Listen to the river

Back when I was at Furman for undergraduate studies, I sometimes had a weakness for skipping out on western civ or poli-sci and hopping in the Jeep for a day of fly fishing in the middle saluda river up in Jones Gap State Park. Jones Gap is a valley in the mountain bridge wilderness area, and a river runs through it. The river, more like a creek, is home to native rainbow trout. I've only gotten the small dumb ones to bite, but I've heard tall tale of anglers pulling 14 inchers out of the Middle Saluda in Jones Gap before.

It's been over 6 years since then and for a while, my fly fishing went dormant. I explored other avenues of life and forgot about my passion for listening to the river. Over the past 2 weeks, I've found that passion again, this time in Columbia at the lower Saluda below the Lake Murray dam.

Unlike the spinner fishing I grew up on, fly fishing is much more about preparation and awareness. Hours of tying flies on Friday night make the trip to the river on Saturday that much more worth it...especially when you pay attention to the insects around you so carefully that you can tie on a fly that almost resembles them...

...and then it happens. A rainbow trout rises, popping at the surface to bite the Blue Wing Olive fly that you spent so much time perfecting the night before...

...as the line tightens against the fish you feel the world slow its spin...the wind through the trees and the sun off of the river seem to harmonize in a chord that only you can hear...and for just a moment, the world seems perfect...

it's the kind of perfection you experience in your wife's embrace

or from the look in a baby's eyes

I plan to keep listening to the river for a while, and see where it might take me.

Chicken Joe

So quite possibly one of my new favorite movies is "Surf's Up". Sounds like a cheesy Disney cartoon flick, but it's filled with so much philosophy that I really dig.

One of the main characters finds his way from being an up-tight, fame-hungry, out-to-prove-his-worth-to-the-world surfer...to a pretty laid-back guy just looking for some fun.

The other character that I can relate with is Chicken Joe. Quite the oposite of our high-strung hero, Chicken Joe has made an art out of relaxing and playing it cool.

So let us learn from Surf's up a bit.

Recently I've been spending my Christmas vacation at home...much unlike the Christmas vacations of the past, which have been filled with adventures here or there at break-neck speeds. Most of the time those adventures made me much more tired at the end than I was willing to admit.

During the break I spent a lot of time working on little projects around the house that ended up being very fulfilling in the long run...and I think I made my wife happy as well...which is always good for the soul!

All this to say "thanks" Chicken Joe. I'm a little older now...a little wiser hopefully, and a little more able to know that the trail will be there when I need it, but for now, it's good to sit back and enjoy the homestead for a while.

Addicted

For some it's caffeine.
Others find themselves controlled by sex, gambling, or drink.
Some truly rebellious might choose their vice from hash, chasing the dragon, or even some black tar heroin.

My poison? Linville Gorge.

I know my last post was about that small slice of heaven, but we went back again with the OA crew from the Valley...last weekend (November 17th).

My time in between our adventures in Linville has been spent hanging out with my smokin' hot wife, getting behind on grades in the classroom, taking kids to Camp Greenville, going to weddings, playing music, and so on. It's been great, don't get me wrong...but there's something about Linville that keeps calling me.

This time Lonnie Hoke and his son Tom came with us to take some pictures and share the trail.



The adventurous highlight of the trip was a slackline that we set up over the Devil's Cellar.

Inside The Devil's Cellar

Last January I had the notion of going on a hardcore backpacking/rock climbing/survival trip to the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area in North Carolina. I wanted to pick a time in the semester when the escape and visceral experiences of the wild would make the most impact on my conscious and subconscious alike...so over spring break of 2007, I packed up some climbing gear, warm clothes, and brought 2 adventurous high school guys along for what turned into a trip of perseverance.

Our original goal was to find a place called "The Devil's Cellar" to go climbing in at Linville. Due to the fact that Devil's cellar is not as popular of a place to go to, the topographical maps as well as internet resources don't have that much info about it...and we never found it. The trip was great in its own way that spring though and it inspired us enough to want to go back....and so we did.

This past weekend, 7 high schoolers who had a profound impact on the formation of the Spring Valley Outdoor Adventure Club (as well as myself, Kelley, our dogs, and one of the guy's mother) packed into a bus and headed up into the Gorge. We arrived around 10pm at the Table Rock Parking Lot and piled out of the bus, eager for what the weekend had in store.

We quickly met "Bob", one of the contributers to the www.linvillegorge.net website that catalogues much of the park's trails and geographical features. Our meeting must have been providence, becuase he gave us the exact trail head that we needed to take in order to find the Devil's Cellar.

We ended up camping at a spot near the parking lot the first night and waking up early saturday to set up some top rope climbs at a place to the south called "The Chimney's". It's a fairly popular spot and we ran into several other climbers and hikers. We enjoyed some fairly casual climbs and then packed up for our quest for the "Devil's Cellar"

Some obsure photos and blogs online describe Devil's Cellar as a being a cravass between the north face of Table Rock Mountain in Linville and a pretty impressive butress that must have fallen from the main mountain ages ago. The result is a 30-40 foot wide miniature slot canyon that plays host to some great rappelling, top-roping, and trad-climbing. From the top of the butress that is accessible from the trail, there is 180 degree exposure to the north of linville gorge which allows you to see Mt. Mitchell and beyond to the west, Granfather Mt. to the east, and the entire north end of Linville gorge. It was sure to be magical to say the least...if we could only find it.

