On Saturday, July 20, 2002, members of Venture Crew 378 sent out on our second annual Super Activity. This year, we drove to West Virginia for two days of backpacking and two days of whitewater rafting on the New River. We left the Terrytown A&P at 6 am and it only took to New Orleans East to see some excitement, the Reeves' white van, which carried the majority of people and personal gear, overheated. So the group turned around and picked up the Reeves' new Jeep Liberty and shuffled a people people and some gear around. The crew stay in Georgia's Cloudland State Park in the northeast corner of the state just outside of Chattanooga, TN were they ran into Crew 48 from Metairie, LA who was just starting off their caving and climbing super activity.
The next day, the crew drove to West Virginia where they would reside for the next six days. Before setting up camp at Camp Creek State Park just south of Beckley, WV, the group checked out the New River Gorge Bridge and visitor center with its grand view of the bridge and the river.
Monday morning, we set out on the Glade Creek Trail. After about 2.5-3 miles, we dropped packs in the rain and hiked another 2.5 miles to a waterfall where members proceed to enjoy the cold water and fall on their rears. Back at camp, we ate dinner, relaxed by a fire, and burned a few socks. The next morning, we hiked out of the woods just before lunch and drove to the Klaymore Mine Trail. Along the two-mile trail, we stopped at two abandoned coal mines for some cool air. At the end of the trail, we descended down a flight of 819 stairs and a steep trail down to the bottom of the New River Gorge, only to see a train track and climb back up the 819 stairs and back down the 2.5 mile trail. After finishing the hike, we drove to Rivers Whitewater Resort just up the road and setup camp.
Wednesday morning, the crew got up and prepared for the whitewater rafting trip. We met our two guides, Chaz and Rob, watched a safety video, and got equipped with our helmets, life jackets, and paddles. Once on the river, the people in the duckies were given quick instructions on how to navigate in them. At one point on the river, we were allowed to jump off a 10 foot rock just before enjoying our deli buffet lunch. After four or five hours of paddling and burning our legs under the sun, we stopped and camped on a beach for the night. We played in the water, trying to defy the laws of nature by walking upstream against the current, and had a wonderful steak dinner before going to bed on the sandy beach.
Thursday, we were all awoken to a train whistle at 6:45 in the morning, which was only the sixth train to go by throughout the night. After breaking camp, we had a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage, and biscuits. We set out to raft the lower portion of the river about 8 o'clock. After 30 minutes of paddling, the people in the duckies had to switch out for the bigger rafts. Then we hit our first class 4 rapids of the day. We tried to surf the rapid, but only one of the two boats in our group could do it while waiting for the day trip rafts to come. After surfing a bit, one of the rafts got to tow another outfitter's raft and guide out after a bit too much surfing. By lunchtime, we hit between 5 and 10 class 3-5 rapids. After lunch, we hit the biggest and most dangerous rapids, including the only 5+ rapid named Double Z. We were also able to jump off another rock, this time a mere 18 foot rock. At the end of the river, Erica and Annie got to "ride the bull"; they held on to a strap in the front of the boat while the rest of the people paddled through the last rapid on the river. After a long day on the river, we had showers, dinner, and did laundry.
Friday morning, we broke camp in the rain and drove to Bowling Green, KY. We camped in Mammoth Cave National Park. After dinner, we went to a Celebration Station-like park for their Alpine slide and a little putt-putt as well as go-carts and bumper cars before riding the ferry to the campground across the "treacherous" Green River. Saturday morning, we broke camp and took a three-mile lantern tour of Mammoth Cave. We learned about the cave's long history, it's geology and biology. At the end of the tour, we even saw a small bat. After the tour, we drove into Huntsville, Alabama and stayed at Monte Sano state park. This was the night where the crew got to sit down for a nice dinner and play with some dough and embarrass the adults for a change, at Tia's Tex-Mex. We arrived back into New Orleans Sunday evening around 5:30 and changed a tire for Lisa's mom.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year Super Activity; we each earned the 50-mile a-foot-a-float patch!!! Also, congratulations to those who avoided the three plagues. The plagues being the Lisa which alters your speech and the Shannon that alters your balance, but you can gracefully stay on your feet and the worst of the three, the Chris, which alters your balance so badly that you fall down, a lot.
-Stacy Meyers & Perryn Olson
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