Epic Adventures and Lifelong Memories: PNW 2A’s Unforgettable Journey!
July 26, 2024
One last hello from PNW 2A!
What an amazing trip we have had the past three weeks! From backpacking, to sea kayaking, to rock climbing and rappelling, to white water kayaking and rafting, we truly have done it all. As Reid cleverly put it, we traveled through the “fortnite map” of the PNW, and had so much fun along the way. The Pacific Northwest is truly an incredible place filled with all kinds of vistas and viewpoints, but the best viewpoint of all was from mine and Matt’s perspective, as we had the opportunity to watch each student learn about themselves and grow in their confidence and love for the great outdoors!
Although it is the big moments that we remember the best, it is the little moments that we cherish and look back on fondly when we take a deeper look into our time together. From sumping pickled jalapeños with Anna Reid and Isaac after dinner (for no apparent reason, just for the challenge), to passing the funk at an impromptu dance party on the edge of Hozomeen lake with Isaac, Sarah, AR, and Claudia, to watching Angus and Isaac play keep away with an energetic lab puppy at our final campsite. From cracking jokes with Sam and Reid about their undying loyalty to Matt, to watching the entire group attempt the Patrick Swazey lift from Dirty Dancing on the top of Desolation Peak, to uncontrollably laughing at Sarah’s funny voice she used to describe mosquito hawks, to decorating Claudia’s birthday cake with Emily, AR, and Sarah, to constantly laughing at hilarious scenes from Sawyer and Ford’s sibling-like relationship with each other. These kids never failed to soak in a moment and put a smile on Matt and I’s faces, and they were such a joy to lead. They all learned that they can indeed do hard things, and I believe that will serve them well as they enter their first years of high school. May they continue forward with confidence and spontaneity, always living in the moment and taking opportunities to make a connection with someone or spend time in nature. We cheer them on as they begin this next school year, and please let them know that we are their biggest cheerleaders and are always here to support them! We are just a call or text away! Thank you all for encouraging your children to take a chance on this trip and spark their adventurous side, hopefully it has ignited a small fire in all of their hearts that they may spread to others as the years go by. We are so proud of everyone who accomplished so many amazing feats on this trip, and cannot wait to see what they do in the future! We hope everyone has an amazing end to their summer and a smooth start to the school year!
Love and memories from PNW 2A,
Georgia and Matt <3
Final Update from PNW!
July 26, 2024
Greetings from PNW 2A! We have had SUCH an eventful week since our last update and we are so sad that the trip is coming to a close! This week we conquered our fears on the rocks and on white water and we shared many laughs during the moments in between. We spent a beautiful day exploring Bend, Oregon and all its local shops it offers downtown. At the end of our short sojourn in Bend we munched on some gourmet sandwiches in the park by a pond and played hacky sack and other fun games together! We enjoyed some delicious walkin’ tacos for dinner, along with cupcakes for dessert to celebrate our first day in the dessert. The next two days we started early in the morning to beat the heat and climb lots of different routes in Smith Rock State Park! The view of the entire park from the top of the crag was breath taking.
Sawyer tackled every route with ease, and always was around to lend a hand for a belay or a back up belay. We enjoyed a nice refreshing dip in the Deshutes river at Steelhead falls to cool down after a hot day of climbing, paired with an exhilarating and safe cliff jump! The day after, we stopped for some ice cream after practicing rappels and getting some last couple climbs in before our big day on the Monkey’s Face! We had so much fun getting an early start to the day and doing the travolian traverse across a rock into the mouth of the monkey and climbing up to our rappel spot. It was so cool to see everyone conquer their fears and smile through their doubts and make it to the top and the bottom! Our next few days we had a blast in Washington whitewater kayaking (and body surfing one rapid) down the Clickitat and whitewater rafting the White Salmon! The water was chilly, but so refreshing on a hot day! Everyone loved hearing stories from our host of our Tipi camp in Washington, Jim, full of wisdom and all sorts of cool experiences in the PNW, Alaska and Costa Rica. Although Angus swam a few times in the Clickitat river on our sit-on-top kayaking day, he had an absolute blast on the White Salmon during our rafting trip and managed to stay in the boat the whole time! He could not stop hooting and hollering through the rapids and saying “this is awesome!” at the end of each run. We were stoked to have Sawyer join Matt and I in our boat for the class 5 rapid (for 16 years and up) on the white salmon called Husum Falls. Ford showed his bravery the morning of Monkey’s Face, as he was the first student of the group to rappel down the 200 feet to the bottom! Isaac always brought the energy during our long car rides with his crowd pleasing song requests and overall awesome music taste! Sam provided everyone with lots of jokes and entertainment during dinner and Moonup with his hilarious nug jug stories. Reid had lots of fun reconnecting with his Costa Rican roots helping me and our camp host cook breakfast our final morning- gallo pinto and fried eggs with salsa lizano! What a treat. Anna Reid had an incredible attitude the entire rock climbing section, but she really shined when we were on the white water. I loved watching Sarah tackle her fears and use her tongue-out-Michael-Jordan-focus to get up the rocks. Emily led everyone gracefully up the Misery Ridge trail to the top of the monkeys face and kept the vibes high all day as people conquered the traverse, climb and rappel! We had so much fun celebrating Claudia’s 15th birthday on the White Salmon river and later in the afternoon at our favorite campsite in Trout Lake! We decorated cookie cakes and all wore matching candy necklaces and had a talent show to celebrate her!
