Despite being one of the most beloved OAR trips, I had a somewhat miserable time my first time at Virgin Falls. My first trip to Virgin Falls was plagued by a hives outbreak and subsequent unhappiness. Take two, unfortunately, was not much of an improvement. On the car ride up, I mysteriously lost my voice and hilarity ensued throughout the weekend as I tried to call "off rope" with the raspy remnants of my voice. I did not feel too sick, just slightly congested with a sore throat. My car for the trip was awesome: we left the gear shed first and made it to camp first, we made it to Ethiopian in Atlanta first on the way back and were back to the gear shed before midnight on Sunday, a nearly impossible feat.
The night hike into Virgin Falls was far less treacherous than I had remembered. I hauled the 300 ft. rope all the way to camp, wrapped in a caver's coil and hanging around my neck. I immediately passed out as soon as I had my sleeping bag out and I slept comfortably despite the claims of 20 degree weather. The next morning, Jeff set up two rappels at Laurel Falls. Anticipating a line, I sprinted to the top and rappelled both of them before anyone else had really noticed. Then, as one of the more experienced people on the trip with regards to rappelling, especially using racks since that's what we use for caving, I sat at the top and helped coax all of the new people over the edge. Setting up gear and harnesses has somehow become second nature to me and I did so with ease, ensuring that the equipment was set up properly and safely. After a while, we took down the ropes (I rappelled a third time) and headed deeper into the wilderness toward Virgin Falls.
Similarly, I anticipated a line and rushed to the top to be one of the first to rappel the falls. Carolanne took over my job of rigging descending devices and helping people set up their gear. The weather was perfect and I settled into a nice spot at the top of the waterfall with a nice book. I rappelled a few more times, once with my book clipped off to my harness. I was still feeling somewhat sick and I napped some as a result. We started our campfire activities very early, eating a ton of food from our giant potluck. The most amazing food I had was a marshmallow treat introduced to me by Drew. Essentially, you wrap an uncooked biscuit around a marshmallow, roast it, then dip that in melted butter and roll it in sugar and cinnamon. It was incredible but I couldn't consume more than one every few hours, it was so rich.
The next day, we packed up and hiked out fairly early. My car was on point, four out of the five of us were the first ones to make it back to the cars. We waited a while for Carolanne, who had gone to a lookout point off the trail, but once she arrived, we were able to get on the road. Everyone met up for Ethiopian food in Atlanta, per OAR tradition. I hadn't done so in a while and it was a nice treat. Then, we headed back to Gainesville. I also introduced QT, the best gas station ever, to a majority of the car. Brett purchased every single flavor of M&M they had and invented a game of M&M roulette, in which all the flavors were mixed together and one (or more) were chosen at random. It was delicious.
Events occurred: October 25-27, 2013
Virgin Falls is always one of the most highly anticipated OAR trips of the year. Since joining the club, I had missed out on two Virgin Falls trips, so I was anxious to get in on this one. Unfortunately, I did not realize that I was still recovering from the same sickness that had plagued me during my trip to the New River Gorge. On the drive up, I noticed that I felt rather itchy on my stomach and back. When we stopped for dinner, I went to the bathroom and realized that I was breaking out in hives. I had only broken out in hives once before, when I was still in elementary school, and it was a reaction to a new couch my parents had just gotten, so I was bewildered as to the cause of these hives. I bought some Benadryl from a gas station and proceeded to tank out in the front seat while Jeff drove my car the rest of the way.
When we arrived in the parking lot, we began the somewhat treacherous two mile night hike to Laurel Falls, where we would be camping. We were camping in an alcove beneath the falls, and rappelled off the top of it the next morning before hiking on toward Virgin Falls. I had difficulty navigating the rocks as I hiked, my body full of Benadryl and the exhaustion that resulted from it. As soon as I reached the alcove, I threw my sleeping pad and sleeping bag on the ground and curled up for a deep sleep. The next morning, I realized that Frank, his recent wife Kerry, and one of their friends from Notre Dame were with us. I was ecstatic to see them again, especially because I hadn't seen either one of them since March. They had married in Glacier National Park in Montana the month before, which I had sadly missed out on. The group spent a few hours rappelling over the edge of the alcove before hiking the additional two miles to Virgin Falls.
