Return to Linville Gorge

So I went to Linville Gorge again this past weekend, but this time not alone.
This time I took four other friends (2 fellas in the Q-Course with me and two girls from Athens, Georgia) and once again the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Friday, we met up in Linville Falls, and hiked in late that night around 10:00PM utilizing our handy dandy Army Night Land Navigation skills. I knew all that wandering we did at SFAS would be useful out in the civilian world someday. Upon our arrival to our designated point we made our bivouac site on a cliff overlooking the entire gorge, and roasted S'mores over an open fire. After some meaningless banter, jokes, and lots of chocolate the girls pitched their tent, and the fellas slept in the open (which ended up being very cold, but incredibly beautiful). Do you like sunrises and sunsets? Me too, but I think I am more of a fan of the Moonrise. I can't really say which is better because they are such contrasts, but certainly the moon hasn't gotten its fair share of respect. When I first went to sleep it was pitch black out, but when I woke up to a cool breeze at about two in the morning the moon had sneaked its way out to spy on me. I was in awe. The moon makes the forest smile at night, and the sounds that accompany it at such hours make those info-mercial nature CD's sound like cheesy Halloween sound effects tapes. Yeah, I'm definitely a fan of the moon. I'm more of a night person anyway, so that may explain it too. Anyhow- the next morning we got up, ate, made a cup of Joe, enjoyed the (overrated) sunrise, and headed down into the gorge. Jessica almost fell of the cliff at one point while trying to climb over a tree on the trail. She is a tiny little thing standing at a mere 5'0 tall and a hundred pounds (though I'd argue she's 4'10 pushing 95lbs) so when a branch that she was bending back decided that it didn't want to be bent, it literally just started pushing her off the edge of the trail where a 1900 foot fall awaited her. Fortunately, she had a vice grip on that branch and my buddies who were pulling rear security snagged her back. That probably would have been the most dangerous moment we experienced for the weekend until... we arrived at our new bivouac site later that afternoon only to find that every single get 'er done redneck trout fishermen in Western North Carolina had come out this weekend with a sidearm on his belt. It was so strange looking down the river and watching every single guy fly fishing all decked out with the normal vest, net, hat, and then.... a ballistic weapon?!. It made the girls a little nervous, and my buddies Brendan and Norm who are from California and Wisconsin just didn't get it. I wasn't too surpised because I'm from Mississippi, but it was still a site I'd never seen before. The rest of the weekend included swimming, fires, napping, a broken fishing pole, fires, lots of food, and did I say fires? Rebecca and Jessica did really well for their first time backpacking, and my Army buddies and I were quite impressed as we didn't know what to expect. The girls later told me that it was definitely very difficult, but worth it; and that they look forward to doing it again. I was so proud. Don't you love introducing friends to new things? It's ten times cooler when they end up actually liking it. Let's hope they weren't just being polite. So, that was my weekend at a glance, and I would have written sooner, but we just began Trauma Lanes this week back at the Q course. Let's just say that the days of the walking hematoma have returned once again. More on that tomorrow...