Virgin Falls, A Weekend to Remember!
LyttleBryan June 29th, 2009
Man, where do I even start with this post? This weekend contained just about everything ranging from perfect weather and lots of fun to a poison snake bite that made for a hasty exit on Sunday. It was so much fun that I’m still high on life from it. First and foremost I would like to wish Guen and Maya very happy birthdays! They both celebrated earlier in the month and this trip was planned because of them. Okay on to the events..
This little trip had been planned for the better part of two months so I know most people were really looking forward to it. It started on Friday when Tim, Jay, Guen, Myself, and Maya met at Tim’s house to carpool down to the Bridgestone Firestone Centennial Wilderness Preserve. We got there about 1:30 and began making our way down. The day was hot, but the trail had quite a bit of tree cover that made for a pleasant hike. I went to Virgin Falls back in March and the area was almost indistinguishable. The amount of green was breathtaking and it was a completely different experience. I had gotten my new camera that morning so I was excited at the picture prospects all the beautiful foliage and trees offered. I definitely wasn’t disappointed! We made it to Big Laurel Falls in what seemed like the blink of an eye. After spending around 45 minutes cooling off under the falls and exploring the cave behind it we got back on the trail and kept going. Once we got to the split fork that leads to either the falls or the campsite Guen, Tim, and Jay broke off to setup camp while Maya and I went to visit the falls. The falls were definitely much much smaller than they were in March. I don’t mean in size of course, but volume. I won’t post the comparison pictures because I think it takes away from the pictures form this trip, but it was interesting to note the difference despite the record amounts of rainfall we’ve seen. After Maya and I did some small exploring of the area we made it back to camp and began setting up. Well, we first dove into the river that was 15′ from our camp, and THEN began setting up! It was awesome. The campsite is so ridiculously awesome for a summer camping trip. We’d only been setting up camp for about an hour when Nick and Jennifer caught up from their late start. The night went by peacefully with various swimming, hammock relaxing, and eating activities. Nick made a new back country meal that was definitely worth mentioning. He took small 8″ pre-made pizza crusts (think pita bread) and used canned chicken, cheese, pizza sauce, sundried tomatoes, and mushrooms to make some absolutely amazing pizza. This wasn’t just good for a back country meal, this was good for ANY meal. Props to Nick for the awesome dinner! There are some pictures of the pizza below so take a look! The rest of the night was spent swapping campfire stories and a moonlight swim before we all got to bed around midnight or so.
Saturday started with a nice lazy breakfast of scrambled eggs with Gouda in tortilla shells. It was an awesome way to start the day. After cleaning up from breakfast we all loaded some day packs and made our way up to Virgin Falls to begin a day of exploring. The smaller volume falls allowed us to get down close to the falls and even get behind them. It’s pretty awesome to see where the water flows after it comes down. I didn’t quite escape the day unscathed. While trying to shimmy down a crevice in some rocks my hand hold broke and I sliced my hand up pretty good. It wasn’t too bad, but left some pretty nasty cuts on my hand and provided quite a bit of entertainment every time I used hand sanitizer on my hands. While at the falls our remaining party member, Kristina, finally made it to the site. While Tim went to help her setup we made our way up to Sheeps Cave to do some exploring. It was really cool in the cave, and I don’t just mean in the awesomeness factor. Caves are 65 degrees year round and compared to the 90+ that it was outside, it was VERY COOL inside. We found some really nice cave art and got to see some cave critters as well. After caving we made our way back to camp and then proceeded to swim for hours and hours and hours. I think the swimming was really my favorite part of this entire trip. The proximity of this campsite to such a nice swimming area can’t be beat. We pretty much spent the rest of the day alternating between eating, relaxing, and swimming.
I have to say that a three day backpacking trip is so much better when you don’t actually go anywhere on the second day. One of the things that can be kind of tiresome is having to constantly setup and breakdown camp. Having a nice place that you can go and then stay for a day or two is a very welcomed change and allows you to really enjoy the area and spend quality time with people you love.
Sunday morning started with a boom and ended with much excitement! I was awakened around 7:30am with the news that Jay’s dog Jake had been bitten by a snake and Jay was carrying him out. While Jay began making his way up the trail we all very rapidly broke camp and made haste to try and catch up to him. Unfortunately he took a wrong turn and in doing so we passed him. It was quite exciting and concerning, but fortunately everything turned out okay and Jake is now resting at home. It was definitely an off-beat way to end Sunday, but I learned just how much our group can band together when we have to. I’m sure we could have handled things a little better, but hindsight is always 20/20. All in all this weekend was about as perfect as any of them I’ve ever been on. Thanks all!
Okay I know this is what you’re all really here to see, so have at em! Not all of them are mine so they are of varying resolutions and quality.