Here are a few words that our kids would like to say to you before they return home and tell you all about the trip!
Reid- “Hey Mom and Dad, this was the best trip ever! Looking forward to seeing yall!”
Sam- “Hey mom, I’m having a great time but am looking forward to heading home and seeing you soon!”
Isaac- “Thank you mom and dad for sending me on this trip! I will see you tomorrow”
Angus- “Thank you so much mom and dad for sending me on this trip!”
Ford- “Thank you Marshall and Julie for letting me go on this Moondance trip, it really was fun”
Sawyer- “thank you Meghan and Jjeff for sending me on this trip it’s the best trip ever.”
Sarah- “Hey mom and dad this was the best trip. Made so many good friends. See yall soon!”
Emily- “Hey Mom and Dad and Clifford and Lucy! I have had the best time here with the best people! Can’t wait to see you soon!”
Anna Reid- “Hey Mom Dad and Reavey, I have had the best time! It has been so cool meeting new friends and seeing new places. Thank you so much <3”
Claudia- “Hey Mom and Phil and Stella! I had so much fun on this trip!! The views were so so pretty and the weather was so nice! Can’t wait to see yall!”
We all had such an amazing time together these past three weeks and have done things we didn’t think we could do. We are coming home with many stories and memories and lifelong friends, and Matt and I could not be more grateful to have led these ten amazing people in the Pacific Northwest!
Long live PNW 2A <3
Cheers!
Georgia and Matt
Kayaking in the San Juans!
July 21, 2024
Hello from PNW 2A! We are now halfway through our trip and loving every minute of it! We just finished our sea kayaking portion of the trip in the San Juan Islands, and are now on our way to Smith Rock State Park in Oregon to rock climb for the next few days!
Everyone was grateful to kick back and relax during sea kayaking, giving our legs a break post-backpacking. We first took the ferry to Friday Harbor and met a talented guitarist along the way named Heath, who we sat and sang for the last bit of our cruise. We got to spend some time in Friday Harbor exploring the town and getting some souvenirs for all of y’all! Everyone loved our campsite that night- we found a volleyball court and made use of that until the sun went down. What a competitive bunch we’ve got! Emily’s volleyball skills shined through that night because it seemed that whichever team she was on always won. Everyone was eager to soak up the sun and get on the water the next day and paddle to Jones Island in the San Juan’s, a beautiful little island that became our home for the next three days. The first day of paddling was so sunny and everyone was getting used to their tandem kayaks. Isaac found a new food source called bulb kelp, which is abundant in the San Juan’s, edible, and particularly salty! Anna and Reid crushed it this day as our LODs (Leaders of the Day)! We especially enjoyed the gourmet cooking provided by San Juan Island Outfitters, which included chips and salsa, scrambled egg and cheese bagels, charcuterie, and delicious sandwich spreads! We ended our first night watching the sunset together and then having a great Moonup under the stars.
The next day, we enjoyed sleeping in and then a relaxing paddle led by our LODs Sarah and Ford to Orcis Island, where we ate lunch and grabbed some delicious local ice cream. That evening, Claudia, Anna Reid, Angus and Isaac set out for a breathtaking sunset paddle, while the rest of us hiked along the island to watch from land. After moonup, Sawyer and Ford help fend off some sneaky raccoons trying to get into our stuff so that we could all sleep soundly. The last day, we got out quickly and were able to eat lunch back on the harbor, where we saw two sea otters running along the bank! We got to our campsite, played lots of volleyball, and Claudia led a group to take a swim in the lake. Shoutout to Reid and Sam for cleaning the van without being asked, huge brownie points to them!! We loved our time in Washington, and we are so excited for our next section in Oregon!
