Colorado Trail

Colorado Trail log (2005-07-12 -> 2005-07-29)

Leaders: Sarah Burbank, James Catts, Aaron Copeland, Kyle Jackson, Molly Weaver

Students: Todd Bracken, Stimpson Crosby, Paden Gill, Sean Guest, Anna Ike, Claire Kana, Laura Kinzey, Wilson Kistler, Alex Malone, Sam Maxwell, Payton McCrossan, Elly Offutt, Hillary Rolfs, Cade Songy, Niki Sra, Jane Stephens, Nene Stephens, Jake Yochum.

James, Kyle and Molly's group.
July 16, 2005
Greetings from the West!
Hope all is well at home. We are happy to be out here soaking up the Colorado sun and missing all the hurricanes and rain. Aside from some Dennis-force wind gusts on our first night, the weather has been beautiful. We certainly weren't able to avoid getting wet while rafting the Arkansas though. We had a great time riding and surfing some of the waves on the bigger white water sections, but the ongoing water wars between boats - where you try splash the kids on the other boat to the point where it looked like they fell in the water - was the most fun. Alex even managed to knock one of the guides in the river briefly with his highly accurate spray-to-the-face technique.
No need to worry though, even if we did have a guide go for a swim, Stimpson was ready to step up and control the raft. He might as well have gone through guide training with the number of hours he logged in at the helm of his boat.
His cousins weren't quite as under control as Stimpson however. While Nene may have more victories between the two on the tennis court, Jane would undoubtedly win were the match moved to the water. Jane showed almost no reaction when her raft bumped a rock and she plopped into the cool river. Like a natural-born fish she brightened her eyes and then swam around a little bit before calmly and efficiently navigating downstream to another boat. (It wouldn't be fair for me to tell anymore stories about the twins for fear of granting undue credit to one or the other. I had them figured out the first day when Jane was wearing pink and Nene had on blue, but now they are both wearing an article of pink everyday and I have no idea).
Meanwhile, back on the river, Sean did not show as much grace in the water. In fact, when his boat bumped a rock dislodging him from his seat, Sean managed to bounce right off the rock and back into the boat, remaining high and dry and receiving a boisterous cheer from his crewmates.
At the same time Paden was getting cheers from other boats for his gusto to "ride the bull" down much of the river. Riding the bull is when you sit up on the front of the raft without a paddle and hold onto the gear ropes as tight as you can through the rapids. Paden didn't get any style points for flailing one hand in the air during his ride, but he deserves thanks for blocking most of the water from splashing everyone else in the boat.

Once we got to our campsite and off of the river, we really started using our paddles. Our Peruvian river guide, Eduardo, taught us a game where the only object is to hold onto a single paddle. It sounded easy enough, but once Eddie started blowing the whistle and we had to move either right one space or left one space or do a 360 spin while everyone is in a giant circle, it becomes dizzying and at times painful. And even with the counselors and guides with their longer arms and bullying bodies all playing, Payton McC managed to make it to the end. I was honestly too emotionally fired up, and my equilibrium too mixed up to notice who held onto the very last paddle, but Payton exhibited excellent balance by holding onto his paddle as my 180lb. frame dove into him while reaching for my paddle.
Laura didn't display the same inner ear as Payton during our next game, which also involved a paddle and a lot of spinning. This time you had to hold the paddle with the blade towards the sky and stare up at the base of the blade while turning yourself around fifteen times as fast as you can. After about seven spins, Laura almost took out two tents. Elly had more success than her friend at one of our favorite games - "Big Booty." This does not mean she has the largest rear end of any of the kids; it means she has the best rhythm and concentration. She also showed her amazing focus as she pounded out an area of small stones into dust while practicing her dribbling skills for next basketball season. But, always ready to break Elly's concentration, or at least ready to try is the Sparkle City's very own next U-Haul dealer, Claire. Claire can imitate a redneck salesman frighteningly well, and her laid back attitude and humor have helped a lot of the kids open up.

We now have to get ready for our trip into the San Juan Mountains. We hope you are doing well back home, and we look forward to telling you about our next adventure soon.
James, Kyle, and Molly

Sarah and Aaron’s (Copey) group
July 16, 2005
Greetings from Colorado Trail. We're out here in Colorado having a blast and rafting the Arkansas. For the first section of our trip, we split into small groups and the group that Aaron "Copey" and I had was Sam, Alex, Wilson, Todd, Niki, Hillary, Cade, Anna and Jake. What an awesome group of people we had the opportunity to raft and spend time with--well mannered too!

