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Pacific Northwest Exposure Log (2008-07-10 --> 2008-07-29)
Leaders: Mae Link and Harris Diano
Students: Madison Bryan, Jamie Freeman, Greer Howard, Molly Johnson, Fraser Jones, Anthony Lopez, Liza McLain, Molly Samson, Mack Thompson, Leslie Wiggins
Trip Update 7-15-08
Fraser- I'm having the time of my life and I love you family.
Anthony- I am doing great with only a few scratches (nothing serious mom and dad- don't worry!) but they're well worth it, I love you all.
Madison- I'm having so much fun and this is an awesome experience. I love and miss you!
Molly J (GA!)- I'm having such a great time! I love y'all and miss y'all so much!
Molly S (PA!)- We are having such a fun time! Love and miss you lots!
Greer- I miss everyone so much! Emma- have fun at camp D- looking forward to seeing that pot you made Mom & Dad- I miss you two SO much and Dad- I’m proud of you making it across the fridge : ) Love you guys
Jamie- This trips even better than the last! I'm having a great time, Love you!
Mack- What up Mom and Dad, I am toughing it out and its great! I miss all of y'all! Tell Rebecca, John, James and Thomas I said hey. I love all of y'all!
Liza- Hey Fam! I'm having such a great time. It's worth every cent that we've paid for :) I've already made friends for life!! I miss y'all a lot (& that's not a lie!)
Leslie- Having a (scratched out really good) GREAT time and it's really beautiful here- I miss everyone!
Greetings from Leavenworth, WA... we've stopped in this quaint (and
bizarre) Bavarian town en route to our backpacking section in the North Cascades to fill you in and give you a little taste of what we've been up to since we left you just a few short days ago. We've been BUSY, and you'll have to get the full details of our adventure once folks get home, but in a nutshell- it's been GREAT! Airport day was smooooooth, no holdups with baggage, late flights, or the dreaded hassles of flying. Everyone got in with no problems, just in time for a quick lunch before we hit the road. Harris and I were expecting to have a car fun of sleepy jet-lagged Moondancers, but the ride full of was nonstop chatter as everyone took advantage of the time to get to know each other and play some pretty fun games on our drive up to the San Juan Islands. We made great time, with a beautiful ferry ride from Anacortes to Lopez Island, where we would soon be meeting our kayaking guides. Anthony Lopez has one of the most impressive beautiful islands we could imagine named after him and we felt pretty lucky to see both Lopez and Jones Islands during our paddles.
Camping near the beach where we'd pick up our boats the following morning we had Mack and Jamie as our first Leaders of the Day who helped lead us in our first Moonup night meeting where we talked about some personal and group goals we hope to achieve over the next couple weeks.
We met Kathy and Blair, our Kayaking guides, on day 2, and after doing some stretching, learning about different paddling strokes, bracing techniques, and some basic navigation skills, hit the water. Before we were able to make it too far each member of the group had to do a "wet exit" to practice rescues should an emergency come up (which, luckily never did!). I wish you could have seen everyone’s faces as they flipped their kayaks and swam to rescue each other in the chilly 50 degree Pacific Ocean. So great! Everyone did a great job and we were sunning ourselves dry in no time. With that out of the way, we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for a big day paddling to follow. A definite highlight was the competition to build our dream home out of driftwood which was covering the beach...pretty imaginative to say the least! Fraser's acting skills helped us impress our judge kayaking guides and win us some sweet salt water taffy! To wrap up the day (after a delicious dinner compliments of Anthony and Madison on our cook crew) we went of a sunset paddle around a National Wildlife Refuge Island which we named Hippo Island, back just in time for the stars to come out. It’s tough to describe the beauty, especially in a quick update, but wait for the pictures! They are plentiful (thanks to our group photographer Jamie) and absolutely great! We found our first starfish during the sunset paddle and go to check out some moon jellyfish too for the first time.
