Cheffing and Climbing!
July 25, 2025
PNW3A just finished ROCKING out our last section of our trip!!!!! Though we are sad to see our trip wrap up, we are so happy to have made so many memories together, and we have so much to celebrate!
Day one of climbing, we got up bright and early and started the day with a fan favorite, oatmeal! After we grubbed on the breakfast delicacy, we made our way over to the heart of Smith Rock State Park, where we met Daniel and Climbing James, our guides for the day. Luckily, we had a relatively cooler day ahead of us, so Climbing James and Daniel took us to a never-before-seen location to kick off our climbing. Our guides gave us a safety pep talk and trained us all on the art of belaying. We then got to work with our first climbers of the day. Sophie and Cannon were our first two brave souls to take on the walls. Cannon absolutely crushed the difficult wall on the first try, and Sophie ended up scaling not one, not two, but all three of our walls that day. Chase, Lucas, and Charlie also showed off their skills on the difficult wall and were great sources of climbing knowledge for their peers. Lucas also took the belaying role in stride and eagerly offered his belaying skills to anyone who wanted to climb. Chandler showed lots of growth day and from being slightly intimidated by the beginner wall to successfully scaling the intermediate wall! Post climbing, we made our way over to Bend, OR, where we enjoyed the local sights and, of course, had to have an essential ice cream stop. With most of our mouths dyed blue from the ice cream, we skipped around the town, where Ellen found an awesome new sticker for her water bottle and Charlie found some additional literature to further procrastinate reading the Odyssey. Once we arrived back at Smith Rock Cece, Charlotte, and Chase got to work cheffing, in my humble opinion, the best meal of the trip… GREEK BOWLS!!!! Prior to dinner, we had a slight intermission where Ellen, Chandler, Lucas, and Sophie had the greatest grocery run of all time. We all scarfed down dinner and transitioned into the first PNW3A Whipped Cream Challenge. Cece showed off her expertise in whipped cream talents and truly thrived in this challenge. After the craziness subsided, we all joined together for moonup and headed to sleep.
Chase kicked off day two of climbing with his talents in the kitchen. He cheffed up delish hash brown bowls to get us fueled and ready for another day on the rocks. We made our way to the Smith Rock Student wall, where we worked on both our ascending and descending. Ellen was extremely brave and was the first in the group to tackle the repel. The rest of the group followed suit and successfully completed the first repel in preparation for the Monkey. On the climbing side of things, we have special kudos for Cece, who skillfully scaled her first full climbing wall! Additionally, our climbing guides from Chockstone were so impressed by Lucas’s belaying abilities that he was offered a job to work for Chockstone next season! We are looking forward to watching Lucas pursue his future in climbing/belaying. We climbed and we climbed until we couldn’t climb anymore. The desert heat really wore us out, so post climbing, we made our way to Steelhead Falls, a gorgeous waterfall, and cooled off throughout the afternoon. We located the best cliff jumping spot alongside the river and spent the rest of our afternoon bouncing off the rocks and into the falls. Lucas, in particular, took a major liking to cliff jumping and set the group record for 25 cliff jumps. As Lucas was setting this record, the girls made the most of the UVs and soaked up the sun. Post Steelhead falls, we made our way back to Smith Rock, where the dynamic trio of Chandler, Lucas, and Ellen cheffed up burgers and watermelon for the group. Thank goodness Chandler was part of the cook crew tonight because these burgers were not complete without the Chandler Specialty Burger Sauce. Yum. After dinner, we got into our PJs, and Cannon, Chandler, Cece, Charlotte, Ellen, and Sophie put on their matching nightgowns and had a sunset photoshoot. After Lucas got everyone’s angles, we got set up for Moonup where we reflected on our day. Once we wrapped up Moonup we drifted to sleep under the stars.
