| Big Wild log (2006-06-19 -> 2006-07-06)
Leaders: Molly Damm and Charlie Nordstrom
Students: Max Mortimer, Carlisle Jones, Cade Songy, Nick Yergey, Brooks Young, Morgan Wright, Jessie Frederick, Harris Dudley, Margaret Bujold, Parker Gilbert, Lee Cummings, Hannah Wainright
June 19, 2006
All have arrived and are making preparations for rafting the Snake River tomorrow. Will update soon. Stay tuned!
Greetings from the Big Wild! Our group has just finished up two days of climbing school with Exum Mountain Guides and is preparing to backpack into the beautiful Wind River Range tomorrow. Climbing was an amazing way for our group to bond and our guides at Exum, as well as Molly and myself, were extremely impressed with everyone's skill and attitude. Everyone was willing to help each other while climbing and the group is really coming together. We have a very awesome group and cannot wait to see what the next 14 days together will bring. We've been eating and laughing together - Cade really stepped up to the plate and showed himself to be our resident quesadilla specialist. Morgan and Hannah have impressed everyone with their willingness to help out in the kitchen every night. Carlisle and Parker are keeping the group in stitches with their unique sense of humor, both of which really brighten our day. Max and Margaret proved themselves ready to tackle the toughest mountain with their climbing skills. Harris and Lee have shown a true desire to become familiar with the great outdoors and are always willing to learn a new skill or demonstrate knowledge already acquired. When a new opportunity arises, Jessie is the first to volunteer and try her hardest to take advantage of it. Nick and Brooks have demonstrated some impressive leadership qualities by taking charge of the group when a task needs to be achieved.
Wildlife sightings have been abundant! Osprey, moose, and marmot have already been sighted and we haven't even reached the back country!
That's all from the Big Wild!
June 27, 2006
After six exciting days, we have left the Wind River Range. With the help of our guide Mark Pearson, our group was able to have a safe and enjoyable trip. The scenery was amazing and our entire group had an excellent backpacking section.
A late start on the trailhead limited our hiking time on day one of our backpacking trip, but allowed all of us to become up close and personal with the Wind River's locals.
The next day involved gaining a significant amount of altitude, which can be a challenge. Our group pushed through it flawlessly. Max was the pacesetter and made sure our group kept a speedy and comfortable pace. Carlisle made sure the group's morale was kept high with his awesome sense of humor and ability to find the humor in any situation.
An easy and relaxing day followed, with our group hiking from lake to lake and taking a moment to fish. Brooks was the angler of our group, spending any available free time with a fly rod in his hand. The day ended with what became a group favorite dinner, calzones. Morgan and Hannah, in addition to already showing off their impressive backpacking skills, continued to demonstrate awesome EB (expedition behavior) by helping out with this dish.
A day hike was next on our agenda. A short hike brought us to gorgeous Summit Lake. This destination provided something for everyone: Margaret showed us her enthusiasm for the outdoors by requesting fishing lessons, while Cade and Nick showed off their competitive sides by leading everyone in a friendly, but intense snowball fight. Sadly, our leisurely day was cut short by late afternoon storms. This did give Jessie a time to shine by leading our group back to camp safely, which is extremely important.
On the fifth day of our Wind River trip, we hiked more then seven miles. For our intrepid group, buoyed by light packs and strong legs, this was no difficulty. Lee demonstrated his navigation skills by helping plot our route as well as figure out our distance traveled. Parker showed off his blossoming leadership talents by making sure everyone was well-hydrated and feeling good. Our final morning began with a quick breakfast and a two and a half mile hike to our van. Harris stepped up and made sure everyone stayed motivated and focused when breaking down our camp, without this we would have made much slower time.
We are heading off to the Salmon River in Idaho soon for a fun-filled rafting trip!
To be continued.
July 5, 2006
After an absolutely incredible rafting trip, we are back in Jackson to end our trip in familiar surroundings. After a long journey to Salmon, Idaho, our intrepid group found itself right at home on the river. Any sort of anxiety quickly disappeared - within hours our group was shoving each other into the river any time it was safe to do so. Congratulations to Max for achieving the highest total number of people sent into the drink.