Day 2 of Kayaking with Molly S. and Fraser as our leaders of the day was equally amazing as we paddled 5 miles to James Islands. Within a few minutes everyone had figured our how to work the kayak rudders and get into the groove of paddling and we all had a blast. Molly and Anthony took turns in the single as the rest of us paired up in double and triple boats. Once we had taken a little time to relax, we set out to explore James Island, where we would be camping for the night.
Kathy, our kayaking guide, took us on a hike around the island pointing out some different editable plants that grow in the San Juans and also some animals native to the islands. Needless to say, we all slept well under the stars and were pumped to continue the section after a restful night.
The morning of day 3, the group was lucky enough to check out some of the amazing sea creatures of the area. We each got a chance to hold jellyfish, sea cucumbers, muscles, clams, crabs, and the best- starfish, before it was time to load up the boats and head back. With our paddling arms feeling good, we cruised back to Lopez Island where we celebrated our paddle with a cookout and camped at Spencer Spit state park.
The group has been great and really clicked in the past couple days.
Everyone seems to be smiling and constantly telling stories and jokes, making us feel like a real family out here. We'll be headed to our backpacking section starting tomorrow when we'll catch a ferry up Lake Chelan and hit the trail. Weather has been unbelievable and we've got a lot to look forward to. We'll be out in the woods for the next 6 days, so expect an update as soon as we've made the trek and returned back to civilization! Hope all is well at home and wish you were here to experience the awesomeness of the Pacific Northwest!
Trip Update 7-22-08
Hello Hello to everyone back at home, greetings this time from Bend, Oregon. We've been busy since the last update and have a lot of stories to recount, but I'll try and touch on some of the highlights here and give you just a taste of what we've been up to. We've finished up our backpacking section and drove down to Oregon yesterday where we'll be climbing at Smith Rock for the next 3 days before finishing up with rafting the Deschutes on the 26th and 27th.
Backpacking was AMAZING and the group did an incredible job, especially considering it was some of our first experiences hiking with mega packs full of everything we needed to survive strapped onto our backs!
Sooooo, time to rewind: After leaving Das weird/beautiful town of Leavenworth we made it to our campsite on Lake Chelan, the following morning we boarded a ferry with only our backpacks and boots that would take us up to the trailhead. Lake Chelan claims to be the 3rd deepest lake in the US and while there was some dispute on what and how those measurements were taken, it was definitely impressive. On our 3 hour ferry ride we traveled from pretty arid mountains into the lush evergreen forest and alpine lakes we were hoping for. The 51 mile long lake looked more like a river, and was pretty narrow the whole trip. After some quick power naps on the ride (we still haven't figured out how Madison can sleep with her eyes open!) we arrived in the town of Stehekin. Only accessible by boat or plane, it was a pretty sweet spot with not much going on except a small general store and ranger station.
That same day, after lunch and some mini lessons on blister/foot care and how to adjust our packs for the perfect fit, we hit the trail and hiked up to our first backcountry campsite at 6 mile. Even though Harris and Mae had allotted some extra time the group was super speedy and got into camp super early in time for Mmmmmm backcountry burritos.
The following days were equally impressive, with the basic itinerary of wake up, break camp, chow down a hearty breakfast and cruise down the trail, find an awesome campsite beside a raging river, repeat. We were averaging about 5 miles a day, with one big push on our last day to test our limits. The trail was pretty kind to us with plenty of places to stop for fresh ice cold alpine stream water, sweeeet wildflowers, good break spots and not too much crazy vertical (although we definitely got our fair share of switchbacks!). Anthony was dubbed speedy gon-Lopez and we still can not wrap our minds (or feet) around his stamina and speed! He was always up front and a tremendous help scouting out the trail for the rest of us. Some other highlights include the deer, woodpeckers, salmon, chipmunks, and bear (yes!, a bear), we encountered. Weather was GREATTTTTTT with sunny days and clear crisp nights.
