| Big Wild log (2005-07-12 -> 2005-07-29)
Leaders: Kayla Applebay and Derek Christina
Students: Julia Barry, Reid Hailey, Hill Hamrick, Ladd Hamrick, John David Ike, Madeline Keb, Will Randle, Wilson Smith, Luca Waldman, Chelsea Weller, William Wren.
July 19, 2005
Dear Friends and Family,
Our Big Wild adventure has been an overwhelming success so far.
Day 1 – Arrival Day
Everyone arrived safely, and on time! There was concern over a possible connection problem for some students, however we all made our flights and arrived in great spirits.
Hill and Ladd (twin brothers) stepped off the plane in matching shirts and immediately let everyone know their mother had made them wear them. Luckily for them, William drew everyone’s attention by frantically looking for his hiking boots. After unloading his entire bag onto the floor and making phone call home, we found his boots in his other bag. Later, we had a good laugh when several of us realized we’d been thinking the same thing at that moment, “This is going to be a long trip.”
We drove to Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho for our first campsite, our first camping dinner, and our first Moon Up.
Day 2 – Driving to McCall
Any fear regarding our group’s collective organization was put to rest today. Kayla and Derek were pleasantly surprised to see how quickly this group is able to complete the tasks at hand. We packed our camp and got back on the road in record time!
We continued to get to know each other as we spent several more hours in the van today. We stopped in Boise, Idaho for lunch and swimming at a park. While at the park, Chelsea let everyone know about her fear of snakes as soon as she saw a man swimming with his pet snake. She might have set a new World Record in the 100-meter freestyle if Kayla had not calmed her down. Now we all know there are no poisonous swimming snakes in Idaho.
Eventually, we found our campsite at the Ponderosa State Park in McCall, Idaho. We made a great dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup before our second Moon Up.
Day 3 – Salmon River, here we come!
We got a very early start this morning. We broke camp quickly and made it to our rendezvous with our river guides early! WOW! We packaged our clothes in our dry bags and hit the river. Roller Coaster rapids initiated us only a few minutes into our trip.
By the end of today, everyone had met and spent time with Matt, Shannon, Dylan and Jeff. Our guides did a fantastic job throughout our trip.
Day 4-6 – Rafting
Our days on the water were hilarious, wet, hot, demanding and exhilarating. One of our rafts flipped as we navigated Half ‘n’ Half rapid, which only added to the fun. John David and Reid claim that moment as their favorite for the trip. Everyone had a “good swim” (river guide talk) and with the exception of Kayla’s sunglasses, we safely rescued everyone’s personal belongings. It took two days to get our groups digital camera back, but luckily the waterproof housing floats and does a great job keeping out the water. Another outfitter found our camera three miles and several rapids down river from where we lost it. Julia has earned the nickname “Diesel” due to her ability to out paddle Hill, Ladd, and anyone else in her boat. Luca did a tremendous job as Leader-of-the-Day (LOD) during our last day on the river.
Will, Madeline and Chelsea followed Derek up an unnamed ridge one hot afternoon for a day hike. In all, it only took two hours but we climbed like crazy and found the most amazing views of Blue Canyon. From the top of the Seven Devils Mountains to the Salmon River, it is one of the deepest canyons in the United States. We can’t wait to share the photos we took.
Our evenings were spent goofing around camp and playing games of football. We also ate delicious food we helped cook and clean up after. The weather was perfect for our entire trip, so we spent our nights sleeping under the stars on sandy beaches.
Day 7 – The long Haul
We drove back to Wyoming today. After a tremendous van ride to Pinedale, WY we are camped. Wilson helped keep us in good spirits throughout our drive with his comedic banter with William. Luckily, we have four I-pods full of music (about 65 gigabytes total) to choose from whenever we are in the van. Needless to say, we had plenty to listen to.
Day 8 – Preparing for Backpacking
We are spending today in and around Pinedale, WY as we prepare for our backpacking section. We miss the Salmon River, but are looking forward to our new adventure. Today we will repackage all the food for our trip, learn how to pack our bags (and what to put in them), purchase fishing licenses, send letters and postcards and hopefully sneak in a little rest.