We hiked the summit trail to Table Rock and took the 2nd fork to the left like "Bob" advised. Everyone stayed back here except for Kai aka "Sky Ember" and myself. We were determined, since he went on the spring trip with me...he felt the anticipation just as I did.

A hard hike through thick rododendrons and thorns put us at the base of an enormous cravass...gray rock towering on each side of us like guardians to some promised land. We had found The Devil's Cellar...

What ensued was a full 24 hours of camping, rappelling, top-roping, and even a trad climb by our own Scott aka "Walkabout" Bolte. I can truly say that an effort to put our enamored state of emotion into words is futile. Suffice it to say that it was the best outdoor experience I've had...ever.

I get by with a little help from my friends

A couple of days ago I had a sleepless night. I evidently caught some funny little viral parasite that kicked me into a post-nasal-drip frenzy. The next day at school was tough because I ached from fever that was fighting the little cellular vermin crawling through my tissues. I dedided to take today off as a recovery day so that I can be effective in class tomorrow instead of being like a zombie, which is how I felt in class yesterday.

When I got home from school yesterday, my amazing wife had bought the entire cold and flu section of CVS for me to experiment with...I'm serious....she bought me those effervescent shower tablets that release this amazing smelling "get better" vapor, she bought cough syrup (the gold standard of "get well"), and she got me some daytime sinus relief for when I get back in the classroom tomorrow. I was overwhelmed with gratitude, so I tried to clean dishes today in my sickness and hang a window curtain she was wanting hung. I hope she understands how good it made me feel to have her care for me.

In addition to my super wife, I had some kids from school call me to see if they could bring me ice cream since I was sick. What is that?! Who does that for a teacher?! It made me feel so good, I'm about to explode! the picture at the top of the page is a couple of these kids on a tubing trip with our Outdoor Adventure Club at spring valley.

So...I used to think that I was an island. I sunk deep into chair cushions under direct lighting and read the tales of Louis L'Amour about adventurous loners who made a way for themselves in the woods. The romance that poured from the pages attracted me and made me feel comfortable in my awkward social status during high school and even college. I tried to appear fiercely independent as a way of errecting some sort of defense to hide my insecurity. But now, older, fatter, possibly wiser (I'm still not sure about that one), I realize that it's by the grace of God that I can live from one day to the next...through the love of my wife and family, and...with a little help from my friends.

"hook it to hell and gone"

This was the quote from "The Legend of Bagger Vance" when Will smith's character was telling Matt Damon's character to go ahead and hit the ball into the water so that he could forget about the score and enjoy the rest of the golf game without any pressure.

This week marked that magical time for me when all the highschool kids come pouring back into H-2 at Spring Valley. This is, in fact, the last crop of kids that will finish a course in H-2...since the 70's...as Spring Valley is in the middle of the construction of a new building...but I digress...

I hit up my bio kids pretty hard this week on one of the more boring, arduous units in biology on Photosynthesis and Respiration...it's mostly memorizing molecular pathways without gaining much holisting understanding of what goes on....I try and maximize their holistic understanding while minimizing the mundane memorization, but it's still a tough unit. This year is the first time I've done it on the front end of the semester.

Hopefully the result will be similar to "The legend of bagger vance" in that the kids will enjoy the rest of the term once this bear of a first unit is under their belts.

I will diminish and go into the west and remain Galadriel

Ok....time for some painful honesty.

I, more than anyone I know, long for external approval.

Nicole Nordeman said "I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me...I enjoy an accolade like the rest..."

For some reason my whole life has been spent chasing favor like she described. When I was a high schooler, I longed to be myself yet be accepted. In college I was lucky to find a few guys who were either quirky like me, or mature enough to appreciate my quirky nature from their normal perspective. In the "professional" world, it's been a bit tough. I don't feel like I fit the mold of what a high school teacher should look like or act like. Administrators have mistaken me for students countless times....and some have definitely talked down to me like I indeed was a student. I feel a bit like Pete Mitchell from Top Gun with the way I teach...like I've always got something to prove in the classroom. My methods are a bit unorthodox, my dress a bit hippie, my grip on the whip of discipline a bit different from most...

In fact this desire to please has led me to basically stretch myself thin like Bilbo Baggins because of all the extra tasks I take on. I feel like saying "no" will mean that people won't like me...won't think I'm "cool"...won't remember me.

So...in effect...I have distributed my attention to so many places at once that I can no longer keep a grip on all of them...and I truly begin to suck at everything. Now that's what you call ironic.

I've got to stop this clinging to affection and attention with white knuckles. I have to quit trying to please my "superiors" so much by all the extras I try to take on...and simply focus on doing a good job at what is expected of me in the first place.
So, if you need me to help out with your cause, I'm busy. If there's something that you'd like me to do this Saturday night, sorry. I've got a hot date with my wife.

Therefore, I hereby title this year "the year of no"...in an effort to make my life...and more importantly, my family's life, "a year of yes".