Final Update from BGW 3B!
July 5, 2026
Day 9 was an early wake up for our first day of rafting!!! AND IT WAS ELEANOR’S 15TH BIRTHDAY! AHHHH! We all had pancakes but this time we had LOTS of chocolate chips. Then, we were off to our rafting guide’s office for our gear and to go over some safety. After that, we drove down to our Salmon River put-in. We packed our bags and met with our guides, went over water safety and, before we knew it, we were on the water rafting! Our raft crews had a bunch of fun, sharing stories and playing a bunch of boat games. Some people even got to “ride the bull” (ride the front of the boat instead of paddling on the side) on some of the Class 2 and 3 rapids. Will D. showed us all how it was done doing it with one hand like a true cowboy. We stopped for lunch on a sand bar and played some football and frisbee! We hung out for a little bit before heading back on the water. Later in the afternoon, it started to pour! Our boats kept their spirits high and were having a blast in the rain! Although they were cold, Luca and Addison were laughing the whole time we were paddling in the storm. After 18 miles on the water, we finally arrived at our beach for the night. We unloaded the boat and before we set up tents it stopped raining!! On the beach, George and Harrison played a ton of frisbee and got super competitive with it. After setting up, we had a delicious meal for dinner all wearing party hats for Eleanor’s birthday. We also had cake! Then, we did moonup, and went to bed ready for our next full day on the water!
Day 10. Big rapid day!!! We started of the day with some yummy breakfast burritos. Then, Kylie, one of our raft guides, gave us all GLITTER for our faces. We all looked fab. We got on the water and began our adventurous day. There were two Class 4 rapids on this day and both boats crushed them. Miles and I were really impressed by the way the kids faced their fears and paddled hard through the rapids. The guides told us that some of the big rapids had 15 foot waves! We stopped at another sandy beach for lunch and had some sandwiches. Luckily, the weather was really warm at this point so no one was cold. We spent some time tanning and enjoying the warmth before we got on the boats again. Before our second Class 4 rapid, we got out to scout it and see which route we were going to take. On the path to the scouting spot, we got to see the ruins of an old mining camp. It was awesome to see history right in front of our eyes. At our next campsite, we played more games and Caroline and a Barrett worked on their friendship bracelets. Luke and Will walked up a nearby hill to watch the sunset which they said was beautiful. This night, we got to cowboy camp under the stars! After our moonup, we all fell asleep looking at the gorgeous night sky above us.
On Day 11, we got to do more rafting! We woke up, ate breakfast, and got back on the river. This day, we did a HUGE rapid called Slide Rapid. The size of the rapid changes a lot depending on the flow levels but we got lucky and the flow was perfect for some big waves. It was an awesome wave. Then, we got to swim in a rapid! We all got out of our boats and floated down the river into a rapid. It was definitely a thrill and kind of felt like a roller coaster. Peyton had the best look on her face as she went down, a mix of being terrified and also having the time of her life. Swimming the rapid was totally a highlight of the whole trip. Then, we ate lunch on the Oregon side of the river! It was most people’s first times in Oregon. We arrived at our campsite and while the rafting guides cooked us dinner, we played a game of football in the water! After dinner, we played a game of Fishbowl, which is like a more fun version of charades, and then had moonup and went to sleep.
On Day 12, we put all of the boats together, including the gear boat, and motored to our put-out spot. After saying goodbye to our raft guides, we piled back into the van and started a longgg drive. We drove back through the mountains listening to music and jamming out in the car. We stopped for ice cream in Cascade, ID and even got to pet the store owner’s golden retriever, Jerry. I think that really helped with people missing their dogs. For dinner, we ate at In-N-Out, a West Coast delicacy. Then, we went to our campsite for the night in Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park. We got to shower! Yay! While we were getting into our sleeping bags, we saw the NORTHERN LIGHTS! The sky was lit up in pink and green which was soooo cool. We could also see the Milky Way! The sky was absolutely insane. We fell asleep admiring our view and feeling extra grateful.