Fraser has been the comic of the group since day one and keeps us laughing pretty much non stop. We're all going to go ahead and get his autograph now before he becomes a famous actor!
Jamie's helpfulness and considerateness really shined on the trail when days got long and the hiking got tough. He was always around to lend a hand helping folks put packs on and sharing his snazzy water filter with those of us who aren't the biggest fans of iodine purified water!
Everyone took turns leading on the trail and getting a feel for how different it feels to hike in the front, back and middle of the group.
Our Leaders of the Day (LODs for you Moondance savvy people out there) were unbelievable and so much help as we tried to be efficient and speedy getting set up around camp and checking up with everyone throughout the day.
Each member of this group has been completely indispensable and a great addition! It’s been so cool seeing everyone come together over the past week in the woods and really learn to work and live as a solid group. Spending 24/7 (literally) with only the 12 of us, we've formed some amazing friendships already and although still looking forward to our next 2 sections, are already dreading departure day!
Greer, Molly (GA), and a few other brave folks swam in glacier water and took advantage of our riverside campsites at a few key swimming holes. Even though we were all deservingly sweaty they were so bold to jump in and had priceless faces each time!
Madison's enthusiasm has been such an asset and kept us motivated on the trail more than once! She and Leslie were also wonderful at organizing some fun group games and teaching us the ropes to add to the non-stop entertainment. Leslie has risen to the challenge of life in the woods and embarrassed it like no other.
Mack has taken the roll of group cheerleader with her contagious laugh and great stories (we've heard all about her twin brothers and some other mischievous tales!) always keeping us laughing for sure.
Liza has been a true superstar over our backpacking section. She has been an inspiration to us all and is a bonafide mountain girl now, with a great positive attitude making the rest of us admire her strength and courage!
Molly (PA) is one of the most adorable additions to the group we could have imagined and has been such a sweetheart the entire trip. She’s got so much energy inside her and has been a great friend to turn to, and always around for heart to hearts.
So here we are, ready to keep rollin, and get off this crazy contraption we call the computer to get back outside and play. We'll be checking in again in around 4 days after we finish up climbing and before we hit the road for the river section.
Much love to everyone at home and we'll be seein ya soon.
Trip Update 7-26-08
Howdy Ho folks at home!! This is going to be a pretty quick update, but still thinking of everyone back home and so excited to share the stories and photos as soon as we land. We have just finished up the rock climbing portion of our trip which has proved to be an exciting new twist after our life in the evergreen state of Washington. Things in Oregon are definitely different, but the people we've met have all become new friends and been exited to hear about who, what, and why we were here.
Our first day on the crags was spent learning some basics and testing our skills. We've explored the outdoorsy town of Bend, found an amazing swimming hole and indulged ourselves with homemade huckleberry and mountain blackberry ice cream welllll, to be honest, every day we've been here! We have earned every bite though and wish we could buy that great Northwest huckleberry back home! As for the climbing, after learning some key knots and safety tips we ended up each doing three amazing climbs the first day alone and taking turns learning how to belay each other. The scenery was amazing with some great sunsets and desert flare. Each day the group has kicked it up a notch, with tougher climbs every day as everyone progressed and became more comfortable in the vertical world. Day two was focused on perfecting our rappelling skills to get ready for the 200' rappel we had ahead of us Day 3. Today we really pushed it as everyone completed the famous traverse, climb and rappel of the Monkey's Face. Just wait till you see pictures of this one!!
We've packed up and will be in route to the Deschutes River to begin our rafting trip tomorrow morning (with a 20mile paddle tomorrow!
YEAH!). In the meantime we're happily in denial about facing the reality that our trip will be ending soon. It's been a fun run and we have learned so much, not just about how to live, work and have fun in a tight group, but also about ourselves! Hope all is well back in the real world- Much love to you all from somewhere in between Smith Rock and the mighty Deschutes River! See ya soon!!
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