Goodbye Big Wild
June 21, 2025
Hello again Big Wild 1C friends and family! We are back with our final trip update to recap our last couple of days in Idaho and Wyoming. We are so sad the trip is over- saying goodbye this morning was heartbreaking! But, we are so grateful for these kids and the memories we made together.
On Monday morning, we packed up camp in McCall, Idaho for the last time and set out to join our fly fishing guides for a morning on the river. We drove a beautiful mountain road deep into the Idaho wilderness to the South Fork of the Salmon River. Once there, we hiked past ~500 year old paintings on a rock face along the river drawn by Native Americans who lived in the area hundreds of years ago. We made it to our fishing spot where the kids fished patiently and excitedly. Up river, Chandler, Wills and Claire each caught a fish and were thrilled. Morris got to use one of the guide’s sinker flies to fish for bull trout in a nearby eddy. Ann Wallace and Victoria also got a few bites on their line. All fish-ed out, we hopped in the van to begin our drive out of the canyon to Bruneau Sand Dunes outside of Boise, ID. We passed the time in the van with road trip snacks and jammed out to our BGW 1C playlist and other song requests from the kids. Around dinner time, we arrived at the dunes! Our campsite in the desert was beautiful and quiet. Hunter, Sam, Morris and Wills helped Claire and Dugger whip up chicken and cheese quesadillas with peppers, onions and black beans. Nearby campers kindly brought us some firewood, so of course we had to make s’mores! We watched an amazing orange and pink sunset on the desert horizon, and soon the sky was lit up with thousands of stars. The kids cozied up in their sleeping bags and fell asleep under the milky way.
The next morning, the kids woke up to hashbrowns, farm-fresh local eggs, and bacon. We scraped our plates clean then headed to rent sandboards for the dunes. Hunter and Morris hit the sand dunes first and shredded through the sand like naturals. West and Wills took off on the sand sled down the dunes. Worn out, we jumped back in the van and hit the road to Wyoming. By now, the kids’ car-ride attitude was stellar- some of our best memories were made in our trusty Ford Transit. We enjoyed lots of gold fish and clementines, among other treats, and made it back to Jackson to finish off the trip strong. We settled into our campsite with views of the Tetons behind our tents- an absolutely incredible spot! Victoria, Chandler, Hunter, and Morris took the reins and cooked a delicious meal of spaghetti, meat sauce, and vegetables. BGW families- ask your children to cook you dinner, they have had lots of experience! We enjoyed s’mores again (because can anyone go to bed without a sweet treat?) by the campfire and did Moon up before hitting the hay.
On Wednesday, we woke up early for rock climbing in Teton National Park. Fueled with oatmeal and fresh fruit, we headed to Jenny Lake to meet our rock climbing guides. Once there, we hopped on a ferry across the lake and hiked up to Hidden Falls. Our guides showed us the ropes, and soon we were climbing up rock faces in the Tetons! Hunter and Sam conquered their fears of heights and scaled up the mountain. After climbing, Chandler, Claire, West, and Sam enjoyed a short hike out of the trail while Dugger, Ann Wallace, Victoria, Morris, Hunter, and Wills relaxed on the boat ride back to the climbing office. That evening, we had a cook out back at our campsite before surprising the kids with tickets to the Jackson Hole Rodeo in town. Wills grilled the burgers and hot dogs while Sam made corn on the cob. Chandler and Victoria cut up lettuce and tomato for the burgers and watermelon for dessert! We devoured our meal and drove into town to “watch the sunset” … sike! We pulled up to the rodeo, and the kids were pumped. We ate popcorn and dip ‘n dots while cheering on the bull riders and barrel racers. Sugared up and excited, we drove back to our campsite to Moon up before bed.
Thursday morning, we ate bagels with cream cheese and berries before heading back to Jenny Lake for our second day of climbing. Stoked from the day before, the kids eagerly awaited the climb. Victoria, West, Morris, and Wills chose to do the level II multipitch climb then fearlessly repelled down a waterfall. Sam, Hunter, Chandler and Ann Wallace climbed using the top rope system and pushed themselves to try difficult routes. It was amazing to see the kids push themselves out of their comfort zone and accomplish these challenging climbs that they never thought possible. We left day 2 of climbing feeling exhilarated and headed back to camp for dinner. Instead of cooking together like we normally do, we split the group into 2 teams to compete in a cook-off. Using a bunch of random ingredients, the kids were tasked with creating a delicious meal for the judges (Dugger and Claire). Hunter, West, Victoria and Morris cheffed up bacon mac and cheese, and Sam, Wills, Ann Wallace and Chandler made ramen “pizza pasta” with chicken, marinara sauce and zucchini. If it weren’t for the burnt macaroni noodles, team #1 may have pulled off a win. Instead, the ramen pizza pasta won the competition! Congrats guys. After the cook off, we drove to the Elk Refuge to watch the sunset and surprised the kids with a summer solstice celebration. We ate cake and played frisbee as the sun set over the Tetons.
Next thing we knew it was our final day of Big Wild! Pretty wild how fast time flies. We woke up to a quick breakfast before driving to Teton Village to ride the Aerial Tram up the mountain to Corbett’s Cafe for waffles. The kids ate waffles and hot coco at 10,000 ft elevation looking out on the ski mountains still covered with melting snow. We explored the mountain and hiked to the “Top of the World”, then drove back to camp to start packing our bags 🙁 We headed into Jackson for the afternoon and showered at the recreation center before hitting downtown for shopping. Some of the kids bought souvenirs, and all of us bought crazy outfits at a thrift store to wear to our Banquet dinner at Picas Taqueria. We strutted in with style and confidence and ate delicious tacos and quesadillas. Our next stop was ice cream at Moo’s with a special visit from Hayes Hitchens and Chris Sherrill, Moondance’s President and CEO. Thank you for ice cream, Hayes and Chris! Back at camp, we sat around the campfire for our final Moon up. We reflected on our amazing experiences and expressed gratitude to each other for the impact that every single person in our group made. Heartwarmed and thankful, we curled up in our sleeping bags and slept under the stars for the last time.
We feel incredibly blessed to have spent the past two weeks with Morris, Hunter, Ann Wallace, West, Wills, Victoria, Chandler, and Sam. Each of them showed so much growth in leadership, patience, kindness, and resilience in just 13 days. We miss all of you so much already! Travel safely and have a wonderful rest of your summers. Keep in touch and don’t be a stranger if you’re ever in Jackson, WY (Claire) or Clemson, SC (Dugger) this year! We’d absolutely love a visit from you guys.
Gratefully,Claire and Dugger
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
