Life is GOOD!

Here I sit Monday morning at the desk, working for the man, reminiscing about another great weekend.
We went back up to the mountain house Friday afternoon after work and arrived around 4pm. This time we had three families total, which came out to 9 children ranging from 5 months to 12 years old and 6 adults. CRAZY does not even begin to explain it! So the guys got the grocery list and headed for the store. The ladies actually put beer on the list as if we were going to forget it. $300 dollars later we were set for the weekend and all that was left was relaxing and enjoying some cold beverages.
I knew I was getting up early in the morning for NORAMM so I hit the sack around 1am. It was all good until Mr. Beam showed up.
Saturday morning came fast. The house was actually quite for a change. I made some coffee, and egg sandwich, and headed out the door. The drive was excellent. It was three miles to the Parkway, 25 miles South on the Parkway, and then 5 miles to the shuttle location. I got there early, adjusted all the air shock thingies and tire pressure and waited on the group to show. Broussard was the first to show and the only one who decided to ride up 181 at 7am in the morning. He was looking kind of rough from the previous night’s festivities at the camp. About 20 minutes later the rest of the group arrived ready to rip up some new trail. Eric has some good pics and video over here. Of the group of 8, I think only 2 have been out here before. We started down with a pecking order of fast to not as fast. Even with 5” of travel and a big ole 2.5” front tire, I knew to hang at the back. The only guy behind me was Broussard who favors trails that go up and was riding a custom soft-tail SS with a 80-100mm fork. The unmarked, unmapped trails are just amazing! It does not get much better than what we rode. We would descend for miles before going up, there was very little hike a bike, and the trails are SOOOO fast. They have a, you could die around the next corner feeling to them the whole time.
We made it to the bottom in around 3 hours with only two flats, one wrong turn, and no injuries. That is really impressive for a group of that size. Jonathan had a beer drop about 1.5 hours in, and then we fueled up again at camp before heading out for Sinkhole. The climb up to Sinkhole was great. While others might be watching the Tour or prepping for ORAMM, I was grinding my way up a LOOONG climb anticipating another fantastic descent. 1.5 hours later we started down and it was fast. We then went back to the camp and Jut opened a cooler with a keg of Pisgah Organic. It really does not get any better than this. Unfortunately, the riding was over, but all I had left to do was drive back to the mountain house and relax. I was in the bed by 9:30 dreaming of screaming down the mountain.
Sunday came and it was family time. I made a breakfast for 15, really 14 because Eli is still on the teet, but I am sure there is a trickle down affect in there somewhere. We loaded up the group and headed to Upper falls off of 181. It was probably only 5 miles from our shuttle location from the previous day. I loaded myself like a pack mule and we took the family down a 1 mile strenuous hike. I get to carry Eli in the front with one of these and a backpack on the back for towels, bottles, food, and drink. But it is all worth it to get the family into some of the prettiest wilderness around. Up from Upper Falls is a swimming hole with a natural rock slide and a rope swing. We got to the top of the slide and the water did not feel too bad. Then after sliding down and going deep into the hole, you realized that the water could not be warmer than 45 degrees. It would just take your breath away. We all played for a while, ate some lunch, and then started the hike back. From there we headed to Linville Caverns. The kids have never been “in” a mountain before and they were excited to see what it was like. After that we headed back to the house, loaded the car and headed back to cola.
What a good weekend… I am already looking forward to my next trip.