Tomorrow we head into the Wind River Mountain Range.
We miss you all, and love you very much.
We will write and call as soon as we can.
July 25, 2005
Day 9 – Backpacking the Northern Wind River Range
An excited Moondance group woke up early this morning at 6:30am. We ate breakfast as the sun dried the morning dew on our tents. After quickly breaking camp, we piled into our van and followed our guide to the Spring Creek trail head with plenty of nervous anticipation. Once at the trail head, we were introduced to our guide, Rick, and his two llamas!! Kayla and Derek were very excited to have some animals along for our hike. (Kayla loves animals of all types, and Derek was glad to have them provide a distraction for all the mosquitoes.)
Once on the trail we headed toward Prospector Lake. The Sun was high and hot at 10am, and only got hotter throughout the day. With heavy packs we continued to gain elevation until we reached Glimpse Lake. After a well deserved water break we continued to Prospector Lake where we made camp and fixed a very nice tuna melt dinner.
Day 10 – Backpacking to Trapper Lake
Although our itinerary had us scheduled to reach Borum Lake in the late afternoon today, Rick and Derek decided it was best to significantly reduce that hike. Trapper Lake (a two mile hike on the way to Borum) provided a great spot for a very long lunch break (where we rested our student’s very sore legs).
After a short conversation, we decided it best to camp at Trapper Lake for the night and continue to Borum Lake in the morning. John David did not complain at all, as he was suffering from blistered heels. William and Wilson were also very happy to take their packs off and enjoy the remainder of the afternoon by telling funny stories about their days at school while we swam and fished at Trapper Lake. Reid caught our first “keeper” fish, and Ladd released three that were just a bit too small to make into dinner. We made a great dinner, complete with fresh cutthroat trout compliments of Reid. Yum.
Day 11 – Borum Lake
We reached Borum Lake today, after a very strong four mile hike led by Chelsea and Luca. What a difference a day makes! We powered though to our destination and started to set up camp just before our first thunderstorm. We were bombarded with rain as Kayla, Derek and Rick desperately tried to build a shelter. The students retreated to their tents to wait out the storm. Fortunately, the storm passed quickly and we were left to finish setting up a very nice camp with an amazing view of the surrounding lake and mountains. We spent the remainder of the evening swimming in Borum Lake and preparing for our next days adventure.
Day 12 – Vista Peak, here we come!
Today we decided to climb a mountain. After a short two mile hike to Summit Lake, we picked Vista Peak as our target. We climbed Vista Peak for some amazing views of the surrounding wilderness. The Green River Valley and Table Top Mountain provided incredible sights from the top. Madeline and Chelsea instigated several snowball fights and Will was glad to have an excuse to show us how snowball fights are supposed to be fought.
Day 13 – Back to Trapper Lake
We began our hike back toward the trail head today by returning to Trapper Lake. After another great four mile hike, we had plenty of time to spend in the lake. Several of us went swimming and Hill, Ladd, Derek, Will and Reid fly fished. Surprise! Reid caught another three huge trout, which made a great supplement to our dinner. Even Chelsea, our resident vegetarian ate fish tonight, because they were line caught. What a great day! Reid returned to camp with William chanting “R. E. I. D. Reid spells victory!”
Day 14 – Spring Creek or bust!
Our team really showed strength today as we easily hiked the seven miles back to the trail head. Throughout the day Luca set a great hiking pace and Wilson kept us on a steady break schedule. Apparently the Wind River Range disapproved of our leaving the trail because we were hit with a huge rain and hail storm for the last hour of our hike. As soon as we reached our van, the clouds parted and the sun came out once again. Rick’s wife met us with root beer floats, which was a huge hit with everybody.
We drove ourselves to Jackson, where we camped at the Slide Lake campground tonight. We are proud of what we accomplished in the mountains, but look forward to days of less hiking and more climbing. Look out Teton Mountains, here we come!
Day 15 -- Basic Rock Climbing School
Today we crawled out of our tents very early and drove to "Teton Village" to meet our Exum Mountain Guides. When we reached the mountain we were greeted by Forrest and Kent, the two men who would introduce us to rock climbing.