We picked all 18 students up in the airport (with many of them on the same flights) did a gear check/ pack explosion (way more tame than it sounds), split into our small groups and got on the road. We had a bit of a drive to get to our campsite in Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (Hecla Junction) but none seemed to notice as the time melted away. Upon our arrival, we broke into our temporary tent groups and set up camp. Anna, Hillary, and Niki set up a bomb proof tent in a matter of seconds which is a pretty big deal when your tent is a Skyview 3 and you've never seen one like it before. Copey and I were astounded by their speed. All of the tents were set up well and continue to be on a regular basis. Luckily tent set up was quick because a storm moved in and decided to stick around for a long time. We learned proper wilderness lightning protocol, which we did not have to use, and retreated to our tents. After the storm let up we had dinner, had moon up (evening debrief), and went to sleep with promises of "sleeping in".

The next morning brought early risers because of their bodies' Eastern Time schedules, so we got up, packed camp and started breakfast. Sam was and is always a huge help in the kitchen and in any activity/ group chore. The highlight of the day was most certainly the birthday that we got to celebrate, which belonged to Alex. We warmed up the day with a pre-breakfast "happy birthday" and have some excellent singers--and some not so excellent singers who were entertaining. While eating, Todd said, "If the food is half this good all trip then it's going to be awesome." We assured him it would be half that good--just kidding. After feasting on our breakfast burritos, the other group (early risers too) walked over to our campsites and challenged us to a game of Big Booty. Molly Weaver, another leader and former Moondance student, was the reigning champion of the world until this day. Her throne was usurped by Claire from the other group but our group put up a good fight and won the overall team title. Wilson outshined the rest in the heckling dept. of the game and was named the "hecla heckler". After big booty, we piled in the van, drove to River Runners and started lunch. We had Ice cream and Cake with the other group in celebration of Alex's birthday since it would be a mess to try to take it on the river. After lunch our AWESOME guides, John, Alana, Eddie, and Gordy came over helped us pack into the dry bags and our rafting adventure began. We spent a whole day on the river rafting some awesome class three and four rapids which were highlights for all. After a long day on the river, we arrived at our riverside campsite threw up tents, feasted on dinner provided by our guides, and got ready for some games Eddie had cooked up for us. The games involved coordination, an extreme immunity to dizziness, and a clever mind. Niki tricked everyone in our version of "mafia" for a very long time until finally being figured out as one of the "killers". Hillary showed an awesome aptitude for the paddle pass game which seemed to elude most others. After games, James, Kyle and Copey broke out their guitars and mandolin respectively and played for us before moon up. Jake got in on the music too playing the drums on his legs and told us at moon up that the music was his "high point" for the day.

The next morning we woke up early, feasted again, this time on eggs, sausage, and french toast; and broke down camp in record group speed. We got on the river early so we were fortunate not to have many other boats around and plenty of time to swim and go to jump rock which was so much fun. Alex, Sam and Cade went the most out of all 23 of us (9 times each) and showed us the proper form if you want to be a competitive cannonballer, which I hear is being added to the next Olympics. We may know the next Olympic cannonball champions, which would be an honor to tell people that they got their start with Moondance when Alex, Sam and Cade are competing for the gold. After jump rock, we had lunch at Hecla Junction and rafted onward through two more rapids. Cade took a swim during a water fight with the leader boat and after being pulled into our boat by Copey, rode with us while they corrected their boat and retrieved another swimmer. We put him right to work and got into lounge position :). Anna said, "Flipping over on purpose was really fun." Eddie had the girls on one side so they could flip and cool off in a class 1 rapid. When we got to our take out we were all sad to leave but were excited about prepping for backpacking. Don't worry we didn't forget to pick up Hillary's retainer.

We drove back to Hecla Junction and set up camp for the night. After feasting on burritos, we all piled into the van and drove into Buena Vista for a surprise the five leaders had cooked up. Our River Runners guides had such a great time with us and were so complimentary of the kids that they invited us to come watch "Goonies" with them at a local church. Since rain and lightning were on the way we took them up on the offer. We watched "Goonies", which much to our surprise many of the kids had not seen, and snacked on the yummy desserts and lemonade provided by the church. After our movie session we said goodbye, thanked them and headed back to camp. Moon up was awesome--we discussed our goals for the backpacking section and highlights so far. Bed was even more fun, after a long day on the river and our cultural enrichment film, and all slept like champs--sleeping soundly until they were awakened in the AM.

