Shout outs from BGW 1C!!
June 17, 2025
Chandler: Hey Mom and Dad, I miss you guys but I’m having an awesome adventure! Dad I hope you had the best fathers day ever and I love and appreciate you so much. Tell Mac “haPPy Birthday”, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Ann Wallace: Hi Mama and Dad, I miss you both so much but I’m having such a great time out here! Mom don’t worry about me because I know you are. I’m in good hands. Dad, I’m sorry I missed Father’s Day with you but I want you to know that I love you so much, your so awesome and cool. Tell pop that I love him very much .I’ll see you soon.
Wills: Hey Mom and Dad, I miss you both very much but I am having a good time here, I am sad to not be with you for Henry’s birthday, Father’s Day, and anything else. Love you! See you soon!
West: Hi! I’m having so much fun! Miss y’all so much! Love you! Also happy late Father’s Day!
Morris: I miss y’all so much, but I’m having a great time. Love y’all!
Victoria: Hola mis padres. Yo miss tu. Tell mi amor Sox I say hola. Love y’all mucho! P.S. happy late dia del padres!
Sam: I miss y’all both and happy late Father’s Day. I’m having a great time and I’m excited to see y’all in a few days. Love you!
Hunter: I miss you very much and I’m having a lot of fun, I’ll see you in a few days, love you!
Hey Everyone!
June 16, 2025
Claire and Dugger here with another update after our epic four-day rafting expedition. The adventures have been amazing!
We drove to Riggins, Idaho early Thursday morning where the wonderful people at Wild River helped fit us with PFD’s and wet suits and got us stoked for the days ahead. With our dry bags packed and our river-ready attitudes locked in, we hopped in the van to drive to the rafting put-in. We rode along the Salmon River deep into a beautiful canyon in the mountains listening to great music requested by Ann Wallace and Victoria. We’ve been impressed by all the kids’ music taste! We arrived shortly at the boat ramp and our guides helped Ann Wallace and Hunter, the Leaders of the Day (LOD’s), prepare lunch- asian salad with grilled chicken. We stuffed ourselves with this delicious meal before a safety briefing led by one of the guides, Allan, also known as “Big Al”. The kids learned about the river levels that day, 28,000 CFS (cubic feet per second), and Big Al described it to the kids as 28,000 chickens running at once… which cracked the kids up. We piled into the raft and began the trip down the Lower Salmon River. We rafted through some epic class III rapids and learned about river features like eddies and currents. After 11 miles, we ended up at a beautiful beach. Chandler, Ann Wallace, Victoria, West, and Claire relaxed in the sun, and Hunter, Wills, and Sam played Uno. Morris joined Dugger to fish on the banks of the river. While they did not catch any fish, they perfected their rock skipping skills. After the afternoon free time, we devoured another incredible meal cooked by our guides and LOD’s- cheeseburgers! Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, our guides brought out strawberry shortcake for dessert. Victoria laughed with whipped cream all over her face, and Chandler and Sam finished up the leftover strawberries. We rounded up the first day of rafting with a great Moonup, played some hacky sack, and got in bed for a good night’s sleep.
On our second day we geared up for our biggest rapid day with a hearty breakfast of french toast and berries. Sam and Hunter had the guts to ‘ride the bull’, sitting up front and center on the bow of the boat, through some of the big rapids. We ran a class IV rapid which was the biggest of the trip. We stopped at a beach for lunch, and Victoria and Sam (our LODs) helped prepare chicken caesar wraps for all of us. Our guide Camry led us in a fun game using our rafting paddles before we hopped back in the raft, warmed up and ready for an afternoon of paddling. Victoria gave rowing the raft a shot with some instruction from Camry. Dugger tried rowing the gear boat and soon gained even more respect for Kellan, our guide who paddled the nearly-3,000-pound gear boat for four days. We made it to our second campsite that afternoon, and the kids were ready for a swim. Morris led the charge to the swimming spot, and the boys discovered a “lazy river” current in the eddy by the campsite to float in. The water was freezing cold, but Ann Wallace, Wills, and West still jumped in and embraced it. Soon after, dinner was ready. Our guides prepared an incredible meal of pork, carrots, cheesy potatoes, and garlic bread in a dutch oven… I have never seen the kids eat so much food! They loved it and were so appreciative of our guides. Kellan dared Sam to try some cooked carrots, and he ended up liking them! That night we played hacky sack after dishes, then Mooned-up before bed.