At that point, Virgin Falls was one of the best rappels I had ever done. The water fall itself was beautiful and the rappel was close enough to the falls to make for epic pictures but far enough away that I barely got wet. I climbed to the rappel point several times and rappelled the falls every time. After one of the rappels, I fell asleep with my harness still on and woke up with hives crawling up my neck and face. Luckily, Mike had a bag with some Bendryl so I took it immediately and the pills put me right back to sleep. That night, some of the members of our group rappelled the falls naked, on a dare. Fortunately for all of us, it was far too dark for us to see anything aside from their lights, which dotted the otherwise blackened landscape. We slept next to the falls, the sound of rushing water singing me to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up with, you guessed it, hives. I took more Benadryl and then we began the four mile, somewhat difficult, hike back to the cars. I felt like I was moving in slow motion and I was far behind everyone else. Fortunately, some of the group members stayed back with me so I wouldn't be deliriously hiking through the wilderness on my own. I was sad to return home without having been able to fully enjoy my time at Virgin Falls, but luckily there will be another trip in the future that I can go on. As far as the hives, I was out of school with them for a week, miserable and itchy. I went to my dermatologist and he informed me that the hives were a result of my body fighting a sickness and that they were a sign that I was getting better. I would have rather just been sick especially since the hives forced me to bail on the climbing trip to Foster Falls the following weekend and limited my physical activity in general.
Events occurred: September 28-30, 2012
Despite being one of the most beloved OAR trips, I had a somewhat miserable time my first time at Virgin Falls. My first trip to Virgin Falls was plagued by a hives outbreak and subsequent unhappiness. Take two, unfortunately, was not much of an improvement. On the car ride up, I mysteriously lost my voice and hilarity ensued throughout the weekend as I tried to call "off rope" with the raspy remnants of my voice. I did not feel too sick, just slightly congested with a sore throat. My car for the trip was awesome: we left the gear shed first and made it to camp first, we made it to Ethiopian in Atlanta first on the way back and were back to the gear shed before midnight on Sunday, a nearly impossible feat. 
The night hike into Virgin Falls was far less treacherous than I had remembered. I hauled the 300 ft. rope all the way to camp, wrapped in a caver's coil and hanging around my neck. I immediately passed out as soon as I had my sleeping bag out and I slept comfortably despite the claims of 20 degree weather. The next morning, Jeff set up two rappels at Laurel Falls. Anticipating a line, I sprinted to the top and rappelled both of them before anyone else had really noticed. Then, as one of the more experienced people on the trip with regards to rappelling, especially using racks since that's what we use for caving, I sat at the top and helped coax all of the new people over the edge. Setting up gear and harnesses has somehow become second nature to me and I did so with ease, ensuring that the equipment was set up properly and safely. After a while, we took down the ropes (I rappelled a third time) and headed deeper into the wilderness toward Virgin Falls.
Similarly, I anticipated a line and rushed to the top to be one of the first to rappel the falls. Carolanne took over my job of rigging descending devices and helping people set up their gear. The weather was perfect and I settled into a nice spot at the top of the waterfall with a nice book. I rappelled a few more times, once with my book clipped off to my harness. I was still feeling somewhat sick and I napped some as a result. We started our campfire activities very early, eating a ton of food from our giant potluck. The most amazing food I had was a marshmallow treat introduced to me by Drew. Essentially, you wrap an uncooked biscuit around a marshmallow, roast it, then dip that in melted butter and roll it in sugar and cinnamon. It was incredible but I couldn't consume more than one every few hours, it was so rich. 
