Gorges Narrative

Ohhh what a week. It was super busy. But enough about the hectic work week... I went backpacking this weekend in NC! I met up with a friend from college down in Gorges State Park in southwestern NC near Highlands, NC. I have never been in this area before and I was shocked! It was amazing. When I got to the state park, the guys had already hiked in the night before so I did my first solo hike (5.5 miles) in to the campsite on Saturday. When I got there we went swimming and I set up my friend from Clarksville's tent that I borrowed. It was a great little tent! I was spoiled by dinner as my freind had spent the summer fishing in Alaska and he hiked in some salmon for me which we baked over a campfire. It was amazing! No dinner over a campfire is complete without s'mores, so we ate and ate and ate. On sunday we hiked 6 miles out to Laurel Waterfalls and climbed around the falls for the afternoon. I had climbed up to a waterfall so I could stand under it, and on my climb back down I put my foot RIGHT next to the largest copperhead snake I've ever seen. I freaked out, cursed, and climbed with super speed away from it. The snake became a celebrity as other hikers came to see the snake. I hate snakes. ughhhh! After lunch we climbed down to the lower falls and saw some water moccasins snakes. I had HAD it with snakes by this point. We found a cove and lake Toxaway that had some boaters around. So we checked it out and saw a rock island in the middle of the lake. But we had no boat or anyway to get even close to it. So we climbed along the rock cliffs until we got to a beach and then swam to the island. Let me just say, there were several times during this day when I was thinking "This probably isn't the smartest or safest idea in the world".  When we got to the island, we found a rock to jump off into the lake. The fall was only about 15 feet but it took me a couple minutes to actually jump from that height (but after braving snakes and rock cliffs, what's jumping into lake?). After all that we still had to swim back to shore, and then hike 6 miles back. I think I am in pretty good shape, but this was the HARDEST hike I've ever done. The  state park isn't called "Gorges" for nothing - crazy steep inclines and declines for miles... never any flat walking At one point I yelled out " HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF SWITCHBACKS?". When we finally did get back to our campsite we met a father and his two daughters who told us about a little known waterfall that was nearby so we promised we'd check it out on Monday. Once we got back we went swimming and made a dinner of mac n cheese, summer sausage and baked beans, and s'mores. We had to eat everything so we stuffed ourselves and then took a food nap by the fire. It was a great day and I was exhausted. Monday morning we checked out the waterfall and it was the most beautiful place I've ever been.... and thats saying alot. We then hiked the 5.5 miles uphill.. the whole way.. I'm not kidding AT all, back to our cars. It was a great weekend with tons of thrills and I am now exhausted! Work tomorrow bright and early!