Hiking with Shruti on the Sweet Gum trail (3 miles) at Red Top Mountain State Park on 1st January, 2005
This was a great way to start the new year. The weather was absolutely perfect- temperatures in the lower 70s and clear skies marked a nice start to the year. Add to it the awesome company of my sister, who was in town for the winter break/ new year, and you have a recipe for a great hike. We decided to go to Red Top mountain for a quick hike (about an hour) and then watched the sunset on the Lake Allatoona. Red Top mountain continues to be one of my most favorite destinations for a quick outing/ relaxing break.
Hiking with Amogh, Avanish, Sujeet and George on the Alum Cave Bluff trail (11 miles) in the Smokey Mountains on 30th May, 2004
Hiking with Shantanu, Badri, Aravind, Niket, Rajesh and Deepak on the Johns Edmonds trail (5 miles) at Black Rock Mountain State Park on 15th May, 2004
Hiking with Vinod and Aravind on the Coosa Backcountry trail (10 miles) at Vogel State Park on 6th September, 2003
Hiking and camping with Shilpa, Badri and Srini at Acadia National Park on 12th-13th-14th August, 2003
Acadia National Park is very beautiful, with huge cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. It is as beautiful as seen in the pictures.
Hiking and camping with Sameer and Vinod at Cloudland Canyon State Park (4.7 miles + 3 miles) on 12th-13th July, 2003
This was supposed to be a last camping trip to the Smokies before people graduated and dispersed from Georgia Tech. Unfortunately people started dropping out, and finally just the three of us ended up going to the N.GA hills. I had been hiking to Cloudland Canyon a long time back. We just lazed around all the time, except for the two hikes. The first one was a 4.7 mile loop along the west rim of the canyon. We got back to the campsite, had lunch and a siesta before setting out on another hike to see the waterfalls. Due to the heavy rains over the last few weeks, this time the waterfall has a lot of water, and it was a very pretty sight. We hiked about 3 miles in the evening and got back to the campsite for a nice dinner.
Hiking with Nikhila on the Homestead trail (5.5 miles) at Red Top Mountain on 5th July, 2003
The Homestead Trail is about a 5.5 mile loop. It's not too difficult, but it's not as easy as walking along a lake. There are quite a few slopes as the trail winds through the mountain towards the lake. After about 2 miles, it hits the lake and goes along the shore for about 1.5 miles. It's very beautiful and quiet out there, except for the motor boats flying past. Nikhila had made some wonderful sandwiches, which we had at one of the lookout points on the lake. On the way back, there was some heavy rain, and we ended up getting completely drenched. We managed to do the hike in just over a couple of hours. It's a very good half-a-day hike.
Hiking with Bindu, Rags and Madhuri on the Lake Russell trail (5 miles) in North Georgia Hills on 21st June, 2003
We hiked about 5 miles on this trail. The original plan was to do 6.6 miles (3.3 miles one way), but due to the trail being redesigned over the last year or two, we ended up doing the loop. The most diffcult part was locating the trail-head. After a couple of false starts, we found the trail. It starts below the dam, which is not so obvious if you just look at the dam from the parking lot. Once you go down there, you see the alternate route to cross over to the other side of the dam, where the trail starts. For the most part, the trail goes along Lake Russel, which is a very pretty sight. We saw quite a few turtles wading around in the water. Rags, with his fetish of holding in his hand every crawling insect he came across, showed us a tiny baby frog, a caterpillar, a beetle, thousands of worms etc. etc. Overall, we had a great time. The trail itself is pretty easy, very much doable for beginners..
Hiking with Badri on the Arethusa Falls trail (4 miles) in the White Mountains in New Hampshire on 13th June, 2003
The trail was just under 2 miles each way. Since we started late, we could not manage the Frankenstein Cliff trail which intersects the Arethusa Falls trail. The waterfall itself is very beautiful- it's the highest one in NH.