I can almost see it… that dream I’m dreaming… GOOD MORNING it’s time for THE CLIMB!!!!!!! Happy Monkeys Face day!! We got up bright and early to start our exciting day. After a quick oatmeal and fruit breakfast, we began the morning with a gorgeous sunrise and a short but challenging hike up Misery Ridge, a very fitting name for the journey. As we reached the Monkey, the spirits were high and the vibes were phenomenal. We met our guides, Climbing James, Daniel, Clay, and Ian Evan, and started our traverse, climb, repel combo up and down the Monkey. Ellen kicked off the group of kids down the Monkey and likely set the record for the longest repel Moondance has seen. On the contrary, Cannon and Sophie had the quickest repels Moondance has seen. Charlotte also made history by doing the traverse three times that morning! Holden was on camera duty for the morning and made sure every action shot was being taken. Holden was the perfect fit for this role due to his photography background. Lucas wrapped up our group for the repel, and we all made our way back on the road. Much to the crowd’s delight, Charlotte and Charlie, our LODs for the day, chose Chipotle for our celebratory lunch! We scarfed down the delicious lunch and were all so grateful not to have to do any dishes. Upon arriving at our campsite, there was a slight battle that occurred between Chase, Cece, and Holden… things eventually got resolved after some slight use of water. While the battle was occurring, our chefs Chandler, Sophie, Ellen, and Charlotte got active in the kitchen, creating a delicious pasta Bolognese with the best broccoli I have ever tasted. Post dinner, Holden, Ellen, and, of course, with the help of Lucas, sparked a fire for our dessert enjoyment. We downed some s’mores and enjoyed our penultimate Moonup together.
Though our activities have come to a close, our time together is not finished yet. Sofie and James cheffed up a delicious James Spencer French toast delicacy, which got the group ready for a fun closing day. We cleaned our hearts out and got the van super clean and gorgeous. We ventured up towards our final campsite and tied up some haul and supply loose ends upon arrival. After all of our tasks were completed, we made our way to Value Village, where we got fitted for our final dinner together. Charlotte, Ellen, and Sophie no longer existed… It is now Larry, Chris, and Edward. Chase and Holden went back to their ATL roots and found the baggiest jeans in Atlanta. Charlie got extremely formal and transformed into Colm Van Springsteen, fitted in a blazer, button-down, hat, sunglasses, and the star of the show, the new belt with a jaw-dropping belt buckle. Cannon and Chandler got super preppy and transformed into Bella and Hannah Montana-inspired fits. Everyone looked amazing! Now that we were all dressed to impress, we indulged in a delicious dinner full of tacos, enchiladas, and a ton of chips. Chandler and Cece even took it upon themselves to alert our waitress of James’ birthday. Happy birthday, James! We celebrated and sang, and enjoyed some fried churro ice cream! Our stomachs were full and happy, and we made our way back towards our campsite. Sofie and James ran an extremely epic final Moonup where we talked about our favorite memories, personal growth, and the gratitude we have for each other. We also created personal nug jugs for each other so that we could carry physical nugs of gratitude once we parted ways.
Now here we are in the stunning and scenic SEATAC airport. Goodbyes were shared, and tears were shed. We are so grateful for our time together, and though we are excited to see our families, we will miss the views of our favorite places and the company of our new friends. Goodnight PNW3A!
Love ya and sweet dreams,
Sofie and James
Update from PNW!
July 23, 2025
Rise and shine its sea kayaking o’clock!!!!!!!! Holden and Cece opened up our big day with some delicious m&m pancakes along with some fresh blueberries and strawberries! Turns out these two have mastered the art of pancakes giving some of the pancakes a 3 in one texture combo! Once we downed our sweet breakfast we made our way over to Roche Harbor where we met up with Moll and Faso, our sea kayaking guides for our journey on the Salish Sea. We spent some time exploring the Roche Harbor marina and celebrated some milestones (iykyk) and finally got suited up for our trip. We paired up and got ready to brave the water. Our paddle to lunch was accompanied by blue skies, harbor seals, and entertaining conversations. Though Charlotte and Chandler ended up needing a bit of extra assistance, we successfully conquered 4 of our 8 miles for the day! The group docked on a San Juan beach for some sandwiches, Richie massages, and naps on the warm rocks. Chandler noted that this was in fact the best nap of her life. We put our skirts and PFDs on and set off for the remainder of the journey which included a mile long channel crossing. Upon arriving to Jones island, our campsite for the evening, we indulged in a plethora of activities. Richie, Chompy, Wardy, James, and Sofie participated in a polar plunge into the Salish Sea. Chompy’s polar plunge lasted an impressive five minutes. Richie Rich however went above and beyond and plunged for a record holding 14 minutes. Wardy then learned the basics of Swift Water Rescue and had a try at the SWW entry technique. While this plunge was occurring, the rest of the group made the most of the water pump on the island and had a long awaited water pump shower. Post water activities the group settled in at camp and made friends with neighboring groups, most notably Oakley the corgi and his owner, a legendary local duo hailing from Anacortes. Our guides cheffed us a delicious dinner of tacos and we ate every last bite. We of course had room saved for s’mores and gathered around a warm fire for the summertime classic. We then noticed the sky was starting to turn pink so we made our way to the west side of Jones island to enjoy a beautiful San Juan sunset. Cece and Holden led our most scenic Moon up yet. As we laid our heads to sleep we thought the day was over but of course that was not the case- Richie and Lucas had befriended a deer on our campsite.
