Outdoor Adventure Trip Highlights!
Trip Report!
This week we had some awesome trips going climbing, paddling, biking, and hiking in beautiful places all over the Southeast. Just yesterday we had trips return from visiting 6 different states!
They were climbing the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, enjoying a brand-new whitewater park Montgomery, Alabama and another in Columbus, Georgia, paddling the Ocoee River in Tennessee, mountain biking at Tsali Recreation Area in North Carolina, and backpacking around Table Rock in South Carolina!
Check out this video that Head of Paddling, Max Feild, made about their first-ever trip to Montgomery Whitewater in Alabama:
5-Day Paddling Trip
Where else did the paddlers go on this trip? Tuesday (in the video above) was spent at the Montgomery Whitewater Park in Alabama, which opened to the public on the weekend of July 8th! Monday and Wednesday were spent in on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia, at the “RushSouth Whitewater Park” (the longest urban whitewater course in the world) and the “Chattahoochee Whitewater Park”.
On Thursday, the group went to the Ocoee River in Tennessee, a 93 mile long river in Cherokee National Forest, with class III-IV rapids. Finally on Friday, they ran a famous class V rapid on the Green River Narrows, known as “Hammer Factor”.
Red River Gorge Climbing
Meanwhile up in Kentucky, the rock climbers were enjoying some incredible slab climbing at the Red River Gorge in Daniel Boone National Forest. There are thousands of routes across hundreds of cliffs, and with grades from 5.4 to 5.14, there’s something for all skill levels. It’s a well-known climber’s paradise, and this crew got to spend 5 days exploring it!
Mountain Biking
The mountain bikers returned yesterday from not one but two trips! First was a day trip to enjoy some local flowy trails at Dupont State Forest. The other was a 3-day trip to ride in Tsali Recreation Area, in Nantahala National Forest. The weather was awesome, and the views of Lake Fontana from the trails were a great reward after some tough climbs!
Backpacking the Foothills Trail
In nearby South Carolina, Table Rock State Park is the trailhead for the Foothills Trail, an 80 mile scenic hiking trail throughout the Blue Ridge Escarpment. An escarpment is a geographical feature describing a steep slope off a plateau or a sudden elevation change. This happens just south of camp, as the mountains quickly drop off to the foothills of South Carolina. Because of this, we’re given some beautiful views down onto the surrounding land below.
Overall it was an awesome week for trips - and we’re not done with these adventures yet! Everyone is back on the mountain now enjoying the weekend, which we’ll tell you all about in tomorrow’s blog.