Hiking with Shantanu, Andrew, Aravind, Badri, Niket, Shayan, Souvik at Tallulah Gorge in North Gerogia Hills on 26th April, 2003
Hiking with SaiG on Mission Peak Hill in Fremont, CA on 5th April, 2003
Camping with Rajukaka, Kaka, Mayur, Poorva and Shruti in Naneghat in Maharashtra, India on 22nd-23rd February, 2003
Camping and Hiking with Vinod, Siva and Souvik at Desoto State Park in the TAG area on 26th-27th October, 2002
This was a very relaxing trip, and the perfect time to go hike in the woods because of the fall colors. We saw every possible shade the leaves could have had! We left on Friday afternoon and set up camp late that evening. We had to camp in what they called as a "primitive campground" where the only facilities were- a closed pit for restrooms and one tap for water. The next day we hiked on an extremely primitive trail which led us through some very thick vegetation. Overall, a good short trip over a weekend, as we got back early in the afternoon on Sunday.
Camping and Hiking with Srini, Badri and Aravind in the Smokey mountains on 31st August-1st September, 2002
Hiking with Andrew, Vinod and Aravind at Chattooga Recreation Area (8 miles) on 25th August, 2002
This was a hike along an unmarked trail- the first such trail I had been on. It was a relatively unused trail, unexploited by hikers, but used a lot by spiders and insects! The vegetation was beautiful too, and we saw a lot of colorful birds on the hike. The start was a bit slow because it was raining and people didnt want to hike in the rains. But once we started at around 11:30, it didnt rain. It was about an 8-mile hike, going down towards a stream. It was what I call a reverse hike in which you go downhill initially, so when you're coming back, it's a killer because you're too tired. It was fun though because it had just rained, and the trail was beautiful. The approach road to the trail was a 20-mile gravel road, and of course, my car had to get punctured on the way back! It was a slow leak though, so we didnt detect it till we got back to Atlanta. It was a fun hike though- a serious one after a long long time.
Hiking with Dada-Deepa and Harinee at World's End Reservation (4 miles) in Boston on 14th July, 2002
This was actually more of a walk- about 4 miles in length along the coast; an extremely beautiful one I should say. I hadnt been on any hike for a long time, and Ani-Deepa were enthu to go too, so we decided to go for a short one. It was a beautiful day, with amazing clouds in the blue sky, and walking along the harbor was the ideal thing to do that day.
Hiking at Tallulah Gorge State Park in the North Georgia hills on 27th April, 2002 with Shyamoly, Sheuly, Tapan, Sachin, Giri, Bindu, Raghav, Anita and Sriram
The gorge was really gorgeous, as beautiful as people had said it is. Initially we went through some lookout points, and then we descended down the gorge. The descent is very steep, with about 600 steps all the way down. They issue 100 permits to descend every day, and we were amongst the first few to get down there. effectively, when we reached the bottom, we were the only ones around, and so we had a very nice time. There were huge rocks on which you could just sleep off. The water was very cold, and the force was tremendous. We were there for about an hour, and then other people started to arrive, and that's when we decided to get back up. We had lunch at a shelter and played some games for sometime, and then started back for Atlanta.
Hiking at Blood Mountain in Vogel State Park in the North Georgia hills on 21st April, 2002 with Vivek, Durga, Andrew, Vinod, Shantanu, Souvik and Aravind
Once again, not too many people showed up for the hike, but those who went enjoyed anyways. Durga and Vivek drove all the way down from North Carolina to join in for the annual CRY-GT hike. The length of the trail itself wasn't too much, but it was on rocks all through, and that was killing for the knees. At the top was a nice cabin, and an amazing view. The wind was good, and the weather was perfect for a hike. The highlights of the trip were the remark by Durga: "What are friends for if they cannot take your garbage!" and another remark by Souvik, which I dare not write here, lest he punches me for doing that... after all, he is a regular at the gym!!! On the way back, we stopped at Turner's Corner for a nice relaxing lunch/coffee. And so the CRY-GT Spring hike tradition continues...
Camping in St. George Island State Park in Florida on 5th-6th-7th March, 2002 with Sameer, Andrew and Vinod
This was a very laid back trip- a good break from the intense studies that I was undergoing for the qualifying exam. We camped in St. George Island State Park, on the Florida panhandle for two days. The whole campground was full of senior citizens, a fact typical in Florida. The beach was very clean and empty, not too many people in sight, and it was wonderful to just go for walks. I attempted to jog one afternoon, and managed a nice 4 mile jog, in the process hurting my ankle coz I ran barefoot!! Overall, it was a nice trip, full of arguments all throughout!
