Session 2 AD

Caving Experience

By Sam Kirk

During our second excursion of the summer we went caving in Tennessee. It was a great experience.

When I first went into the cave it got cooler than it was outside. At the beginning of the cave we had to go through a tight space that you only could crawl or role in. After we got through that we came to a big room which had steam in it because of the warm air mixing with the cold air.

We kept moving through places with cliffs, muddy grounds and slippery rocks. We kept falling. During one section we had to climb up slippery rocks that were hard to get up. After we went up that one we went into a room with a little lake and a hole that I climbed into. As we kept on going we saw some pretty cool rocks and many other formations.

Getting to the river that flows through the cave was hard because we had to go through many steep hills which were slippery and tight spaces. We walked through the river for a while to get to other section that had land that would take us out of the cave. Some parts of the river got so deep we couldn’t walk through them so we had to walk on the edge of the wall line.

When we got out of the cave we went to the river that was outside of the cave. We got the mud off of our clothes in the river. When we washed off our clothes we went to the van and changed. After we changed we went to get pizza, which was warm and really good. After we ate pizza we headed back to camp, which was three hours away.

Overall, I thought the caving experience was fun and a cool experience!


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My Time Caving and Rock climbing

By Jordan Viggiano

My trip going caving and rock climbing was fun. I spent four days at a campsite during my trip. When we went rock climbing I thought it was really spectacular. The rock we went to climb was HUGE. When I got to the top of the rock, the views were great! I was able to see so many mountaintops from the peak of the rock that I will never forget it. When I had to climb up the rock, it was very hard. I had to find so many little cracks to put my fingers in. When I got to the type of rock I had to climb down, I was very nervous because I thought I was going to fall down.

When I went caving it was a totally different experience. When I first heard that we were going caving I thought “Oh, great! A dark cold cave to wonder around in” but I was wrong. The cave was nice and cool the temperature was great. When we went in the cave it was amazing. I was dumbfounded that water was able to carve such a great cave that we were able to walk and wonder through. While we were exploring the cave I found out that it is very wet and slippery. Sometimes when we were exploring the cave the water would be waist high for me. I got very wet. I fell down so many times that I lost count; I think that it was ten or twenty times. We thought that we got lost in the cave; we were in the cave for two hours, but we found a door about thirty minutes later that led to the exit of the cave.


When we got back to our campsite my friend found a snake on the ground near our counselors’ tent. Our counselors picked it up and let us pet it. I was very happy when I pet it because it was my first time petting snake. Overall my trip was a very good one.

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Worley's Cave
by D'Kota

For our second excursion we went caving at Worley’s cave in Tennessee. I saw water lizards and bats. I saw a lot of holes - some deep and some not so deep. Two of the holes were so deep you could die if you fell in!
Worley’s cave is a four-hour journey. There were streams that have fish in them within the cave. There was a big shiny rock that you shouldn’t touch or it can be destroyed. There were many stalagmites and stalactites that have been vandalized, which is not allowed. Everyone should wear helmets, boots and a LED light in the cave. If we weren’t careful, we could’ve gotten hypothermia in the big stream. The way to stop hypothermia is to run or jog in place or run around in circles.
I got really muddy so when I got out of the cave I had to change all my clothes! Overall, caving with SOAR was an unforgettable adventure!


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Caving
by Ross Scarborough


The other day I went caving for the first time. In my opinion it was really fun. Walking through the cave as it got colder and seeing the underground world was an amazing experience. The guide that led us through the cave had a funny sense of humor and told us things like there are bottomless pits in the cave and the there are ghosts and skeletons down in the cave. It seemed me the not everyone understood his jokes but that’s ok because I got them.

I loved seeing the color the water droplets made as I shined my headlamp over the ceiling and the cool formations the stalagmites and stalactites made.

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The Pisgah Forest

by Melody and Brandi


We got this information from a pamphlet that contains regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture governing hunting fishing and camping in North Carolina.


Geography
The Pisgah National Forest covers 510,119 (2,064.38 km) of mountain terrain in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Elevations reach over 6,000 feet (91,800m)


History

The Pisgah National Forest was established in 1916 by one of the first national forests.

The first school in the forest was built in late the1800s and early 1900s.

Our Experience:



We saw spiders, pretty flowers, and shelters. We also hiked up trails when it was rainy. There was mud everywhere and our clothes got soaked.

Our hair was dripping wet when it rained. At night we put up a bear bag with food so the bears couldn’t eat the food. We also built a fire and we read a book at night. Finally, we went swimming in the creek during our time in the forest. Overall, our experience in the Pisgah was a lot of fun!

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SOAR ACTIVITIES by Nick


We did a lot of activities at SOAR.

The high ropes are intimidating but easy! Every body made it except two people. I made it to the ladder and sat there for 45 minutes.


We also went hiking.
The hike we took was filled with obstacles. We chose the hardest path to follow as we wanted a challenge.
We also went caving.

Caving was fun but it was dark and cold the entire time inside the cave. We saw bats and salamanders.

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Rock climbing
by Sadek

When I got there I was a little scared to climb because I was scared of heights.
But I tried to do it and I did it.
It took me about 15 minutes to climb to the top.
I was proud of myself for doing it when I got to the top!

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Haunted Things in North Carolina

by Fabio

North Carolina is a very haunted state.

There is one story that seems very interesting to me that happened in North Carolina.
This story is about the devils tramping ground, which is in Siler City, North Carolina. It is supposed to be a circle that the devil is said to have walked on. When the settlers came, they thought it was used for Indian ceremonies, yet it remained there after the Indians were gone.

Later it was thought that UFOs landed on it, but still to this day no one knows how the circle got there. No animals go near it and plants can't grow there. It is said that if you leave sticks or stones there they will be moved out of the circle by the next day. Tents are said to be moved if pitched in the circle. It is also said to have high salt levels in the soil, which would explain why plants don't grow there.

Even with all the logic we could ever use, this circle is still much unknown in terms of how it got there. Maybe the devil did walk there after all. Still to this day no one has found out how the circle ever got there and why it is so mysterious. Maybe there is another world were people who have passed live and we just can't see them. For now we will never know how it got there or if the stories behind it are true.

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The Titanic
by Sebastian

The Titanic was built in 1912, and ordered in July 31 1908.
The Titanic was owned by White Star Line. The first route
was in New York City in the USA.
Over 1000 people passed away when the Titanic sank in April, 1912, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic built at Harand and Wolff yards in Belfat Ireland.

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Looking Glass Falls

by Will

The Pisgah National Forest has the coolest waterfall! It is called Looking Glass Falls. It is only one of the many things we got to see in the Pisgah National Forest. The first day we hiked two and a half miles to a campsite where we set camp. The next day we got up and did about seven miles. We weren’t planning to go that far but we were proud of ourselves that we did by the end of the day!



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