Wilderness Medicine

I've made it to the last rotation and final weeks of PA school. Only a handful of incredibly long exams sit between me and a job, and thereby a check with which to pay the bills. After rotations in primary care, surgery, behavioral medicine, Ob/gyn, internal med., pediatrics and ER I am now sitting here in Tipton Lodge of Camp Wesley Woods waiting on my final rotation, an elective in Wilderness Medicine, to begin. The next four weeks consist of lectures and scenarios outlining what to do if an emergency arising far outside of advanced care. It should be a good time.

Elk River Falls Almost Frozen Over.

We've had some record breaking weather down south for a couple weeks now. Apparently, these past several days marks the longest sub-freezing stretch we've had in some twenty odd years. I like it. Cold weather and mountains are the place to be if you ask me. Today some friends and I made a short trip to one of my favorite waterfalls in hopes that it would be near frozen over due to this long cold snap we've been experiencing. We were not let down.

I've spent a good many adventures at this particular spot; normally in the Spring and Summer time as it makes a perfect swimming hole and cliff jumping destination. It's kinda sad to say, but I think I'm past my cliff jumping days, at least at Elk Falls. I've made several successful jumps and one glorious swan dive from the top, but since those days I've seen and heard about too many bad outcomes and subsequent hospital visits.

My kids and I in front of the falls this past November.


The four of us just in front of the falls. The lens is starting to cover with ice.


One of the great things about Elk River Falls is it's short and easy hike from the parking lot. I'm all for a good backcountry hike far from anything, but the short and convenient hikes have their place too. Especially, when you only have a few hours to get in a little adventure.

Today's trip was perfect. When we got to the parking lot after a thirty minute drive up a major road and down a few back roads covered with snow and ice we were hoping to make first tracks through the fresh snow down to the river's edge. We found we we're close, but somebody wearing some heavily lugged boots had already come and gone. Nevertheless, I was satisfied to be there at all. We made the short snowy hike to the top of the falls and looked over the edge to see that the pool below was almost completely frozen over. The surface of the frozen over pond was jagged and rocky looking from the sheets of thick ice that had been pushed away from the base of the waterfall. It wasn't long before we made our way down to the base of the falls to test the strength of the ice and of course see how close we could get to the base of the falls.

The four of us stood on an outcrop of rock to get a better look at the situation and take a few pictures, but it was me that headed out onto the ice with trekking poles in hand to test the strength of the ice. I took it slow and deliberate and finally made my way all the way across the pool to reach the edge of the newest ice which was only feet from crashing waterfall. Along the way, I discovered some definite thin spots and was able to drive the trekking pole all the way through to the water below. I avoided standing on these spots. Once I had confirmed a safe route out onto the frozen pool the other three came and went and we each took our turn getting ourselves photographed in front of the frozen falls, finally wrapping up with a couple quick group shots just as my lens was freezing over from all the spray.

It's never too cold to pass up free tix to the mountain.

Finally....I finally made back up to the mountain. At the end of the night the thermometer was reading 2 degrees, but I felt great...warm and toasty under several layers of wool and synthetic shirts pants and jackets. Being Western NC skiing, goggles were absolutely necessary because there wasn't a blower on the mountain not in operation. I'm not complaining, but man! it would be nice if they turned those cannons off for the last hour of the night.

Best of all, there was actual natural snow on the mountain, and in some places you could claim it was powder. There was, of course, the random patches of shear ice on the more crowded slopes, but you've got to expect that here in the southeast - I'll take what I can get, especially since it's been a solid two years since I've been skiing. Luckily, the crew I went up with last night was a good group of guys who knew how to get the most out of a small mountain. Four of us on boards and a one skier. After the first hour of trying to find the best line down the mountain, we finally linked together 3 different slopes and wound up finding a long route with no crowds and mostly really good snow. We did have to traverse across the mountain a bit, but nothing too slow...and there were plenty of small kickers on the edges to have a little fun on.

Great night and I hope to go again soon. Best of all, it cost me all of 5 bucks to cover my share of the gas....I love free tickets.