Hiking on the Gahuti backcountry trail (8 miles) in Fort Mountain State Park in the North Georgia hills on 24th Feb, 2002
I had been wanting to go for a hike for a long time, especially since I did about 5 hikes in the Fall, and none in the winter, after November. I had decided to go this weekend, whether anyone else made it or not; and of course, no one else had the time or the inclination to come. This was the first time I was going alone on a hike, and it was an unbeatable experience! It feels so nice to be out in the wilderness all by yourself- you just have to experience it- no words can convey the feeling. I am glad I did this hike alone- now there's nothing stopping me when I feel like going for a hike!
The trail itself was a beautiful one- 8.25 miles long, which I managed to do in 3.5 hours. The variance in the topology and the types of trees around was unbelievable. The trail crossed through a number of streams, all full with water. Most of the crossings were over stones, but one of them was a bit wide and had two logs, which you could use to cross. But none of the logs was cut flat on the top face, and it was very scary to walk on those. The trail went along the mountain face for quite some time, and I could see the nearby town (Ellijay) very clearly. This is a moderately strenuous trail, because it slopes moderately for quite some part, but there are a few very steep sawtooths in between, which are okay enough for a day hike, but would be a killer for backpackers. There are quite a few primitive backpacking sites along the trail, and I would love to go backpacking over here some time.
Hiking at Amicalola Falls State Park on 22nd November, 2001 with Shyamoly, Sheuly, Sachin, Yamini, Baddam, Datta, Sriram, Sejal, Sunil, Ramakrishna, Sameer, Anup and Nidhi
We started early in the morning (early enough for me, that is, and landed at the park by around 10:30AM. While we were waiting for the rest of the junta to arrive, I met a very old American couple (the lady was 68 years old and the gentleman was 75 years). Amicalola Falls state park, by the way, is the home of the Springer mountain, which is the start of the Appalachian trail, which goes all the way to Maine... and guess what... this couple was planning to backpack through the whole trail, and onwards, into Canada, where they were planning to be by mid-September! In fact, they had starting walking up from Florida in September, and in less than two months, had made it to the AT! They were originally from Tennessee, and were planning to take a month-long break when they reached their hometown, where their daughter resides. I was amazed at their determination and enthusiasm to hike the whole of the AT! I wish I have that kind of enthu when I get that old!!
After everyone turned up, we hit the trail at the top of the falls, which is about 5 miles one way. At the start of the trail itself, people split up into groups, according to the pace. After walking for about a mile, Baddam and I, who were in the last group with Sriram, Datta and Sachin, decided to catch up with the first group, and therefore started running along the trail. We caught up with one group after the other, and although exhausted, we kept going... when we reached the last but oen group, Sameer and Sejal joined us, and we continued on the trail, looking for Ram, who was the only one to go ahead. We finally caught up with him at the end of the trail, where there's a beautiful lodge, overlooking the cliff. We have taken a photograph over there, which I shall scan and put up sometime! On the way back, Sameer, Sejal and I walked back at a leisurely pace, especially since we were extremely tired with all the running that we did along the trail! (and needless to say, we had a philosophical discussion about life!). We had a great potluck lunch after coming back, the biggest and tastiest one I have ever had on a hike, and then I headed home early so that I could be in time for a wonderful thanksgiving dinner at my advisor's place.
Hiking on the trail (8 miles) in Hard Labor Creek State Park on 10th November, 2001 with Vinod and Sameer
That week, the weather was excellent, and Sameer suggested that we should go for a hike before it gets too cold, and if anyone mentions the word "hike", I am always game. So we went to this park on I-20 (the first time that we ever diverted from our usual North Georgia hills trails). When we got there we realized that the nature trail was just about 2.5 miles long, and the other trail was a horse trail- 8 mile and 12 mile loops, so we decided to do that one. The 8-mile trail was easy enough, not too steep, and not too many scenic views. But we hit a lake after about 3 miles, and we had a good time over there, chatting and enjoying the water. After that we headed back, and were back home by 2:00PM, ready to start work! ;-)
Backpacking on the Burrell Ford trail (7 miles * 2) in the North Georgia hills along the Chatooga river on 3rd-4th November, 2001 with Sridhar, Matt and Shannon and their dogs, Cosmo and Chase
This was my first backpacking trip, and I was extremely excited right from the start. Hiking a trail with the backpack, the tent, the sleeping bag and pad in the backpack was a cool thing to do, and we had lots of fun. We left early on Saturday morning, and reach the trailhead at about 10:30AM. We started the hike at around 11:00AM. Initially, it took some time to adjust to the weight of the backpack, especially when you're climbing a stone or something, because the center of gravity changes. You need to consider the backpack as a part of you! Little Cosmo had his own backpack too, and it looked very cute on him. The trail ran parallel to the Chatooga river for the most part, and had quite a few scenic points. We had lunch on the way at one such point (where Chase was very eager to get into the water and have a bath). Then we started off, on the lookout for a nice camping spot, which we finally found at around 4:00PM, right next to the river. After we had pitched the tents, we took some rest and then set up a campfire, and cooked food on the portable stove that Matt had got with him. After that it was mostly a relaxing time, and we slept very early, at about 8:00PM (it was pitch-dark by around 6:00PM anyway!).