We're in Gunnison right now dividing up food and groups again for the backpacking section. We'll have new people to get to know and loads of fun on the trail so we're all really excited. We'll camp at Ridgway State Park tonight and then head on to Bear Creek Trail in the morning bright and early. We'll be mixing up the groups periodically so be sure to check all of the CT internet updates. We're having a blast and all 18 of our students are awesome. The five leaders couldn't be more pleased. We'll check back in after backpacking and let you know what a blast we had and how well we got to know each other. We'll be learning a wealth of outdoor skills too. That's about it for today--take care. YEEHAW.


June 22, 2005
Oh how strange civilized life seems after a few days in the back country. The whole group just returned from an amazing 6 days of hiking through the San Juan National Forest. We finished up our day in Gunnnison (how long ago that was!) by splitting the 18 kids into two new groups of 9 each. Everyone was a little hesitant at first but by dinner that night it seemed that everyone had been best friends for life. We rolled into the Ridgeway campgrounds and immediately set to work on a delicious hamburger cookout. As a group we set to work on breaking up food and group gear for the trip as well as making some of the best GORP known to man. Nicknames developed quickly as we needed a way to distinguish between our Payton and Paden. After hearing a great story from Paden's childhood he was dubbed Duber, which has stuck. Todd is now affectionately known as Toad and Kyle and James as Spicy and Zest. Arriving at the Bear Creek Trailhead we had a quick, but tasty lunch of p.b. and jelly with bananas in the sandwich. Although bananas are Toad's favorite, he had never tried them in a sandwich! It was a hot day so we started out our hike with a quick jump in the river to help keep us cool.

Nene and Paden were our leaders of the day (LODs) and did an impressive job keeping the group motivated on our first hike. We made it to a campsite about 4 miles in and as we were beginning to set up camp a true Colorado afternoon storm blew through. Payton and Alex were a little disappointed to discover it is incredibly hard to set up a tent in the rain, but the clouds blew through and they were able to dry out their tent before having to crawl in for the night. Dinner was a hit, "Asian Delight" with honey mustard sauce that Jane could not get enough of. We set up our first bear bag and hung more food than is imaginable from a strong, sturdy tree. The night ended with Kyle reading aloud from Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" with some of the greatest character voices. The next morning we woke up for a delicious breakfast of smushed muffins. Everyone in the group did an amazing job breaking up group gear and taking their share of the load.

That night we had an amazing dinner of spaghetti with red sauce and sausage. Niki was getting a little sick of seeing all this red meat, but being the trooper that she is, we heard no complaints and she loved the meal all the
same. The kids went on and on about enjoying the late afternoon hike (definitely not as hot!) and were thrilled to end the night with more of "The Alchemist". The next morning we awoke to sunshine and motivated students. Within minutes they had broken down camp and Kyle and Molly were struggling to catch up. These kids could hike like professionals. Todd and Laura were the LODs and led the group through a 5 mile hike to our summit basecamp.

We stopped for a relaxing lunch where Paden and Nene braved an icy dip in the creek before continuing on. Arriving at what seemed to be the end of the trail we were all able to appreciate the awesome power of an avalanche.
The trail had been covered with fallen trees from an avalanche earlier in the summer and it was an incredible sight. Molly and Kyle had to do a bit of scouting to find where the trail continued for our summit attempt the next day. Everyone was exhausted as we returned to camp. We learned a lot that night about hydration and elevation as everyone adjusted to our new elevation on the mountain. Payton led us in a thrilling game of sniper, and Alex always seemed to come out the winner.