The third day of the trip was awesome. We slept in a bit but soon enjoyed pancakes, berries, cantaloupe, and sausage for breakfast. Fueled and ready for the day, we loaded up the rafts- Chandler, West, Ann Wallace and Claire in the gear raft and Wills, Hunter, Sam, Victoria, and Morris in the other raft. Sam, Victoria, and Morris tried their luck fishing on the river. No fish were caught, but Sam got a bite. We enjoyed some calm waters and easy flowing rapids before another great lunch, taco salad, chips and salsa. Soon after lunch, we arrived at our campsite and unloaded our gear. We surprised the kids with a river-side ice cream stop and played ring toss in the shade while we enjoyed our ice cream cones. After ice cream, Camry showed us how to make the raft into a water slide, and Chandler jumped in first to test it out. We had the best time swimming and playing in the water on our last full rafting day! Dinner was chicken fajitas and we ate every bite. Our guides surprised us with a final treat- pineapple upside down cake made in a dutch oven… it was phenomenal. We did Moon Up at sunset, and cowboy-camped under the stars. Another wonderful day in the books.
This morning, we woke up to eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and pineapple. After breakfast we loaded up the gear one last time before jumping on the rafts for our final ride to the take-out spot. Most of the group rode on the gear boat with Kellan, while Chandler, West, and Dugger rode with Camry and practiced rowing the raft. We had a nice float in the cool morning and spotted some deer along the river banks. We made it to the take-out and said our thank yous and goodbyes to our amazing guides- we were so grateful to learn from all of their knowledge and experience the past 4 days! We packed up and rode just over an hour back to McCall, Idaho making a pit-stop at a waterfall hike. We hiked down to Goose Creek Falls, where the kids soaked in incredible views of the waterfall. We also taught them how to treat river water in the backcountry which they enjoyed. After hiking over 1200ft elevation, we were ready to head to our campsite and settle in for the night. The kids were pumped to get a shower and a delicious meal of stir fry chicken and vegetables with fried rice. We stuffed ourselves then walked to the banks of Lake Payette to watch the sunset. The sky lit up with pinks and purples while we ate strawberries and Nutella and did Moon Up. The LOD’s today, Chandler and Wills, chose to ask the group to share about someone they deeply look up to in their lives. Every person in the group talked about their dads… Happy Fathers Day to all of the dads reading this! We are very grateful for all that our dads do for us. The sunset continued to light up the sky while we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed.
We are having an absolute blast out here in Idaho, and we are pumped for what is next!
Take care,
Claire and Dugger
Wild Fun with the BGW!
June 12, 2025
Hello Big Wild family and friends!!! We are having an absolutely amazing time out here in the big and wild west. We wanted to check in and tell you about our awesome group of kids and the adventures we have had so far!
We started the trip strong on Sunday afternoon with everyone arriving at the airport in our first of many locations, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We headed to our first campsite and learned how to build tents and properly manage a campsite triangle. Wills was the only student whose plane was majorly delayed, and when he arrived he was in great spirits and immediately joined in the comradery of the group. Our first activity was pizza in Jackson’s downtown park- because who doesn’t enjoy a good pie. Then we ventured to a beautiful spot overlooking the Grand Tetons where we discussed expectations and goals for the trip. We finished the night with an introduction to Moonup back at camp and got excited for the awesome days ahead.