The next day we got up early, wrapped up our tents and stuff and headed back toward the trailhead. The hike back was more tiring than the earlier day, especially coz this was the second day with the heavy backpacks. We did about 7 miles on Sunday, becoz we missed taking one fork, and continued on another trail toward the parking lot. This trail is a very scenic one all throughout, becoz we literally go parallel to the river most of the time. I learned quite a few things on this hike, courtesy Matt, who is a very experienced hiker. Now I know exactly what and how much food (even for veggies) to carry- this is important, especially if u're backpacking. Also, it was very much fun to go do the hike with dogs, coz they have their own way of doing things, and running off the trails to look for something and so on...
Hiking/camping on the Kephart Prong trail (6 miles) and the Alum Cave trail (11 miles) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on 13th-14th October, 2001 with Harinee, Andrew, Vinod, Sunil, Siva
This was my second trip to the Smokies in the semester, and I was really glad that we were not going back to Cades Cove, but were camping at the Elkmont campground, very close to Cherokee. The first day, we started really early, due to the persistence of Mr. Coordinator (Vinod) and reached the campground by noon. We set up tents really quickly (obviously under the experienced directions of u-no-hu), and then hit the Kephart Pong trail at around 2:00PM. We hiked for about 3 hours that day, and did about 5-6 miles, which was anyway a warmup for the next day. The trail was a nice one, and ran along a creek for the most part. The Smokies has its own charm, and especially with the beautiful fall colors, it was looking picturesque. One cool feature of these trails in the Smokies is the bridges that are put up to help cross the creek. They're logs which are surfaced with concrete (or sometimes just plain logs, cut flat on one face). They're not too flimsy, but can easily scare a person, and no surprises, but it was fun to scare Andrew by trying to shake the bridge! After we were done with the hike, we sent off Vinod and Siva to get some wine (a farmaish by the ladies was to be honored after all!) and the rest of us set up the barbeque. We had some good barbequed veggies and corn, and some patties later on, and of course, the by-now famous chicken-tandoori cooked by urs-truly. The campfire was a lot of fun, no details will be provided here, lest these guys beat me up.
That night, due to a brilliant idea by Sunil of leaving the doors open for "ventilation" in the tent, it got completely soaked with water due to the heavy rains, and hence we decided the next day that after the hike we'll head back to Atlanta. So, in the morning we had a nice heavy breakfast at Cherokee and headed for the Alum-Cove trail after a lot of debate as to whether to go to Clingman's Dome or Alum Cove (the decision of course was autocratically made by the driver!). But the Alum Cove trail was my first choice anyway, so i didnt mind that, and it was an awesome trail. It went to Mt. Leconte, where there are some cabins for over-night stay. The view all along the trail was excellent, and we hit some really interesting spots along the trail, including the Alum Cove, which is an awesome sight. I even tried a photograph of the Cove, which according to me is amazing, but people didnt particularly like it. Once I scan the photograph, I'll put it up! After we were done with the trail, we headed back to Atlanta. Overall, it was a very well organized and very well executed trip.
Hiking/camping on the Thunderhead mountain trail (16 miles) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on 1st-2nd September, 2001 with Miku, Mima, Rohit, Abhijit, Hitesh, Kiran, Arthi, Vijay, Yeshwant, Amita Kale, Nilanjan
This was an awesome camping/hiking experience, although it was a repetition for me, coz I had been to the Cades Cove campsite earlier. But it was our first undergrad group get-together after Kiran and Mima had come to the US, so it was fun. We camped at Cades Cove for two nights- we reached late the first night, and after pitching the tents, barbequed some veggies and chicken. This was followed by a cool discussion on "How do we Save the World" (ref: "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn), led by Miku... needless to say, the discussion wasnt too well received by half the people, and Miku was beaten up as a result. I enjoyed it a lot though.