The first day was very relaxed with our group enjoying the feasts prepared by our group. Rafting is a bit different then other sections because a tremendous amount of gear can be carried along. This led to our group eating amazingly well at every meal. Brooks in particular was an avid eater - putting away portions whenever asked. With all the energy we expend every day paddling, it's important to eat well! When it came time to clean up after each meal, Morgan put the rest of the group to shame. When it came time to do a job with a cheerful face, she was number one. Camp was set up on the first of many scenic river beaches, hardly distinguishable (except for the scenery) from any tropical beach. Our group took every opportunity to sleep outside together, which is a tremendous bonding experience and can lead to many late night conversations. When it came time to rise and shine each morning, Parker set the gold standard. He was the first to be up and packed every morning! Carlisle was much more difficult to rouse, but was a valuable contributor to making sure all gear was packed up in the morning.
The second and third days of our rafting adventure were perhaps the most exciting. Our group paddled through extremely difficult rapids, impressing our guides. Lee was one of the strongest paddlers, which helps make sure everyone makes it safely through a rapid. On the second day Margaret took the "duckie" or inflatable kayak through some serious rapids and handled them like a professional. Our guides repeatedly complemented her on her textbook paddling.
Perfect weather added to high spirits. Our trip through the Winds was through some cloud cover, but on the Salmon nothing but sunshine was experienced. If the rapid was safe, our group was allowed to swim. Harris led the charge here by showing us the safe path to swim through some awesome rapids. Our guides stopped at a bridge allowing us the chance to cool off by “taking the plunge” into the river, which was a true adrenaline rush for all involved. Hannah led the way, letting loose a tremendous yell on her way down! After a safe landing, she immediately wanted to know if she could go again! One afternoon, a raft was converted into a slide; which lead to some awesome experiences. Nick and Cade came up with some extremely creative ways to find their way down the slide. Much fun was had by all!
On the last couple days, our group was allowed to try their hands at manning the oars on each raft. Everyone demonstrated skill, but Jessie demonstrated the most improvement. Her skills quickly developed and soon she was steering us down the rapids with ease.
Our trip will be ending soon, but our group has had an extraordinary experience and it's safe to say everyone has grown as a person (including the leaders). Best wishes to all!
Charlie and Molly
July 8, 2006
Here is the final installment of the Big Wild adventure. Sadly, Charlie and I just saw everyone off at the Jackson airport and our journey together has ended. We were extremely lonely hopping in the van without all of our great friends in the back to make us laugh and keep us company. I caught Chuck looking in the rearview mirror and turning around to yell "seatbelts" before we pulled out, we miss everyone so much already!!
However, before all of the sad goodbyes took place, our group finished up an awesome trip with a good old Fourth of July celebration. We returned from the long trip from the Salmon River to Jackson to a fantastic summer cookout at Slide Lake where we had a chance to catch up with Hayes, feast on delicious burgers and corn, and finally head into town for the fireworks that night. Jackson was hopping with excitement, and the fireworks were incredible-the best that most of us (including me!) had ever seen.
After some much needed rest that night, we awoke to a chocolate chip pancake breakfast prepared by the ever-impressive chefs, Hannah and Morgan. This hearty breakfast ensured we were well prepared to hammer out our gear cleaning and packing before we were able to head into town to shower and have our final banquet! Thanks to everyone and especially our marvelous leaders of the day, Parker and Margaret, everyone stayed on task and we finished everything with great style, and as always, bursting with laughter. We finished our night at a busy but tasty Mountain High Pizza Pie and finally were back at Slide Lake for our last Moonup together.
Under a clear sky and beautifully glowing half-moon, we gathered in our sleeping bags in a cozy circle on the Slide Lake dock to share our favorite and most funny memories from the trip. It was great to go back through the days and remember what happened, and also to see how we were all challenged and able to grow individually, and as a team, throughout the trip. It is so amazing to look at the first day and the last day and see how close everyone becomes. It becomes very clear that time in the wild is truly magical, especially how time in the wild can deeply connect people from all different backgrounds. We shared what we were most grateful for, and it was clear that the chance to learn-both from the opportunity to spend time outdoors and from the amazing relationships this time provides, were what most of our group felt most fortunate to have in their lives. Wow! What an awesome group of people. I have never laughed so hard or been so inspired as on these past 18 days with Max, Morgan, Jessie, Parker, Margaret, Harris, Lee, Nick, Brooks, Cade, Carlisle, Hannah and my partner, Charlie. Thank you a million times for your amazing attitudes and energy and senses of humor! We love and miss you! Take care and best for the coming year,
Much love,
Molly and Chuck |
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