More to come,
Cheers!
Georgia and Matt
Great Times in the Northern Cascades!
July 15, 2024
Greetings from PNW 2A!
We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer, Lord knows we sure are! We are happy to report that the first section of our trip, a 6-day backpacking route in the Northern Cascades National Park, went smashingly and everyone came out of it with at least a touch of love for the backcountry:) We are especially excited this trip because we have two children of former Moondance leaders with us! Reid’s dad, Jim Berry, and Angus’s mom, Margot Ramsay both led Pacific Northwest back in the day. What a testament to how classic and awesome this trip is!
We jumped into the trip with car camping the first two days outside Seattle, taking a fresh dip into the freezing Skagit river any chance we got to escape the summer heat. During this time, we prepped for the backcountry which entailed making GORP (good old raisins and peanuts, aka homemade trail mix) and packing our packs for the first time, amongst other things. Our first day officially in the backcountry begun with a french toast breakfast and a gorgeous water taxi ride on Ross lake to our lunch spot. Throughout our six days in the woods, we experienced many different landscapes, including exposed ridges along the lake, pebble beaches with mountains in the background sitting on the lake, cascading rivers and waterfalls, exposed peaks with 360 view 6,000 feet up in the sky, heavily wooded forest with a rushing river next to us, as well as crystal clear alpine lakes reflecting the rocks towering over them, so gorgeous and so hidden from the rest of the world. No body of water was left untouched by this group. At our last campsite, Isaac even challenged everyone in the group to a splash war, each of which he humbly reached victory.
Over our time in the backcountry, we hiked just about 40 miles total! Reid and Ford both blazed every trail for us as if their packs were full of feathers, setting a great pace for the rest of us. Sawyer was always a talkative hiker, never complaining on the trail and always entertaining the people around him. Angus had the biggest pack of all, but crushed it every day nonetheless and I have loved learning about his expansive music taste! What an old soul:) Emily always brought a calm and positive attitude to the group, and she did an especially amazing job as our Leader of the Day on the day of our alpine summit! A little more on that:
Our third night, we all woke up at midnight for an alpine start to summit Desolation Peak by sunrise, which we accomplished by the way!! We gazed at the stars and the milky way on our way up, moving and grooving to the top until the last few miles of the hike when it started to get steep. Everyone encouraged each other and kept one another occupied while we trudged up the alpine, reaching the top of the peak right as the sun was rising over the mountains across from us and glowing on our faces! The view was stunning, and we celebrated reaching the top with a little bit of music, candy, and of course tortilla wraps. We also got to meet Jim, the resident fire ranger who lives at the top, and he showed us his “studio house” and let everyone write our names into history by signing the famous Desolation Peak logbook! Special shoutout to Reid, Anna Reid, and Emily for carrying packs with group gear to the top- great expedition behavior. Everyone enjoyed jumping in the lake (which Claudia and Sarah coined as “the ocean”) when we returned to camp, as well as a good nap and breakfast for dinner! Another shoutout to Sarah, Claudia, and AR for being the “influencers” of the trip, vlogging all of our adventures and getting all the good angles for pictures:) They have discovered the perfect way to capture the moment while still being completely unplugged. Can’t wait to see those! The day after our summit, everyone crushed a tough hike to our next campsite called Nightmare and Sam had the great idea of having hot chocolate on our one cold night there, which was a perfect way to end a long day! Through the whole trip, Ford was always willing to help out the group, whether that was by sharing his snacks and toothpaste or carrying extra group gear in his pack for the day. Everyone had had so much fun together, whether that has been through trail games and conversations, shared moments of conquering our struggles and fears, laughing and telling stories during dinner, meaningful moonups, and so much more. It warms my heart to see how close this group has gotten so quickly- they are already planning their reunion for Labor Day Weekend! Mark your calendars 😉 I am so happy everyone leaned in to the weirdness and freeness of the backcountry and it helped us come together as a group. I am confident this will do wonders for us as we continue our adventure into the San Juan Islands for sea kayaking this week! Matt and I cannot express how grateful we are to have all of your rockstar children in the pacific northwest with us these three weeks. Check back soon!
Cheers,
Georgia and Matt
P.S. Claudia wishes her mom and sister a very happy birthday(s)! 🎂🥳
Safe Arrival in Seattle
July 6, 2024
Hello Pacific Northwest Families!
We heard from our leaders this afternoon that the group has landed safely in Seattle and is headed to their first campsite! The trip is off to a great start, and we cannot wait to hear more stories from their adventure!
Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next two weeks! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
