Carolina Blue: Crags to Coast

Your first stop: North Carolina’s esteemed Pisgah National Forest. Pisgah is known for its hardwood forests and whitewater rivers. You’ll learn the ropes of rock climbing and belaying at Looking Glass Rock from the best guides in the area. For two days, you’ll top-rope up, traverse across, and rappel down Pisgah’s impressive crags. You’ll push yourself, your trip mates, and even your leaders to whole new heights.

The Appalachian Mountains formed roughly 480 million years ago and yet, despite their extensive age, there is still so much to discover. After your days of rock climbing, you’ll begin preparing for your next adventure: backpacking through Pisgah National Forest. First, you’ll prep for the trip by doing laundry, grocery shopping, and meal planning with your cook crew. Once you’re clean and refreshed, you’ll celebrate the hard work with a nice icy swim at Sliding Rock! Sliding Rock is a 60-foot natural rock slide that plummets its daring takers into a 7-foot pool of icy water at its base.

The next day, your group will begin your three-day, two-night backpacking excursion on some of Pisgah’s most pristine wilderness trails. You’ll work together as a team as you perfect your map and compass skills, learn the essentials of backcountry living, and master the use of Whisperlite stoves at mealtimes. You’ll play games, tell stories, and enjoy the serenity of the area’s wilderness, all the while keeping an eye out for local wildlife!

You’ll head back to the front country and, before anything else, reward yourselves with showers and laundry. From there, you’re off into the great Smoky Mountains for the next few days to embark on a trifecta of fun activities along the Nantahala River. Here in this majestic wilderness, you’ll learn the basics of inflatable kayaking and practice your skills in individual “duckies” along the Nantahala. Class II and III rapids interspersed with swimming holes.

The next day, you’re off to Georgia to explore the Chattooga River and the surrounding Sumter and Chattahoochee National Forests. The Chattooga was designated as a National Wild and Scenic River back in 1974. Today, remains largely undeveloped. You’ll whitewater raft as a group through a number of rapids and a whole host of river swells.

At this point on your trip, you and your group will have explored the best crags and forest areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and experienced thrilling river rapids you won’t soon forget. From here on out, your group will hit the shore and explore the low-country coastal areas of the Carolinas. You’ll travel to Charleston, SC and start with a day of sea kayaking in the Barrier Islands. The ecosystem and untouched shorelines of these islands will be nothing like you’ve seen yet! You’ll paddle the coastline and keep your eyes peeled for dolphins and other sea wildlife as you navigate through the calm waves and swells of the Atlantic.

For your final day of exploring the Carolina Blue coastal waters, you and your group will learn how to surf and stand up paddle board at Folly Beach. With professional surf instructors, you will learn surfing techniques, how to wax your board, how to navigate ocean currents, and much more. From there, your group will travel back to Charlotte for your celebratory final banquet. After 16 action-packed days, you will bid farewell to your new lifelong friends and head home the next day knowing the true meaning of Carolina Blue.