We woke up on island time to some Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffet. We ate a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese to fuel us up for our final day of paddling. After breakfast we began loading up the boats. We hit the water around 9 for a much easier paddle with the tides in our favor. We made the seven mile paddle to pose island the second smallest state park in the US in half the time it took us yesterday. On poisey we had wraps and snacks for lunch. From there it was only a short 15 minute paddle back to Roche harbor. Wardy and Chandlers boats led the charge back to harbor. Once back we said good bye to our guides and head back to Friday harbor to catch our ferry. While we waited for the ferry we went for some well deserved ice cream. We explored the town before returning for the ferry. Chompy found a new book to read, ellen and charlotte bought some cool shirts and the rest load up on snacks. Then we loaded up onto the ferry for a peaceful cruise back to the mainland. For annacortez it was a short 30 minute drive to our campsite for the night. It was time for our first real showers of the trip. Agter hitting the showers we roasted hotdogs over the fire and had Mac N cheese and salad cheffed up by Chompy and Chandler. Ellen cut up a watermelon into a beautiful flower arrangement. After dinner we ended our night with moon up led by our LODS Richie and Charlotte.
Happy travel day! The group got up and at em with Cannon and Chompy manning the breakfast kitchen! Surpriseeeee m&m and strawberry pancakes!!!! Chompy and Cannon absolutely dominated the griddle leaving the crowd satiated and happy. We piled into the van for our six hour adventure. We of course had to incorporate a long awaited Walmart trip into our drive resulting in sweets and matching shirts and night gowns. We made our way and finally arrived at Big Dawgs, the campsite of our dreams. James and Sofie got to work in the kitchen where they divided up pineapple, dumplings, and for the main event, fried rice and lo mein 😍😍 the crowd was jaw dropped at the complexity of flavors in the professionally prepared dish. We concluded the evening with three choreographed dance performances. Starting off strong with major energy was Little Sophie and Cannon with their Superbass masterpiece. Up next was Chandler and Ellen’s choreography to Yeah by usher, leaving the judges blown away by the synchronicity and power of the dance. To close out the competition, Cece and Charlotte with their dance to Rude Boy wowed us with the incorporation of acrobatics adding a whole new layer to the contest. The judges, Chi Chi, Holden, Richie, Chompy, Sofie, and special guest, Big Dawg carefully deliberated who should rein victorious. The decision was extremely difficult and….drum roll please… in first place is CHANDLER AND ELLEN!!!!!!!!!! We celebrated the champions of the friendly battle and hit the hay 🛌
Goood morninggggg it’s time to raft!!! Ellen and Holden cheffed up some delish bacon egg and cheese bagel sandwiches for the crowd and we got after the day. We were greeted at our rafting facility by our friendly guides Val and Bobby and hit the water. There were lots to celebrate on this exciting day including Chompy’s first rafting experience and the wedding of Ed, another gentleman that joined us on our trip along with his entire bachelor party! Congrats Ed! We started the day with a class 4 rapid called triple drop immediately throwing us into our active day on the river. We paddled our hearts out and sang our hearts out as well. Our day was a huge success with no fallen soldiers into the White Salmon River👍 After rafting we piled back into the van and made our way into Oregon. Smith Rock greeted us with a stunning pink and purple sunset to provide an epic background for our evening activity of cooking personal pizzas. After dinner we experienced an extremely rare event of slight raindrops in the desert😱 An average person would choose to sleep in a tent in this scenario however the group was set on cowboy camping. Charlotte and James got to work setting up a tarp allowing us to carry out our cowboy camping dreams. Chichi even found a new hammock to settle into for the night! We all fell asleep under the gorgeous Oregon sky getting a grand night of sleep before our first day of climbing!