The next day, we started early enough for us, and hit the trail at about 10:00AM, due to the presistence and planning of Kiran, alias "Korbet kaka with a K". Halfway through the trail, Rohit, Hitesh, Yeshwant, Abhijit and Arthi decided to drop out coz the trail didnt offer any particularly great vistas, and it was getting a bit tiring too. So the rest of us went on to the top of the Thunderhead mountain, gaining an elevation of about 2500 feet in about 8 miles. The last part of the trail was a part of the Appalachian trail, and we met quite a few hikers who were doing either the whole AT or the part from Clingman's Dome to Fontana. The view at the top was amazing, and worth all the effort. On the way down, my knees were hurting a lot, and after we got to the bottom, we took a long dip in the river at the trailhead. The dinner that night at a local restaurant in Townsend was one of the best I had in a long time (maybe becoz I was so tired!).
We stayed in the tents for the night (and were totally soaked by the morning coz it rained a lot that night). In the morning we did the Cades Cove Loop road by car, and then headed home. Thus ended a wonderful Smokies trip, organized really well by Mima.
Hiking on the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (6 miles) 26th May, 2001 with Sneha, Shantanu, Swapneel
This was a fairly easy hike where we descended down the canyon and came back up in about 2 or 2 and a 1/2 hours. We must have hiked for about 5-6 miles, and the view points were good. But I dont think it was comparable to the Grand Canyon (which I have not see yet).
Hike/picnic on the Desoto Falls trail (2 miles) in the North Georgia Hills on 14 April, 2001 with Harinee, Preeti, Durga, Vivek, Indrani, Sarat, Shantanu, Sushant, Niket, Andrew, Vinod, Prahlad, Bikash, Harshit, Rahul
This was a very short trail- 2 miles round trip. It had two parts to it- one went to the upper falls, which was a very pretty sight. The other one that went to the lower falls wasn't as great. The upper falls trail continued on for a longer trail, which was steep enough, but we didnt have enough enthu people to go up to the top :-(. We had a great lunch in the picnic area, and after a frisbee and antakshari session, headed back home. It was a wonderful picnic, with some wonderful organization by Vivek, and hence a nice get-together for CRY-Georgia Tech volunteers before the "father of CRY-GT" left Atlanta.
Hike on the Johns Edmonds trail (7.5 miles) in Black Rock Mountain State Park in North Georgia Hills on 17th March, 2001 with Vinod and Sameer
This was a very nice hike, the weather was very pleasant and the trail was an interesting one. It was 7.5 miles long, with two big slopes, and went along a stream or cut through it for most of the part. We took just over an hour to get to the topmost point, the overlook. The scenery from the overlook at the Lookoff mountain point was very nice, and we took a long break there. Then we descended down to the lake, which was very calm and soothing. The descent back up was a bit tiring for me, but it was fun all the same. We got done with the hiking in about four hours, with all the breaks, and after lunch we headed back home. But we decided we will not take any of the interstates to Atlanta, and hence drove back along all the country roads and the State roads, which was a very nice experience.
Hike on the Smith Creek trail (6 miles) in White County in North Georgia Hills on 25th November, 2000 with Krishna, Nikhila, Shalini, Ravi
The weather was amazing that day... it was raining on and off, and we walked through the mist, with trees all around. The trail goes next to the creek for quite some time. The tallest waterfalls in Georgia, the Anna Ruby Falls are located on this trail... it's a very pretty sight. The hike is 10 miles round-trip, but due to time limitations, we did just 6 miles round trip. Overall, we had a very nice time.
Hike on the West Rim trail (4.7 miles) in Cloudland Canyon State Park in North Georgia Hills on 21st October, 2000 with Harinee, Arati, Rajit, Suneet, Shantanu, Swati, Ranjeeta, Vidhya
The fall colors were amazing, and the view from the top of the canyon was amazing. The waterfalls were a bit dried up (that is an understatement), but the colors were worth it. After having a look at the waterfalls, we came back to the parking lot and had lunch. After taking some rest and playing dumb charades, we started out on the 4.7 mile long hike. We completed the hike in under 3 hours, and then started back home. The view from some of the points was amazing, and we enjoyed a lot.
