After Appalachia

Also known as Chasing After Appalachia or Anecdotes from Appalachia. Any way you put it this post is about my trip to Southern Appalachia and the geology of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Overall the trip was: awe inspiring, thought-provoking, educational, zany, breathtaking, difficult, long, freezing, and exciting.

Awe Inspiring

First off the trip was awe inspiring. There were so many times where I stopped just to take in the majesty of God. Our main reason for being in the Smoky Mountains was to look at the geology of the area. There were many outcrops we went to that showed the power of God and his creativity on Earth. People think Geology is just about the pebbles in your yard and rarely do they take in the awesome fact that mountains are a geologic work of God.

Thought Provoking

Looking at the geology of the area you are overwhelmed with a philosophical type feeling. To think over millions of years these rocks were squished together in so many different ways. And that our lives are just a blink in the Earth's life and yet God loves us more than anything. It's amazing God spent so much time (to us) creating this amazing stuff just for us to enjoy and learn about.

Educational

Not only did we hike and look at outcrops we learned some valuable field techniques. One of these was how to use a Brunton Compass. The picture above is me holding/using a Brunton. These little compasses are  super expensive but tell so much information. Not only do they tell you which way is North (very accurately in degrees) but they can tell the way a group of rocks are dipping, but only if you use it right. I learned a lot about this compass and I'm still not 100% I used it correctly. With practice comes better knowledge. 

Zany

Riding in a bus with 12 other people for over 40 hours can make you crazy and do silly things. Sure there were times when we got on each other's nerves, that happens. Other times though, like above, we were just silly. Maybe it was Mountain Fever, pent up energy or just being cooped up but anyway we were silly.

Breathtaking

The mountains were beautiful! But that was not the only reason they were breathtaking. We hiked in the Smoky Mountains. Some of our group hiked to the top of the tallest Mountain there, over 6000 ft elevation, but I couldn't make that trip. By the time we made it to Allum Cave (~2.2 miles hiking) I was so out of breath I was glad to sit. After running under some falling icicles... No one was hurt, but it was amazing watching those things fall.

Difficult

Maybe this picture doesn't show that things were difficult, but sometimes they were. Hiking to this outcrop was difficult and pushed us. I learned how out of shape I am on that trip. 

Long

Camping all but 4 of the days. You'd expect the south to be warmer than Central Illinois but nope.... It was 70 back home and 40ish with sun and snow where we were. Crazy weather. We shoved 7 girls in a tent, thankfully while being cramped it also kept us warm. One of the nights was really cold.

Freezing

Towards the end of our trip things warmed up, in fact we were often in t-shirts or light sweaters. At the beginning of the trip though, it was cold! Thanks to the professor back at school who gave us a bag full of hand warmers. Those things came in handy when working with the Bruntons and when making dinner. We normally set up camp around 6 and by the time we would get ready to make/eat it would be 7/8ish and would be dark. It's getting closer to the bright nights of summer though!!

Exciting (Rachel and I)

 This isn't everything we did, so much more happened but really it was a great trip. I am very thankful to be back on campus sleeping in my dorm. I am excited for next year and our trip to Canada, but that can wait for now. Until then I have school work and lesson plans to write.

Taking a scenic break before continuing the hike

Thanks to my crazy friend Rachel!

~Carollela~

Photos Courtesy of my friends Rachel and Brian.