Murphy - Environment

The Murphy trip woke up to a spectacular view of Lake Chatuge, complements to Hinton Rural Life Center. Some people went down to the lake to skip rocks off the shining water while others took advantage of their day off to sleep-in. Then we went to Fire’s Creek Trail, where we meandered off the trail (just a little). After we backtracked, we found the right trail and saw some beautiful views. At one point, we stopped and a few people posed as Tarzan swinging from a rope. On the way back, we crossed a bridge underwater, where several people got frostbitten because of the freezing water (Worth it!!). Then we went grocery shopping, and the locals thought we were celebrities filming Cheaper By The Dozen 3. Obviously, we confirmed their suspicions. Then there was orientation for the place that we will be volunteering at (Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition), where we learned a lot about the issues with water quality in Murphy. We learned about some of the invasive plant species that we are supposed to remove during the course of the week. We also met Tony, who is our volunteer coordinator, who has a particular hatred of Japanese Honeysuckles. We are all excited to go to our site tomorrow and start working to improve the water quality in the area!