Hike on the Half Dome (17 miles) in Yosemite National Park on 2nd July, 2000 with Guru, Tapan, Unmil, Gaurav, (Ajit) Bhate, Miku, Rohit, SaiG, Saurabh and Rajkumar
This is the most difficult hike I have done so far, and I loved it a lot. It was a 17 mile round trip hike, and we took about 12 hours to get done. Your determination and your focus on the goal is the only thing that gets you through to the top, and believe me, the experience is amazing. Especially the last part of the dome, where you climb up the steep rock, on the ladder, is really interesting. The view at the top, and the sense of achievement is worth every single minute of the torture you put yourself through.
I'll put up the details of the camping and white-water rafting later on.
Hike on the Chikamauga creek trail (6.2 miles) in North Georgia mountains on 12th February, 2000 with Ravi, Shalini, Sarat, Bhagwat, Karthik, Rajesh, Vivek and Nikhila
This was a great hike too. It was longer than the earlier hike (this one was 6.2 miles), and went along the creek, which made it even more interesting. All I remember about the hike is that we got a ticket on our way back to Atlanta :-(
Hike on the Johns mountain trail (3.1 miles) and Keown Falls trail (1.8 miles) in North Georgia mountains on 13th November, 1999 with Krishna, Ravi, Sarat, Vishal, Shalini, Harinee, Durga, Blaise and Mike
This was my first hike after coming to Atlanta, and it was amazing! The fact that we could juts drive for about 2 hours and reach the mountains was in itself a novelty to me. These two trails form a figure of 8; Johns mountain trail is 3.1 miles, and the Keown Falls trail is 1.8 miles long, and both are easy trails to hike on. They both go through the trees, and other than the waterfall, there isn't much of a view.
Hike (13 miles) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on 16th August, 1999 with GC (Gaurav Chawla), GD (Gaurav Desai), Vishal, (Ajit) Bhate, Miku, Zaheer and Vijay
When I decided to shift from TAMU to Gatech, some of my friends decided to drive over with me to Atlanta, and then go on to the Smokeys for a camping and hiking trip. I had initially not decided to join them, but needless to say, they convinced me to go, so off I went... Mihir, GC, Vijay, Zaheer, GD and me, we drove down from Texas, picked up Vishal in Atlanta and Bhate from Clemson, and then proceeded to the Smokeys. We went to the Cades Cove campsite ground and camped for the night.
The next day we started the trail at around 11AM, and decided to take a set of two trails in a loop. Unknowingly, we started off with the simplest trail of the two, the Abraham Falls Trail, which was just about 4 miles. We thought if this is so easy, why not go for a longer one... so we modified our plans to go for a loop of three trails... and we set off on the Jackson trail, followed by the Rabbit Creek Trail.
The last trail was a killer trail... a series of three peaks one after the other with an absolute upslope and downslope combination for 7.5 miles. It was a really difficult trail, and considering that we had just one torch amongst the eight of us, we had to hurry it up. So we decided to split, and therefore Vijay, GC, Vishal and me, we went ahead, practically running on the downslopes to make it to the parking lot before it got dark. Soon enough, the other group, GD, Miku, Bhate and Zaheer joined us and thus ended a magnificent hike through the Smokeys. All of us were dead-tired, but the sense of achievement that we had after we made it was unbeatable.
Camping in the Sommerville Lake camp-grounds with Tejal, Vijay, Anil and Rohan for Vijay's birthday in July 1999
This was an amazing trip, especially since it was the last one that I went to, from TAMU. It was Vijay's birthday treat to us. It started out a bit on the wrong track by Miku not coming with us coz of some project due in some 2-3 days time (which all of us are sure could be done later on... but that's Miku!). In any case, we reached Somerville at about 8PM, and set up the tent. We then made an amazing barbeque with chicken, fish, potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes. It was a full moon night, and our campsite was on the banks of the lake. The sky was so clear, that we could even see the cloudy belt of the Milky Way. Rohan had brought his guitar along, and he played it beautifully in the silent night. We then went for a walk along the lake. It was so beautiful outside that we decided to sleep in the open, and not in the tents (of course, the mosquitoes were happy, and we finally had to go inside). The next day, we got up early enough to view the sunrise from the pier. It was a very short, but memorable trip, and I wish we could all meet back at TAMU sometime and go to Somerville for a similar trip.