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.

 

If you cannot see the slideshow above the link to the picture album is:

 https://picasaweb.google.com/101710324417913068893/20140617