Mountain Laurels & Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend our cycling club took a trip to the DuPont State Forest, in western North Carolina. This time of the year, the mountain laurels are blooming - lavender and pink everywhere you look. Yay! DuPont is the same place I visited after Webster and I climbed Looking Glass. It is home to another classic trail, the Cedar Rock Trail - dubbed the "Slickrock of the East." Having ridden Moooab's Slickrock twice, I kinda wanted to see what the hullaballoo was about. Plus, there were waterfalls involved.

We got a late start on Friday, and i managed to drop in to bid bon voyage to Doug, who is now in Colorado - I wish I could have stayed much longer to visit, but I'll see him in a few weeks when I go out there! Then, a stop at REI to pick up essentials, and my bike, and off we went.

We stayed at my friend Jeff's parents' place in northern SC, which was 2 hr north of atlanta and an hour shy of DuPont. I'd have been happy to camp, but the lure of a shower and a clean lake was strong! Plus, several group members (8 total) were not "into" camping.

The first day at DuPont, we honestly did more playing in waterfalls than biking. The first set of falls (High Falls) was roaring:

We continued on down the trail to waterfall #2, Triple Falls, which had a bunch of swimmin' holes. And natural waterslides. Schooooop! and splat, into the pool! And yes, geoff, it's runnable in high water! Pix are the scramble down to the pools (where we found a water moccasin on the way back up, ah, life in the south) and Ryan shooting down the slide.

After a brief yummy romp down the Galax Trail (the only singletrack of the day, Siren handled it very well. My bike doctors at REI put the handlebars at a better height, and i swapped out the seat, and Siren is getting better and better) we headed over to the camp where Ryan used to work, where he and Melissa were camping. We bbq'd some bison burgers and potatoes, then went romping about the grounds. Turns out, the camp was the setting used for the 1995 movie "Heavy Weights." We had some fun crossing the famous rope bridge, then did some kayaking on the lake (pic on right is my friend Wendy Allread). Not such a bad day - tho not enough biking!!






















Sunday we hit the Cedar Rock Trail. It did not disappoint. First, we took a short spur trail to Bridal Veil Falls, where you can walk under the falls to the other side of the river:





This was our last waterfall to visit - off to the trail, finally!! The Cedar Rock trail was very unusual. It connected the dots between

swaths of bare granite, all the way up to the summit. I can't remember how many times I've been hiking and said hm, that'd be fun on a bike - Well, it is!! Nice long climb, sweet 360 view at the top of the surrounding mountains, and DELICIOUS downhill.
















Monday, I hit Fort Yargo (the site of Muddy Spokes) on the way back. That is one sweet set of trails. The outer loop is 12 miles of singletrack, not a lot of sustained climbing but lots of swoops and hairpins. It was a very different ride on Siren than it was on Jack, my Cannondale - I love both bikes, but oh yeah, rear suspension is nice :)

After the weekend, tues am bright and early (try 7am), I took an exam on positioning arms and legs for xrays. We also had a "surprise" final exam in intro to clinic that day. Friday I had a clinical exam, then last week a week of my lab practicals (4) and four reports due, then this week, four days of written exams (7 total), some of which will be quite ugly. No more playtime for Amy until June 14th. But very soon after.... Bastille Crack and the First Flatiron, they're goin' down!! Doug and Pattymonster, hope you're ready to go play! (Oh, yeah, Patty, did I mention I'm dragging you out with us??)