What Goes Up, Must Come Down!
We’re well into the second week of Main Camp, so trips are in full swing! On Wednesday, I was able to join one of the mountain bike day trips to Dupont, led by counselors Josh Gilpin and Hays Edmunds. With the threat of rain on the horizon we had our rain jackets accessible, but luckily we were spared and saw nothing but sunshine all day!
John-Cannon led our “M Check” before we departed, making sure we all had properly functioning bikes and were ready to roll. The planned route had us starting with a long climb by the well known “triple falls” in Dupont. We had a wide range of campers, with the youngest in Cabin 3, and the oldest in Cabin 35, but everyone was feeling the burn up the initial hills! Though it’s not always the most fun at the start, beginning a ride with a climb means that we get to end with the fun part - the downhill! George was the youngest, but that didn’t hold him back at all - at only 10 years old, he was making older boys work hard to keep up with him!
Huck was also on the previous day’s Dupont trip, and enjoyed it enough to sign up again today. Being from Texas, he says he doesn’t mountain bike much at home, but enjoys the challenge. John-Hayden is from Bentonville, and got into riding more after moving there. He’s been coming to Falling Creek for 3 years, but this is the first summer he’s gone on mountain biking trips “I just thought it would be fun to try,” he said. He was also on a Dupont trip yesterday, and returned again today!
We began in the Lake Imaging parking lot, and the highlight of the morning was the descent down Locust Trail and the rock garden on Isaac Heath Trail. After a fun morning of riding and working up an appetite, we took a lunch break at Lake Imaging to enjoy chicken sandwiches, apples, and oreos, before hopping back on the bikes.
It was a little more difficult to get going after a nice big lunch, but the trails were calling! Benjamin works at a bike shop back home in Nashville, and his passion for the sport was apparent during our day trip. His knowledge of bikes and handling skills were helpful as we rode, and he was happy to offer tips to other campers. Roy is still trying to get to 200 miles this session, and Max is trying to get his Warrior this summer, which means he needs to ride 150 miles in one session. We added 11 more miles to their tallies today!
By the end of the afternoon, everyone was feeling fatigued from the busy day of riding. However, it was a great lesson on hard work always paying off. Everyone knows that what goes up, must come down, and as we headed towards our final long climb of the day, we were all eagerly anticipating the long descent back to the van.
We were planning to finish with Hickory Mountain Loop, a trail loop that begins with a challenging climb and ends with a fun and steep downhill, ending at Ridgeline (and making the final descent down Ridgeline trail even longer!) However, since it was a loop, it was tempting to skip it and just go for the descent down Ridgeline. Raines was feeling especially tired, and wanted to hang back and skip the final loop with a few others. However, he was convinced to go for the final effort, and dug deep to reach the top. It was a great feeling to reach the pinnacle of the climb, and he displayed great Warrior Spirit for not giving up when things felt difficult!
As we tore down the backside of the mountain and relished every moment of the descent, all the feelings of fatigue melted away. John-Cannon got to the bottom of Ridgeline and declared, “this is the best trip I’ve ever been on!”, completely forgetting about how much he had disliked the initial climbing. At the base of the downhill, spirits were high and smiles were on everyone’s faces.
Mountain biking often reveals how satisfying it can be to work for a reward. You can’t enjoy the descent without enduring the climb, which is true for many things in life. After 11 miles of trail, and almost 1500’ of climbing, these campers certainly earned their reward! In this case, it was the fun mile and a half of pure downhill, followed by a bag of cheez-its at the van on the way home. We’re looking forward to many more great trips (and hidden life lessons) over the next couple of weeks this session.