Ryan Moran, Brian Aide

Back at the cars, Doug bailed and Ryan, Brian, and I decided to bounce Neversink.  I’d been awhile since I last laid eyes on Neversink.  After a 400’ climb up the hill we assembled our gear and Ryan rigged the pit.  I went down first.  As I began my descent Ryan yelled down to me not to go too fast because he wanted to watch me rappell down into the gorgeous pit from the other side.  I saw several green, fern-filled ledges as I gazed 160 feet down towards the flat pit floor.  Of course my eye was quickly drawn towards the waterfall splashing off the lush pit ledges across the way.  The gloves I wore and the stiff rope didn’t allow me to rappell at my preferred speed but descending slowly did allow me to soak in the sight of one of TAG’s most classic pits.  At the bottom, I watched as Brian and Ryan rappelled down and then began my ascent.  I climbed pretty fast.  Once up top, I circled around to the viewing area to watch Ryan ascend.  I couldn’t help but notice the stark difference between the lush greenery below and the dead, dirt-packed slope all around the rig point.  Alan is right.  Overuse is quickly destroying the ledge above one of TAG’s prettiest pits.  Ryan and I both agree that Alan should write up a proposal to give the pit a 5-10 year break from human interference to allow the natural vegetation to take over once again.  After Brian ascended we hiked back down to the truck, drove back to Scottsboro to retrieve my car and we all began the long drive home.