Everyone was stoked for the summit the next day and after numerous games of Big Booty (Laura and Molly are pretty unbeatable) we hit the sleeping bags. The girls in the group showed up the boys time and time again by sleeping out under the stars every single night of the trip. Molly and Kyle joined them most nights except this one because the bugs scared them off. An early morning was slightly shocking for this group that enjoys its rest but excitement for the summit opened any sleepy eyes. We set off for an adventuresome and tough day. The hike started with a climb over the fallen trees and continued along to a massive and cold waterfall. We cruised along the trail for quite some time before losing it a bit and heading up the mountain in search of excitement. Jane was a model of what it means to be in shape as she never hesitated in her steps or stopped to catch her breath. The girl just cruised on like she wasn't gaining hundreds of feet in altitude and losing oxygen by the second. We scrambled over rocks, crossed huge snow fields and admired many wildflower filled meadows. Anna was overcome by the beauty of the experience and many times she stopped with Laura to marvel at the view and the unexpected glory of the mountains. Although we were not able to reach our original summit due to trail problems, we did summit Roca de Niki (okay so we made the name up...) and Paden climbed atop Paden Rock (apparently we need to work on creativity!). Alex was super excited as we enjoyed a lunch of beef jerky and cheese high in the mountains with cool breezes and unbeatable views. The group was happy and proud. Kyle and Molly scouted out some great "skiing" routes on the unmelted snow and we marveled at the chance to ski in July. The kids slid down snowy slopes on their feet, butts and backs, pretty much whatever body part landed on the ground.

Todd and Payton were quick experts and began planning an Olympic event while Niki and Alex ended up in a tandem slide. Exhausted, we found our way back down the mountain and headed for camp. Back at camp everyone needed a rest.

A circle quickly formed and a conversation that may never end started up: what is the funniest movie out there? Kyle and Molly had to zone out a bit as the kids quoted movie after movie. Amazing memories to say the least! We headed out for a few miles to find a new and exciting campsite for one of our last nights in the back country. We ended up in a beautiful meadow that was home to many grasshoppers and enjoyed a beautiful night. The moon was enormous and glowing and the boys cooked up some tasty Ramen soup while the girls listed off all the crazy things they missed about the front country. Kyle ended the night with some more reading; everyone is really enjoying the story and Kyle's endless supply of interesting accents. We woke up early the next morning to a hot and sunny day. Niki, Nene, Molly, and Kyle all started the day with a quick dip in the creek.

Nothing like starting a hike with wet and cool clothes. Oatmeal was out of the question so we enjoyed cold cereal instead and headed on our way. Not far down the trail we met up again with the other group. Paden made the decision to make a quick 15 minute stop by. The stop turned into a longer visit and the kids all had a blast sharing their stories and fresh jokes. Some clouds rolled in right as our group decided to continue on, but these power hikers just put on their rain gear and continued down the trail. We stopped for some tasty lunch and then powered on to our final back country campsite. For a short while we followed some cows down the trail. It was decided that these cows had escaped their ranch for a lovely backpacking trip along Bear Creek. We could hardly blame them. Late that afternoon we reached our site and enjoyed a relaxing conversation by the creek. Nene and Jane kept the group laughing hysterically and of course the boys provided endless entertainment with their non-stop skits. The other group passed by and we invited them over for a large group dinner. Everyone enjoyed some Stove Top stuffing, although Laura and Anna were most amazed by its tastiness. Warm breezes blew through camp as Copey strummed his mandilon and we were entertained by Laura's singing and the whole group (23 people is an amazing sight in the back country) being together. The girls again ruled the outdoor sleeping and it was the perfect night for it! Kyle read late into the night until he looked around and realized everyone was asleep. The next morning we all agreed it was one of the best nights of sleep so far. We broke down camp in record time and headed out for our last 2 miles of hiking. The two groups stayed close together and we stopped in a meadow for some truly artistic photos. Finally the vans were in sight and everyone was relieved to get the heavy packs off our backs. A final dip in the river and everyone piled in the van. We drove on to Telluride where the kids headed off in groups to explore the town and undoubtedly fill up on soda, candy and hamburgers. Telluride is a great place and we are all getting excited for the next sections to begin. The kids will get a chance to make even more great new friends as we rearrange groups again before rock climbing and sea kayaking. One thing we discovered: the van rides are great when everyone is singing and dancing along, especially if you're jamming to the B-52s!!! More news and excitement from the Rocky Mountain state to come...

July 22, 2005
Greetings, again, from the great state of Colorado. We just came out of the backcountry yesterday and are getting excited about Sea Kayaking tomorrow. For the backcountry section we had the group with Stimpy, Claire, Elly, Hillary, Jake, Wilson, Sam, Sean, and Cade. What an awesome crew.