Day 13 was our last full day of our trip and we started it with something super fun. We went to the Bruneau Sand Dunes! These tall dunes were all sand and so cool to see. We all rushed to the top of one, not an easy feat. The sand slipped beneath our feet and every step felt like we were going backwards. Once at the top, we all took turns jumping down the hill and rolling down too. It was a blast. We hopped back into the car and started our drive back to Wyoming. During the drive, we stopped at a Goodwill to pick up some silly outfits. Each person was assigned someone else to get an outfit for, and man, did we look a little crazy. We also stopped at a HUGE gas station and got a ton of snacks for the road. While we drove, we listened to all kinds of music from country to classical. But, the best music were definitely the patriotic songs. IT WAS THE FOURTH OF JULY! Once we made it back to Jackson, we cleaned our gear and packed our bags. Then, we hit the town. We did some souvenir shopping and bought some really cute sweatshirts and tshirts. We went to our banquet dinner and played lots of rounds of “Imposter” while we waited for our food to come out. Our dinner place had an absolutely gorgeous view of a mountain valley. After dinner, we drove to Teton Village to watch fireworks! The spot we watched them from was really close to the launch point and it felt like the fireworks were right there. On the way from the fireworks to our campsite, we BLASTED music in the car and all sang at the top of our lungs. We set up our sleeping bags to cowboy camp for one last time before having our final Moonup and falling asleep underneath the stars.
Today, we woke up super early in order to catch our flights! We all said our goodbyes in the airport as people left one-by-one. Miles and I had an absolutely amazing two weeks with these kids. They were incredible, kind, and fun and we are so lucky to call them our friends. WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU ALREADY! PEACE OUT! -BGW3B
Reaching New Heights!
June 30, 2026
Day 6 was our first climbing day!! We woke up early and got a good breakfast in, then hit the road! Our climbing guides work for Exum Mountain Guides, which is the nation’s oldest climbing guide service. We did climbing school Level 1 where we went over the basics of equipment like harnesses, carabiners, ropes, and much more. We also went over the necessary climbing knots like the figure eight follow through and an awesome one called a one-handed bowline around the waist. Peyton and Barrett were super fast at learning the knots and could even do them faster than some of the guides. After going over the basics, we moved into a little course throughout the main building. This taught everyone how to move around while on the rock and how to navigate the ropes. Addison was a master manuveur-er and easily made her way through the course. We also practiced how to rappel on flat ground from some aspen trees. After a few practice rounds, Luke was able to smoothly clip himself in and “rappel” from the tree. Once climbing school was done we headed back to our campsite and took some time to ourselves and also picked up the inside of the van. After getting some cleaning out of the way, we hung out and played some spike ball and hacky sack. Eleanor got super into the spike ball and was even stretching in-between rounds in order to prepare herself and compete to the best of her ability, gaining her some great wins. Will C. and Will D. were on a team together and dominated the tournament, winning the most games out of anyone. After all of that, we made some pasta and had a great Moonup before bed!
Day 7 was our second day of climbing and we were ready to put the skills we learned the day before into practice! We got up early for breakfast and got on the road to the guide office. Once we got there, we got our harnesses and helmets and got to the Jenny Lake ferry line. This was a fun 10 minute scenic boat ride. Once we got to the land, we went over how to move your body on the rock with some short bouldering. We then split into a few different groups and had the guides lead us up a multi pitch. Each group did a different but similar climb which led us to the same ledge where we ate lunch. George was really scared at the start, but he overcame his fear and climbed! It was awesome. Each and every group pushed themselves to the max! After a quick lunch, we did some rappel practice which everyone loved! Luca especially loved the rappelling and said that she felt like a super-spy as she descended down the wall. Then, we all moved down to this other area where the guides set up a few top ropes. Everyone gave them a shot and crushed them! Caroline did some great climbing and even finished the hardest top-rope climb without slipping. It was so fun to watch her scale the wall. Once we ran out of time with the guides, we headed back to the campsite and had a massive spike ball tournament. We also did a try not to laugh challenge where we held water in our mouth while someone was doing something goofy. Harrison made everyone spit out their water by dancing and singing for us. It was quite a sight! After some beef tacos for dinner, we went to the Wyoming-famous “Wedding Tree.” This was our Moonup spot for the night. We got to watch the sunset behind the Tetons while we ate cake and chatted for a while.