On Day 2, we woke up and fueled ourselves with delicious bacon, egg, and cheese Moon-muffins (our Moondance version of McMuffin sandwiches) before heading to downtown Jackson Hole for the day. We began the morning at Snow King Mountain on the steepest zip-line in North America. Hunter and Morris led the charge and conquered this daunting challenge, zipping down the mountain with views of the beautiful Teton Mountains in sight. Sam kept us laughing during our scenic and yummy lunch on the mountain. In the afternoon, Victoria and Wills eagerly scurried through the ropes course, impressing us all with their dexterity 50 feet in the air. We left Snow King Mountain feeling exhilarated and headed back to our campsite for dinner. Ann Wallace, West, Chandler, and Victoria prepared a hearty meal for us all- taco bowls with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sautéed onions and peppers, black beans and rice. The kids will be experienced chefs when they return home 🙂 With full bellies, we headed to Grand Teton National Park for the sunset. There, we dunked our heads in a mini waterfall on the trail to Phelps Lake, and we jammed out to Dugger and Victoria’s guitar playing next to a river. We headed back home with another incredible sunset over the Tetons in view and finished our night with a Moonup at Gros Ventres led by Chandler and Wills, our first Leaders of the Day.
We drove to McCall, Idaho on Day 3 in the van that the kids now refer to as their “safe space”. We hit the road early and started our trek to Idaho. Most of the kids started off by sleeping except for Morris, West, and Chandler who were sitting in the first row and excited for the drive. The drive went across almost all of Idaho, but we made sure to keep it entertaining. And it made for a great time for the kids to start getting to know each other better. Their favorite part was our stop in Twin Falls for some Chick-fil-A and sightseeing of the Shosone Waterfalls. After that we got back on the road to complete our ride to McCall, where we would spend the next two nights. When we arrived, the kids helped cook some chicken and pesto pasta, with onions, zucchini and red peppers, while the others set up camp. Our hard work was rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the Payette Lake, a campfire and s’mores.
Today we woke the kids up to hot oatmeal and fresh fruit before hitting downtown McCall for our first fly fishing lesson. We started out at the local high school baseball fields where we learned how to cast and tie knots with expert fly fishing guides. Chandler impressed the guides with her casting technique, nailing it within the first few casts. Victoria was a natural with tying knots and joked she may just have to start a knot-tying business. Next we headed to the Little Payette river to practice our new skills. The scenery out here in Idaho continues to amaze us- we drove past steep rapids and joined our guides at a more peaceful spot. There the kids listened intently to the guides explaining river features, insects, and species of fish. We practiced rigging rods and casting in the river before enjoying lunch on a huge rock overlooking Little Payette lake. Back at our campsite for the afternoon, we cozied in our tents and played Apples to Apples all together while it rained. Hunter won the game by a mile, making us all laugh with his red apple card choices. Once the rain cleared, we headed back into McCall for ice cream where we were served the biggest single scoop ice cream cones we’ve ever seen. Victoria and Chandler branched out and ordered Mountain Blackberry and Marionberry pie ice cream… loving the local flavors! Dugger, Victoria, and Sam practiced fly fishing at the Payette lake while the others enjoyed a lake-side swing set and jungle gym. Ann Wallace, Chandler, and Claire did yoga in the grass and soaked in the afternoon sunshine. We stayed in McCall for our local food stop of the trip- burgers at Frenchies! The kids devoured these yummy smash burgers before going back to our campsite to watch the sunset and Moonup.
The trip has only just begun, and we are having a spectacular time. We can’t wait for more adventures, and we will update you soon!
Sending love and warm wishes to you all!
Claire and Dugger, Big Wild 135C
Safe Arrival in Wyoming!
June 9, 2025
Hello Big Wild Families!
We heard from our leaders that the group has landed safely in Jackson Hole! The trip is off to a great start, and we are so excited to hear more stories as they begin their adventure.
Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! 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