We took the famous Teton Village Tram up the mountain, and were treated to amazing sights of Jackson Hole and the surrounding area. Once back on the ground we made a short hike to a huge boulder in the middle of what is a great ski run durring snow season. Today it would serve as our classroom. We started by learing how to use our sticky shoes, how to position our bodies, and how to spot each other.
Later in the day we would traverse the boulder, climb granite slabs, complete a multi-pitch climb and rapell down two different routes we climbed.
Day 16 -- Intermediate Rock Climbing School
We learned so much yesterday, and performed so well as a team it was decided we were ready for more difficult climbs today. We met our guides for the day at Jenny Lake before taking the ferry accross the lake to Hidden Falls. Once there, we split into three small groups before warming up on another boulder. We learned advanced techniques there before getting into our harnesses and tying ourselves into rope teams.
We completed two difficult multi-pitch climbs before lunch. After lunch, we rappelled down two seperate 120' overhanging cliffs!! What fun! Hayes Hitchens was climbing with us today and took amazing photos of us all day, including our group rapells.
We finished our day of climbing in style when Hayes treated us to ice cream in Jackson.
Day 17 -- Clean Up Day
Today we had a great bacon and egg breakfast before cleaning up our personal and group gear in preperation for our departure tomorrow. We washed tents, pots and pans, backpacks and clothes. We also wrote ourselves letters to remind us of all the amazing times we shared on the trip.
We spent a couple hours exploring Jackson in small groups before our banquet dinner at Mountain High Pizza Pie. We finished the night by holding our final moon-up.
Day 18 -- Good Bye!
Today everyone said good-bye to our new family. We talked about our plans for the rest of the summer and promised to stay in touch. I know Kayla and Derek will be emailing our new friends in the days and weeks to come. We want to hear about everyones new adventures as they approach high school.
Thank you to everyone for being fantastic. We were a great team and shared many special memories with eachother. Thank you very much.
Derek and Kayla
Day 15 -- Basic Rock Climbing School
Today we crawled out of our tents very early and drove to "Teton Village" to meet our Exum Mountain Guides. When we reached the mountain we were greeted by Forrest and Kent, the two men who would introduce us to rock climbing.
We took the famous Teton Village Tram up the mountain, and were treated to amazing sights of Jackson Hole and the surrounding area. Once back on the ground we made a short hike to a huge boulder in the middle of what is a great ski run durring snow season. Today it would serve as our classroom. We started by learing how to use our sticky shoes, how to position our bodies, and how to spot each other.
Later in the day we would traverse the boulder, climb granite slabs, complete a multi-pitch climb and rappel down two different routes we climbed.
Day 16 -- Intermediate Rock Climbing School
We learned so much yesterday, and performed so well as a team it was decided we were ready for more difficult climbs today. We met our guides for the day at Jenny Lake before taking the ferry across the lake to Hidden Falls. Once there, we split into three small groups before warming up on another boulder. We learned advanced techniques there before getting into our harnesses and tying ourselves into rope teams.
We completed two difficult multi-pitch climbs before lunch. After lunch, we rappelled down two separate 120' overhanging cliffs!! What fun! Hayes Hitchens was climbing with us today and took amazing photos of us all day, including our group rappels.
We finished our day of climbing in style when Hayes treated us to ice cream in Jackson.
Day 17 -- Clean Up Day
Today we had a great bacon and egg breakfast before cleaning up our personal and group gear in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We washed tents, pots and pans, backpacks and clothes. We also wrote ourselves letters to remind us of all the amazing times we shared on the trip.
We spent a couple hours exploring Jackson in small groups before our banquet dinner at Mountain High Pizza Pie. We finished the night by holding our final moon-up.
Day 18 -- Good Bye!
Today everyone said good-bye to our new family. We talked about our plans for the rest of the summer and promised to stay in touch. I know Kayla and Derek will be emailing our new friends in the days and weeks to come. We want to hear about everyone’s new adventures as they approach high school.
Thank you to everyone for being fantastic. We were a great team and shared many special memories with each other. Thank you very much.
Derek and Kayla
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