A Backpacking Blast!
July 17, 2025
Greetings, friends, family, and other viewers! We finally made it out of the North Cascades! What a successful and rewarding time we had out there. Let’s dive into our past few days of adventures.
Day one, we woke up bright and early to get our backpacking bags ready to go. We couldn’t start this process until we ate Sofie’s delicious breakfast burritos with Sous Chef Holden, to help man the chopping board. James had so much fun running a duffle shuffle with the group, and soon enough, we headed into the heart of the North Cascades. Alec had the honor of driving us through the gorgeous scenes of Ross Lake, and before we knew it, we reached Devils Junction, our first swim spot of the trip. We swam and ate summer sausage and had a blast. We zoomed through our three-mile hike with only one fallen soldier… Wardy’s (formerly Sophie’s) hat. Rest in power, it’s in a better place now. Once arrived at camp, we were greeted by our lovely deer hosts, and we engaged in card games and a dip in Ross Lake. We then dined on some delicious chicken pasta. Big nugs to our first chefs of the session, Richie Rich (formerly Lucas), Wardy, and Charlotte, for taking on the major task. The crew congregated on the beach for a mountainous sunset backdrop for moon up, then moon down.
The next morning, Cece, Ellen, Holden, and Charlotte took some extra beach time to appreciate the breathtaking views of our campsite. Our LODs, Richie and Cannon, kicked off our day with a soon-to-be group favorite, oatmeal. This got us prepped and ready for the most challenging day of hiking for the whole trip. As we set off, we were accompanied by both motivational words from Richie as well as motivational music to pass the time on the uphills. We stopped for a brief lunch, where Chandler encountered her newest love- dessert jelly tortillas. This would then become a staple and post-meal tradition. We moved along with a minor intermission, and we finally got to our campsite for the evening! Upon arrival, Ellen, Chandler, Wardy, Charlotte, Cannon, and Sofie decided to make great use of the elements and take their first of many backcountry baths! After the gals cleaned up, Chompy (formerly Charlie), Ellen, and Chandler took their skills to the kitchen. Ellen showed off her chopping expertise, which she credited to her dad due to his wealth of cooking knowledge. Chandler did an exemplary job of manning the chicken and veggie cooking. Chompy mastered his rice cooking skills and had a go at opening a can of beans with a stake (we forgot the can opener in the U-Haul…)! Holden also had his first attempt at championing the chicken juice sumping challenge. After overcoming the unexpected obstacles that were present in the backcountry kitchen, we indulged in some well-deserved breakfast burritos. To keep the tortilla theme rolling, Wardy and Chandler led us in a step-by-step dessert tortilla tutorial. Once the tortillas from both dinner and dessert settled in our stomachs, we gathered for a moonup led by our fearless LODs where we learned about embarrassing stories, role models, and more! Lightning Creek, the neighboring water source by our campsite, then put us to sleep with some natural, relaxing white noise.
Just as we fell asleep with the water, we woke up to the gorgeous sounds of Lightning Creek. Ellen and Chompy prepped us hash brown bowls to kick us off for our third day of hiking. We packed up our belongings and said our goodbyes to our temporary home. Our lush and mossy hike provided great scenes to accompany our great conversations. From music to our biggest fears to fast food orders, we talked about it all! It wasn’t long before we finally arrived at the most gorgeous campsite yet, HOZOMEEN LAKE! The views were incredible, the water was still, the sky was bright blue, an absolutely perfect scene. We collectively took a dip in the lake, and this time we all took an 18-in-1 Dr Bronner’s shower. Additionally, Chichi (Chase), Cece, and Charlotte resourcefully used to elements and washed their hiking clothes from the past days. We all felt extremely refreshed and ready for class. Professor James stepped into the fly fishing classroom, and his students, Cannon, Cece, Chandler, Richie, Charlotte, and Ellen, had their try at tossing the fly around. After the lesson, head chef Chichi manned the kitchen alongside up-and-coming hibachi chefs Ellen and Charlotte. Cece became a fire master and tended to the whisper lights as the rest of the group got to cheffing. The group was astonished by the recipe and the expertise of the seasoning and preparation that everyone went back for thirds, nay fourths. It was that good. Our LODs, Ellen and Chompy, held a very relaxing lakeside Moonup, which concluded with a meditation provided by Holden.
