.

Dinner tonight was a special surprise! We were told that it was liver and onions, but in reality it was pizza hut!!!!! Everyone feasted on pizza and laughed at each other’s jokes. It was an amazing night to conclude an amazing day. As a last note, we are now eating cake to celebrate June birthdays. Happy birthday to Luke R. and Matt. H.

 

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Nantahala Summer Trip Day 3 Whitewater Rafting

How you doin’? I hope you’re doin’ well because we certainly are! This is Shay reporting our wonderful day on the rivers! Our day began with Mr. K playing reveille at 6:00 (very early to those of us who were up after midnight I might add) and a breakfast of pop tarts and cereal. Then half of our group departed at quarter after seven to go whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River. The other half left around 8:30 for the Ocoee River. Finally, the Wiley’s and Grandpa P. sacrificed their day and stayed behind to stain the picnic tables we built as a service to the troop that allowed us to stay here. I went on the Ocoee so I’ll be reporting that half, and Patrick and Declan will be along later to bring you the story of the Nantahala.

The Ocoee group got up to the river at about 9:30. And then we got to wait for about an hour and a half for the guides to arrive (they had an accident). After that is was smooth (actually not so smooth) sailing for the rest of the day. In other words, we had a blast! With the class III and IV rapids, we were constantly soaking wet. The guides were very experienced and a ton of fun! Most of us didn’t fall out, but some of us fell in multiple times *ahem Mr. Cu cough cough hint hint nod nod wink wink*, and then some us BROKE the PADDLES (Luke Cu.). Another one of those people who fell in was Michael. The younger Scouts finally learned where he got his nickname, Banshee. Anyway, we went down the river twice. The river was full of hydraulics (mini whirlpool waterfalls) and rocks. About halfway down there was a concrete tunnel that channeled a small creek into the river. The water ran about an inch high in the 15 foot wide tunnel, and we formed what the guides called a “butt dam.” Basically, we all sat down as close as possible to each other in the tunnel the water build up to wash the others into the river. It was awesome! After our final trip down the river we reluctantly changed into dry clothes and said goodbye to our wonderful guides. Most of us fell asleep on the car ride home. Now here’s Patrick and Declan to report on the Nantahala rapids.

Patrick here. If you rode the Nantahala River (Nantahala in Cherokee means River at midday) you wore a wet suit (looked like tights), a life jacket, and a helmet, and yes you looked really manly in the tights. When we got up to the rapids, Parker, Mr. Kane, and I flipped over but we were brave to stick it out. Anyway in the end we had a blast and that group had a great day.

               Hey this is Declan here. I’m trying to be a bit more specific about the Nantahala river journey. We first went down some class II and class III rapids in big 12 foot long and 5 foot wide rafts with our guides. Many battles of splashing and crashing into each other ensued. At one point one of the guides threw some of our scouts out of the raft. I was not one of them. Afterword we donned our manly-tastic skintight wetsuits and descended into our individual ducky (inflatable kayak). I was pretty good at piloting the birdies and the day flew by in an instant. After a good meal some of us went swimming and canoeing. Halfway out into the lake I found a small leech on my leg. I named him Henry and had him removed. That is about all that happened today and I hope you all come back tomorrow. Have a nice day.

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Nantahala Summer Trip - Day 2 Siler's Bald

Hello everyone following our Boy Scout Troop, Troop 820. Today for our lovely bloggers are Parker G. (a.k.a. Chuck) and Matt H, with Parker G. starting off. So today we started off with a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy with sausage. (Kudos to Ben, Evan, Patrick, and Mr. S, the food was great) After we departed the campsite (a little late, of course), we trek on to the scenic Winding Stair Gap. From there, we snap a few pictures with some Appalachian Trail beginning. Let’s just say, another 4 hours uphill, we finally arrived to the peak called Siler's Bald, but it was completely worth it. The view was just stunning, you could see others mountains for miles, and a cell tower in the distance on one hill. We start our journey back down the hill toward the cars and civilization. The troop flies down the hill with renewed vigor and steadily makes good time down the treacherous slope.

