Some years back, our family all met up at Beech Mountain, NC , in the Blue Ridge Mts. of the Appalachians, with my parents, and brothers and their families for a very special family reunion! While in the yard of our rented house, a beautiful deer walked over to our children, laid down, and let them pet and comb his fur! He stayed for a long time, acting like our pet, and we named him Eli! Eli will forever be a cherished memory of our family. So, little did we know at the time, that we were in some of the oldest mountains in the world, at 1-2 Billion years old! Beech Mountain is in the far North Western corner of NC, in Ashe and Watauga Counties, and a great river runs near it called the New River, which is the 2nd oldest river in the World! The oldest is the Nile River. The New River is unusual in that it flows North. So, our whole family went tubing on the New River, not knowing we were on the 2nd oldest in the world, and it was an amazing adventure! Another very ancient river, being the third oldest in the world, is the French Broad River, in Buncombe,Henderson, and Transylvania Counties, NC , in the Blue Ridge Mts. The French Broad begins at a rain forest in Rosman, NC. Both the New and French Broad Rivers existed 1-2 Billion years ago, before the mountains were formed!