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Written by Chris Cobb
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Wednesday, 13 February 2008 |
September 23rd, 2006Jen and I had been planning a hiking trip for several weeks to Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness in Tennessee, my favorite place to hike. I told Jen that I was interested in finding some geocaches that I had found posted on the Internet and there were several near Virgin Falls and the other surrounding waterfalls. Geocaching is an activity where you use a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit to locate items that other people have hidden around the world.
The adventure began early Saturday morning at 6:00 AM after I had been unable to sleep the night before. We stopped in Dalton, GA for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and continued up through Chattanooga, over Signal Mtn. and up to Sparta, TN. I was very worried about the weather because there was rain in the forecast and several thunderstorms were moving through northern and middle Tennessee that morning. I'd had my eye on weather.com all night!
We stopped in Sparta, TN for gas and lunch for the hike when it began pouring, but I was determined to make this happen! When we arrived at the trail it was still raining, but Jen was a trooper and we started the 4 mile hike to the waterfall after the rain began to stop.
We finally reached Virgin Falls and we sat down for lunch and some water. The sun had come out and was shining brightly through the trees above us. After we took some pictures and hiked to the top of the falls, I told Jen that I wanted to find one of the geocaches that was supposed to be hidden near the waterfall. When we first arrived and Jen was taking pictures, I had hidden a small container with a note in it behind a pine tree up on a hill next to the falls. I wanted Jen to find it, so I gave her some clues and anxiously waited for her to locate it. Finally, she found it and I asked her to see what was inside. After reading what I had written inside the note that was rolled up like a scroll and tied with a bow, I asked her to come down closer to the waterfall. There in front of the waterfall, I asked her to marry me. Her response was "Yes!, of course!, Yes!, I will!"
There were some Boy Scouts there with their fathers and they came over and took our picture after Jen yelled "We just got engaged!". On the hike back, they were in front of us and told all the hikers that were on their way to the falls to congratulate the newly engaged couple behind them. We completed the 8 mile hike and were congratulated by several groups of hikers on the way back. Even though I got stung by a yellowjacket and Jen almost was crushed by a falling tree limb, everything went as planned.
We were married June 2, 2007. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 February 2008 )
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