We entered the backcountry on day five of our trip. We woke up early, packed our packs, dealt out group gear and food and hit the trail. We hiked hard, breaking for a quick lunch of bagels and PBJ. During lunch, we got the opportunity to see a coyote that was heading our way and got pretty close until he looked up, made eye contact, was scared to death of us and ran away. Most of the students and leaders had never seen a wild coyote. We got into camp that night, learned how to hang our food to keep bears out of camp and cooked up some teriyaki chicken and rice. We then had our National Toothbrush Association spitting contest, which Sean won and headed off to bed. Stimpy said before we got into our sleeping bags, "This is so much fun--way more fun than I had thought it would be."

The next day we woke up and hiked the Highline trail and gained tons of elevation in a very short period of time. Even though our hike was tough, never once did we hear a complaint. On the trail, Wilson entertained us with his rendition of "Tiny Dancer" over and over again which was a good laugh for us all. We had chicken sandos for dinner with honey mustard sauce. James said about the chicken sandos, "Oh my Gosh, they should sell these in a store for $6." Sam helped cook these awesome sandos and may one day sell them for $6 in his store. Elly, Claire and Hillary stayed up late in their tent singing songs that we could all hear through the tent and everyone enjoyed their nice voices.

The next day we began our hike out but not before an awesome day hike to the top of a ridge with phenomenal views. Cade told us jokes that were hysterical and everyone feasted on Reeces Pieces provided by Captain James. After we arrived at our campsite we threw up tents and hit the creek for a nice day of swimming. Thanks to inferno like heat we could stay in the water for a while and took some awesome pictures of Sam that are sure to be in next year's catalog. He has a lot to live up to since his brother and sister are both in this year's catalog. We celebrated the day's end and the bright waxing moon with a Moon-up where everyone performed their favorite song. Wilson obviously performed Tiny Dancer. Claire, Ellie and Hillary did a trio of "It's a Great Day to be Alive" and blew the rest of the singers out of the water.

The next morning we woke up, made pancakes, funnel cakes (by accident), and chocolate moon cakes that were awesome, but filling. Cade ate tons and said, "Whoa, I thought these mooncakes were going to be gross--but they're actually pretty good." The girls went to the river and brushed their hair and looked just like the sirens from "O Brother where art thou"--and looked cleaner than the rest of us. We hit the trail and headed to our last night's campsite. A highlight for most was watching James try to carry two packs at once. A little off balance, but an otherwise stellar effort. We got in, set up and headed over to the other group’s camp for dinner. We hung out all night before retreating to our campsite for bed. Ellie and Claire served as our protection from bugs that night since every mosquito in CO wanted their blood instead of ours. Sean helped the leaders with the bear bag and off to bed we went. We had a super short hike out the next day so we made the decision to visit Telluride. Everyone had a blast and a nice front country lunch.

We're heading in to our kayaking section so we'll check back in a few days. Every single one of the students is awesome and we can't wait to hang out with our new group members. Thanks again for lending us your awesome kids. Colorado Trail Rocks.

July 25, 2005
Ahoy there!--from the Colorado Trail group of Sarah, Copey, Stimpy, Peyton, Sean, Sam, Laura, Jane, Hillary and Niki, and Todd. We've been out on the Blue Mesa Resevoir for the past two days working on our pirating skills and learning to paddle. It was a nice change to use some arm and ab muscles rather than the leg muscles we turned to steal on our backpacking section.

After we finished up backpacking, we shuffled the groups around and went our seperate ways. Our group was heading to Sea Kayaking on Blue Mesa Resevoir while the other group headed into the Uncompahgre to climb. For lunch, we stopped at a local Montrose park, ate Sandos and fruit (which was nice to see after backpacking) and played some games. World Cup was a highlight for lots and team Ireland of Peyton and Sean dominated Team Costa Rica of Stimpy and Sam in the Finals. We also got a rousing game of frisbee going and Stimpson has said that Frisbee is probably one of his favorite activities on earth. As we continued our journey, we couldn't resist a stop at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Natl. Park., so we went through, saw the Canyon and learned the natural history of the area. Stimpson said, "I thought that the film was going to be boring but it was actually really interesting." Everyone else agreed--and it was nice to feel some air conditioning on such a hot Colorado day. We went into a part of the Canyon and enjoyed yelling and hearing it echo back. Jane cracked us up with the phrases she sent echoing through the canyon. After the Canyon, we headed to our campsite, feasted and then broke into a game of man hunt. Todd and Stimpy hid while the rest of us looked all over for them. After several hours of not finding them, because Laura, Jane and I (Sarah) were too loud to sneak up on them, and it was really dark, we called it a night and circled up for Moon-up American Idol Style. We learned at Moon-up that Todd may just have been born for reality television and that Hillary does not perform solo but is an excellent member of a group number. To get us ready for bed we read from Mark Twain's Complete Book of Short Stories and fell asleep to "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Caleveras County".