And now we have Matt H.…

So, on the hike down Luke R., Ben P., Seamus S., and Parker G. all went back to encourage Jarrett M. to accomplish the difficult hike. When we got back, we ate spaghetti and meatballs. After dinner, Evan A., Luke C., Mr. A., Mr. H., Mitchell M., Liam S., Jarrett Mi., and myself all got in the water and swam around for about 45 minutes. After about 30 minutes of swimming Liam, Evan, Luke, Mitchell, and myself flipped over one canoe and created an air pocket before heading into the air pocket and did that for the rest of the time.

Signing out,

Parker G. (Chuck) and Matt H.

Nantahala Summer Trip - Day 1 (for real)

Good Morning fans of Troop 820!!! Wiley and Evan here reporting today’s events. Before I forget, a big shout out to Master William and his family as well as a shout out to Claire. We started off the day by arriving at the Scout House at 8:00. We scouts helped out in eating the doughnuts and with loading the trailer with our gear. Right before we departed, we had Deacon Bane give us a blessing and we were on our way….somewhat!! We got into our cars and Mr. A’s car would not start. So we waited to get his car started and we were finally on our way to North Carolina. Not too long after we left, we get a call from Mr. G and surprise…..one of the tires on the trailer ran flat. So the trailer pulled to the side of the road while the rest of us continued onward to our destination…which, for now, was a gas station. When we arrived to the gas station, the Scouts got the opportunity to buy candy and snacks and maybe a drink. I personally (Wiley here) bought 2 drinks and a pack of gum. Then Luke R. introduced me to something I haven’t seen in a long time…….candy cigarettes. So all the Scouts pretty much got one to try and we then departed to our Lunch destination. At lunch, the group that was ahead scouted an area and we held it until the rest of the group got there to eat lunch. Us scouts got to play around with some Frisbees and we played a round of cards until we got lunch ready. Now to tell you about the events after lunch is Evan! This is Evan A. blogging which I think might not be a word. When we finally got to the campsite after like five hours we saw the Curry’s. We followed them down to the amazing campsite. When we all got there we started unloading the trailer. After all the stuff was unloaded, we started assembling the tables. We found out that the people who made the tables weren’t really thinking when they did. We had to take apart the tables multiple times. The dinner was the best campout dinner I have ever had. It was chicken fingers, salad, and french fries. We had brownies for dessert. We were being lazy and just bought them. We hope for a better day tomorrow. Signing off.

Nantahala Summer Trip Day 1 - Stutter Start: Our Adventures

Hi all, Couldn't wait to share the details of or trip so far.... ...Before we left the Scout House we had we had a blessing from Deacon Bayne. Also, Mr. Kane played reveille on the bugle. While everyone was about to leave, we needed to jump Mr. Alexander's car to get it to start. After departing on our journey we had a bit of a mishap. While we were fixing the weight distribution of the trailer, we noticed that we had a flat tire. So now we are waiting in a gas station parking lot, waiting for U-Haul to get here to bring us a replacement tire. We will try and keep you posted as more news comes available. -Ben and Parker

Nantahala National Forest, NC. 2014

The Scouts and Scouters of Troop 820 are busily preparing for SUMMER TRIP 2014!

Soon this site will be filled with descriptions, pictures, and stories from our adventure.

For now, we will all have to be contented with a sneak peek at the agenda:

• Sat, June 14 - Depart the Scout House and arrive at Chatuge Lake/Clay County Park
• Sun, June 15 - Hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) to Silers Bald. (10 mi)
• Mon, June 16 - Whitewater Rafting on the Nantahala and Ocoee Rivers
• Tue, June 17 - Gem Mining/Geology Merit Badge at Mason's Ruby and Sapphire Mine
• Wed, June 18 - Trailhead visit and hike the AT at Springer Mountain, GA. (10 mi)
• Thu, June 19 - Relaxing Day at Camp! Canoeing, Swimming and Geocaching Merit Badge
• Fri, June 20 - Break camp and head to Joyce Kilmer National Forest, NC and end up at Lost Sea Cave, TN for a wild cave tour and overnight.
• Sat, June 21 - Heading Home!

Come back to the blog often to see how your scouts (and the adults) hold up during the adventure!

Canoeing campout at the Bob White Club - May 2014

The troop had fun earning the canoeing merit badge at the Bob White Club.  We camped May 30 - May 31st and had a beautiful weekend  Thanks to Mr. Stark for being our Merit Badge counselor for Canoeing and to Mr. Kessans for allowing us access to the Bob White Club.