I imagine Mike G. knows of Paradise Falls and its attendant gorge. There are innumerable waterfalls around this part of western North Carolina, but this is one of the most dangerous for several structural reasons. It's also very popular among risk-seeking college kids who obey no safety precautions whatsoever, drink and smoke dope, and sometimes try to leap from the top of the falls to the pool below (not always successfully).
Naturally, therefore, we train there regularly and operate there regularly as well. Tonight a high-angle team came into the district for a training exercise, which we were invited to join.
6 comments:
Back in the late 70's early 80's, it was a favorite party place of ours. Surprising that none of us got hurt.
It's honestly surprising that there aren't a lot more serious injuries than there are. Kids love to go up there and sit in the tanks at the top of the falls, drink beer, and enjoy the rushing waters right next to the hundred-foot drop. They mostly get away with it; it's only every now and then that one of them gets hurt, or trapped, or otherwise has to call for help.
Go back in the dog days of august with no insect repellent, shorts and t-shirts only, and remain there for say a week, then I want to hear your tale. - Greg
....Before drones, the military strapped video cameras to the backs of ducks to surveil the enemy. Paradise Falls is where the elite Duck Corps trained for decades. A combination of stinky creek water and mostly horrific, stifling heat and misery, made Thousand Oaks a perfect testing ground for Duck Drones and our inevitable confrontation in the Middle East. Sadly, after President Carter's failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt, the program was scuttled - history was rewritten - and high school students were severely punished if they ever brought it up in class.......
Different Paradise Falls 2,000+ miles in California...and I've been to that one, too.
Well, the Navy did used to use dolphins as counter-mine and reconnaissance swimmers. A Vietnam-era SEAL I used to know trained them. That was Steve "Tiny" Robinson, later of the AuthentiSEAL movement to out fake SEALs and other 'stolen valor' types.
It's one of the better places to be in the dog days of August. The water is just out of the bottom of Wolf Lake, so it's cool; and it's about 3,500 feet above sea level, so it rarely gets out of the upper 80s even on the hottest days. I'd still take insect repellent if I were going; I wore it the other day. Ticks are a big risk due to the possibility of Lyme disease.
IIRC,
It was Ed Abbey who wrote of the seductive waters of the desert sandstone country-along a watercourse, he saw a enticing pool about 10 feet down, over a gently curving water polished falls, and jumped in.
Only to realize there was no way back up, not a foothold to be had,not a twig or timber, and the next pool down was a hundred feet or so. He found a few river worn stones in the pool, and laid them up against the face of the sandstone to act as a primitive step, and got just high enough to get a friction hold on the less severely sloped upper portion of the wall.
Post a Comment