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I had promised myself a springtime trip to the gorge. My last visit was last fall when we were lucky enough to see the biggest meteor shower in 30 or 40 years. Since most of my old hiking buddies are much too busy for these activities nowadays (or is it too old???), I invited Chuck from the warehouse at work.

It was about 2:00 PM on Friday before I could get packed and geared up. I picked up Chuck in Dayton before heading south. The weather was quite pleasant although light showers were predicted for Saturday night and Sunday. We made good time going down and got to the Gladie Creek ranger station around six. We took a quick look at the buffalo before getting a three day parking permit and driving to the bridge.

We were soon hiking up the trail along the Red River that leads to the Eagle's Nest area. Chuck carried the 370 foot rope and I carried the vertical gear that we would need for the drop, as well as beer, digital cameras and camcorders, and assorted camping equiptment. We passed through the camps of many other hikers before climbing the steep trail to the top of the cliffs where my favorite campsite had not yet been taken.

A full moon shown down on the gorge we had just hiked through. Five campfires were counted in the valley. Firewood was scarce but we found enough to roast some of our hotdogs.

The next morning was overcast but dry. We eventually made our way over to a small overhang about 40 or 50 feet high. I clipped the rope onto a sturdy pine and got Chuck rigged up for his first ever rappel . After a brief panic attack, he walked off the lip and slid on down. I followed afterward. After several jumps, we decided to do the big one (Eagle's Nest ). Unfortunately, right after I dropped the rope, a rain shower broke out. Since neither of us wanted to rappel in the rain, we packed up and headed back to the tent to wait out the weather, stopping at an overlook to watch several patches of mist swirling through the gorge.

Rain and thunderstorms continued through the night and next morning. Some were intense. Then all the clouds blew out and it got sunny and dry. Because the rope was a little soggy, we wanted to test it on the smaller drop first. The closer we got to the cliff, the cloudier it got. Immediately after dropping the rope, rain and hail began to fall. The pea-sized hail turned into marble-sized and then into golfball or larger (hockey puck?!?!?) The ground became covered with ice. We left the rope and hiked back to the tent. By this time we were completely soaked so we waited out the storm in a rock shelter near camp. Within 20 minutes the sun appeared and the clouds were gone. The wind picked up as we were striking camp, drying everything out nicely. I had to chase the tent down at one point.

Mother nature seemed dead set against us jumping off any more cliffs on this trip. We picked up the rope on our way out. At the foot of Eagle's Nest we stopped to enjoy the waterfall which was cranking because of all the rain. Got some killer photos . We didn't see a single hiker on the way out!

Anyway, I had a hail of a good time and wouldn't have changed a thing. Can't wait to do it again.