The next day, we woke up and met our guide Casey after a filling breakfast of Bacon Egg and Cheeses, which is Sam and my favorite food on the planet--we all just hoped we wouldn't sink our boats with all the weight we consumed. We spent the day kayaking and saw some awesome geological structures such as the Dillon Pinnacles. We were also fortunate enough to see two Golden eagles "dueling". We paddled to our campsite on the lake bank and set up camp before a huge downpour fell upon us. We were thankful, later, for the cool air it brought us because Colorado is sooooooo hot right now. After the storm, we feasted on Tomato Basil Bisque and Niki freaked the group (and Stimpy in particular) out with ghost stories. Sean and Payton during this time decided to sneak into their tent and make chanting noises which totally scared everyone to death. To change the mood of our conversation, Todd cracked us up with his movie imitations, so going to sleep that night wouldn't be as difficult. Jane was also helpful with her funny stories from back home. After everyone was sufficiently calmed we got ready for bed and read another of Twain's stories "The Very Bad Little Boy", which Laura said she particularly enjoyed because it was funny instead of scary.

Today we woke up, broke down camp and headed over to "jump rock Blue Mesa style" and had a nice swim. Sam jumped off 12 times outdoing his rafting jump rock session in style and number of times. After his final jump, Sam swam stealthily over to Peyton's boat--like any good pirate would--and flipped Peyton out of the boat cracking up the whole group. Hillary and Niki got up to the rock next and showed excellent form in their jumps--landing with practically no splash. After the jumping, we got into our kayaks and paddled to our pull out where we were meeting Hayes. Laura, Jane, Sam, and Stimpy played bumper boats sneaking up on each other and knocking the other boat as hard as they could while Sean, Peyton, Hillary and Niki raced to our destination. We got to our pull out, cleaned up, and unpacked dry bags right in time for Hayes to pull up to us. Hayes got to know everyone and had lunch with us, which was really fun. Hayes knew a lot of the sisters, brothers and cousins of our group that were in other trips so it was fun to hear those stories and to find out how all of the other Moondance trips were going. Hayes had to head on to catch a flight in Denver so we packed up and moved toward Gunnison to spend some time playing frisbee in the park.

We're heading to Lake City tonight to climb for the next two days and will check back in after that. I am sure we have some pretty awesome climbers in this group so we're excited to get a chance to show the God's Crag rock faces who's boss. We've been having such a blast out here with the Colorado Trail and are sad that our trip is winding down. All is going well here in Moondance Land and we hope the same for everyone back home. Take care--and as the Blue Mesa Pirates say, "YAAAAAAARRRRRRR."

July 27, 2005
Hello All! We're back in Gunnison making a quick trip update and throwing the frisbee in the park we've all come to adore. We've got the same group as we did for climbing and they are just as awesome as they were before. We've been climbing God's Crag right outside of Lake City for the past couple of days. We sure did have a blast.