FINAL DAY OF BACKPACKING!!!!!! We woke up alongside the sun and were greeted by another gorgeous day in the North Cascades. Chandler very skillfully prepped the boiling water for our second day of a fan favorite, OATMEAL! We fueled up and got on the road for our big travel day. Great convos were had, and big strides were made. A slight obstacle, a friendly fawn, had appeared in the road, but it was nothing, Wardy and Chandler, the leaders of the pack, couldn’t handle. We finally got to our pickup spot, where James and Holden did the last cast of the Moondance PNW fly fishing of the season. As they say, good things take time, and that it did. James hooked in an absolute stunner of a rainbow trout. A moment that will go down in history. We took our first extremely scenic boat ride of the day back to the dock, and soon enough, we made it back to the van. We celebrated our accomplishment of completing our backpacking section with celebratory burgers and a gas station stop. We made a quick stop by a local fruit stand for some Rainer cherries and corn nuts! We made our way to the second boat ride of the day, the Anacortes Friday Harbor ferry! Our lovely cruise took us to our next campsite, where we unpacked our gear and said goodbye to our hiking boots and backpacking bags. Cannon, Holden, and Wardy prepped us a delicious pasta, chicken Alfredo, pesto broccoli masterpiece, which was well deserved after our long travel day. Chichi and Chandler closed the day with a reflective Moonup, where we looked back on our proudest accomplishments. We fell asleep under our clearest night of stars yet.
Holden- I love you Mom, dad, and flash and Lucy
Chandler- Hi mom, dad, Dimney, and Mary Susan! I’m having so much fun and have met lots of new friends. We just finished backpacking, it was hard but the views were pretty! Love and miss yall so much!
Cece- Hi guys I’m having a blast! Don’t make me go home!! I love yall SO much
Ellen- hi mom and dad and my friends I’m having so much fun! I’ve made lots of new friends and we just finished backpacking which was so hard but so fun! Love and miss you guys so much
Cannon- Hey yall!! I miss you guys so much but I am having loads of fun I have a great group and my leaders are so fun. Tell Harry and Peyton I love them!! Give Bella a big kiss for me!! I’ll see you so soon Love you
Lucas (Richie) – hey mom and dad. Miss you guys, I hope you’re having fun, I’m having fun!
Charlotte- hi mom and dad! Miss you both so much but I’m having lots of fun! Say hi to Webb. See you guys in a week!
Sophie (wardy)- hi mom! Hi dad! I love and miss yall so much. Best trip I’ve ever been on, I’m so grateful to be here! Talk soon! The views backpacking were insane I’m having the best time!!! Tell Jack I hope he had fun at camp and that I miss him (I’m being a good sister)
Charlie (Chompy)- Miss yall both, say hi to Gray for me. Hope the move is going well. See y’all in a week
Chase (Chi Chi)- I’m having a good time. Yeah!
James- Hey Fam!!!!!! It’s me, James Spencer! My group loves that I got them a lot of fruit and are super proud of me!!! I taught lots of people abt how to fly fish!!!🎣 I miss you guys of course but I am having lots of fun! James Ellen and Charlotte are quite the hikers and have covered all topics you can cover! also hi to Anna and Peter!!!!! See you guys soon-ish (Written by Charlotte on behalf of James Spencer!!)
Sofie – Hey guys! Emily, Jake, Leah, Abby I miss yall so much and can’t wait to see you soon! Tell Jalen and Jem I miss them too! This is a great group and we’ve been having so much fun! Also, I have had so much growth and am so proud of the growth I’ve seen out of the kids. This has been an amazing summer, and there’s so much more to come!
Adventure time!
July 13, 2025
Hello Pacific Northwest Families!
We heard from our leaders that the group has landed safely in Seattle! 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