We pulled into our unbelievably sweet campsite after a short drive from our kayaking take out near Gunnison. We threw up tents in a few minutes, maybe even seconds, and pulled it together for a nice warm meal of Asian Delight, as the kids call it. We then took some time to throw the light up Frisbee which Stimpson enjoys so much he plans to buy one upon his return home. Sean, Todd, and Copey are also frisbee enthusiasts and it was fun for the rest of us to watch the blue glowing disk fly through the air. Not long after, though, we mooned up and went into our tents to read--everyone has been enjoying a wealth of good books this trip. With the rain we've been getting the weather has been a lot cooler, so everyone has been getting a much better night's sleep. The next morning we woke up, met our Guides Eric and Jeremiah, and headed up towards the rock faces. The sky was ominous and delivered loads of rain and cold temperatures. After spending some time reading and telling jokes under an overhang we decided to relocate and learn foot work and belaying before we bouldered for the day. Jane showed natural ability for climbing while bouldering and Sam, who'd belayed many times before, was a pro at belaying. Sean is racing through his book so when he gets home he can dominate Harry Potter as quickly as Hillary has all ready. The weather cleared up and made the rest of the afternoon quite pleasant and cool. After a full day of bouldering, we descended to our campsite and hung out for a while. Our climbing guides had so much fun with us that day that they decided to come by the campsite and teach us the game of "Silent Football" a new favorite for everyone in the group. Stimpson proved to have the most difficulty staying quiet and found himself being penalized often. Todd was on hand to come up with the most creative penalties and Niki and Sean were the recipients of his most unusual. Payton and Hillary were the only two, including the leaders and guides, out of the whole group who were not subjected to penalties. After the game, Sean said, "We've got to play that game every night until we leave."--a sentiment the whole group shared. After the game we ate dinner had a quick musical moon up and went to our warm, happy, comfortable sleeping bags before it poured rain on us. The laughing monkeys of the backcountry were back in full force but were unable to scare Stimpy this time around.

After another excellent night of sleep we woke up and got geared up for a dry day on actual belay routes. Only Todd from the group had ever climbed outside before, but the rest of the group operated as if they too had been doing it for years. While not on the rock, Sean and Payton stumped everyone with really hard riddles while Niki, Hillary, Stimpy and I "geeked out" over Harry Potter, which sounded pretty weird to Copey who has never read any of them (and obviously should). Sam continued to impress the guides with his belaying and Jane absolutely dominated the hardest route the guides had set for us. We were also fortunate enough to see a baby Pleated Woodpecker stick his head out of the nest in the trunk of an aspen and then to see the mama woodpecker come by and feed him. As the climbing continued, everyone showed great skill and improvement. Stimpy in awe of Todd's ability said, "Todd's the man--did you see that?" Niki also gained a fair amount of praise from her cohorts. During the climbing everyone got the opportunity to rappel. This was a highlight for most and it was hysterical to watch some people fly down the rock face. In a matter of minutes we had several quotable phrases when Sam said, "Whoa, climbing outside on actual rock is so much more fun" then Laura said, "This is fun--it's my favorite part of the trip". Only to be followed by Payton saying, "Repelling was awesome. We climbed a little more ate some lunch. It's the best part." After tiring everyone out, we headed back to the van and bid our guides farewell—although they will come with us in spirit in the form of silent football.

We're heading to our last rafting section with great expectations. We'll hit the Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas River which has some awesome rapids we'll tell you more about once we've done them. Then onward to Mueller for cleaning and banquet. We're all starting to get sad about the end. But, thankfully, there's too much fun to be had to worry about it. Hope all are having as much fun as we are. We leave you with a rowdy "hello" and undecipherable noises from "The God's Crag Monkeys."

July 28, 2005
Say hey, here we go one last time. Colorado Trail group 3 is coming to a close, and the overwhelming decry from the crew is "this trip went by too fast. We want to stay longer." having been thirteen once before, and now, after three weeks inundated with the teens, for a second time, I can able to deduce just why this trip was too short. Aside from the obvious, that being the amazing days and nights we have spent together, they simply do not want to go back to school. Oh the perils of an adventurous summer.

After our last update, the gang all headed back to one of the more serene and naturally peaceful campsites in this rocky mountain state, hecla junction. Situated there on the banks of the Arkansas River, we combined forces and had an awesome Fourth of July style cookout. Everybody was happy to join together as a massive conglomerate for laughs and happy bellies. Early the next morning we bolted our site for a new and radical section of the river for one last hurrah on the rapids. This time we drove an hour down stream to canon city and the Royal Gorge. Dividing into four boats, our guides lead us down a more extreme and faster moving twenty mile section. Navigating the narrow gorge, sitting a thousand feet under the top of the canyon, we zipped and zanged through huge rapids and swift whitewater.

With Paden seated where he likes it best, "riding the bull" on the front of the boat. You could see his grin from two miles down river.

Alex continues to bust up the whole group with laughter inducing comments - so much energy and humor.

Wilson keeps the crew on their toes with his mature leadership and strength.

Nene, separated from her twin for one of the longest stretches of time, really shines as a young lady. She is so well-liked by all.

Anna keeps pushing her limits further than anyone I’ve seen. It is so cool to witness her growth.

Elly is so strong and tough for her age and we all love her attitude.

July 28, 2005
Well, Hello! Here we are in Woodland Park, CO for our cleaning day where we get to play in the nice cool hose water and take showers tonight. Then, onward we'll go to our banquet of pizza, breadsticks, soda and HAPPINESS! We're so sad to have to part ways tomorrow but we'll all be in touch I'm sure.

After climbing, we set off for our favorite campsite on earth and the place where we've spent the most cumulative days, Hecla Junction. The Hecla Homies pulled into the site, threw up camp and got super excited for the cookout party mayhem that was about to ensue. We had burgers, chicken sandos, veggies and dessert and ate ourselves into euphoria and a little stomach stuffage. After dinner we hung out around the fire that had so nicely prepared our meal and listened to Kyle, James and Copey play some awesome music. The night was right for sleeping outside, so we put our bags out, crawled in and watched the show that Mother Nature (Mother Space--maybe?) put on for us in the sky. We woke up early the next day and got psyched for a whole day of rafting the Big Horn and Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas River. Our van smelled like dirty shoes all the way to the river and Stimpy said, "There are like 80,000 shoes in here; we're like a disgusting shoe store." We’ll be looking forward to showering tonight to remove our stench. On the river, we got to raft some awesome class fivers and Payton said, "Sunshine (a class 5) was my favorite of the day."--Many shared in his choice. Hillary and Niki rocked the front of one raft (Team Blue) and got soaked but luckily it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Laura, also a member of team Blue, led her boat in battle songs written by the intimidating likes of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as they rode into a water battle against one of the other boats named Big Hair Boat. The Big Hair Boat had one of ours in it and Payton's curly locks helped secure his boat their honorable nickname. Stimpy, Jane and Sam rocked the mismatch boat of many bright rainbow colors and were quite the water fight team. We had a delicious lunch provided by our awesome River Runners guides and Todd was overheard saying, "There is something about cookies that just makes me wanna dance."--as you can imagine, we also were treated to an awesomely funny jig afterwards. We piled back into our rafts and finished the day off with a few swims here and there but most of them were intentional. We were lucky enough on the river to see, in addition to our lovely mountainous surroundings, an eagle hopping around after a fish he'd caught, a helicopter that was clearly piloted by someone with an iron stomach and no fear of death, the 2nd tallest bridge in the world, a swing that went out over the canyon, an incline railroad, and cable cars--what a day.

We returned to our campsite and began a rowdy cook-off of IRON CHEF. Teams were divided at random between the two groups and two new groups were formed: the Oz DOgs and the ItalianYOs. The Oz Dogs were named after a really cute and nice dog that spent some time with us in our campsite and the ItalianYOs were named obviously after the theme of their meal. Laura and Hillary won the best overall dessert category with Anna from the other group for their Chocolate Moonpie Heaven Deliciousness with chocolate syrup made from scratch and I literally mean scratch/scrap--it was unbelievable and far better than any other dessert of the trip. Niki with the ItalianYOs won the most interesting choice of ingredients that actually worked. She used noodles in her chocolate dessert and it was fabulous. Todd led the presentation part for the ItalianYOs and was hysterical with his pseudo-Italian accent. Stimpy, Jane and Sean showed that they are awesome eaters as well as chefs and were stuffed at the end of it all. Payton said at the end, "I am stuffed, but that was sooo good." All demonstrated awesome cooking skills as well as stove set up and use skills. Kyle said, "Seriously guys, this is the best iron chef food we've ever had--staff training included." All the rest of the leaders agreed with a hardy "mmhhgrff" through full mouths of the Chocolate Mooncake delicious heaven…whoa yummy!

This morning we woke up and drove to our last night's campsite of Muller State Park. All 23 of us are together again and will celebrate our last night as the world's largest family together. We'll feast and then have our final moon up before turning into our sleeping bags (not literally) for our final night under the stars together.

It's been a blast with these students and leaders and we look forward to seeing some familiar faces next summer. So the Colorado Trailers say goodbye to our ever increasing internet fan base and think you should all check our website (www.moondanceadventures.com) for our next year's tour dates. ADIOS. Yeehaw!

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