Day 8. Today was our travel day to Idaho. We woke up super early to cover as much ground as possible. We ended up stopping for Chick Fil A at Idaho State University. This was an unexpected location and a little funny but the group loved it! After a stop for lunch, we got right back on the road. We stopped a few times for gas and snacks then one more time at the end to pick up some groceries for dinner. When we made it to our campsite everyone put together their tent and we made grilled cheese and tomato soup. Then we had a surprise for everyone… SHOWERS!!! Everyone got to shower before rafting starts tomorrow! After showering, we had a great moonup and went to bed for an early morning wake up tomorrow.
Thank you’s:
Harrison – Thank you for sending me on this cool, fun adventure. Love you so much. I’m so happy.
Will C. – Thank you for sending me on this trip, it has been much more fun than I thought it would be. Thank you so much, love you!
Luke – Thanks for sending me on the cool trip. Better than expected. Love ya!
Addison – Thank you so much for sending me on Big Wild! I have had the best time and I am so thankful for this amazing adventure: Love you!
Caroline – Thank you mom and dad for sending me to Moondance I am having so much fun and miss y’all tons!
Luca – Thank you so much for sending me on this trip and I am so grateful to have this opportunity. I am having the best time, even better than I thought. I love y’all so much and I miss you.
Peyton – Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to go to Big Wild! I can’t wait to tell you all about it! Miss you both so much and I can’t wait to see you this week! Love you!!!
George – Thank you so much for sending me on this trip. I have really had a good time. I miss y’all so much and can’t wait to see y’all.
Barrett – Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to experience this trip. Everything we are doing is better than I could have imagined and I am having so much fun. I can’t wait to tell y’all about everything we are doing. Love and miss y’all so much!
Eleanor – Thank you for sending me on this trip! It has been so fun! I can’t wait to see you guys and tell you all about it. When I get back please no food with tortillas. Love and miss you guys so much.
Will D. – Hi guys! Miss you all so much, I’m having so much fun out here but I can’t wait to see you all. We’re about to go rafting and I’m writing this at the end of the 14 hour car ride so don’t get mad if I miss anything. Oh and mom will you bring my jeans, my gloves, and my hat with the eagle and fish. Oh and don’t forget all the fly fishing stuff. Love you guys!
Tales from the Trail!
June 27, 2026
Hey everyone!!! Big Wild 3B here at the end of Day 5!! It feels like our trip just started but we have done so much since our first long day at the airport. Our first flight came in around noon and our last flight around 8:30pm. While we were waiting for all of our group to arrive, we hung out with the other two Big Wild groups. We played hacky sack, cards, and banana grams. In the afternoon, we went to our first campsite of our trip. We set up tents and got situated before picking up pizza and heading back to the airport to pick up a new student! After the pizza, we drove to a scenic pull out and did our first Moonup underneath the shadows of the mighty Tetons.
Day Two was a big day for learning! We went over Leave No Trace, hygiene, bear safety and much more. After going over the basic education for spending time in the outdoors we went over how to pack a backpack with the ABCs (accessibility, balance, and compression / comfort). When packed we drove back to the airport to pick up our last two students!!! Before driving to our new campsite, we stopped at Jenny Lake inside of the Grand Teton National Park to do some swimming. It was freezing but Luca and Addison braved the cold and swam far out into the lake to get the best view. Once we got to the campsite we put up tents,then made pasta, then Moonup!
Day Three, we had a guide from the Darwin Ranch come out and teach us how to fish and what to look for! While nobody caught anything, Will D got three bites on his line. After we fished, it was so hot we ended up driving to Pinedale and got some ICE CREAM!!! The portions were so large! Eleanor and Peyton made friends with the cat that lived at the store named Orion. He was very cute. After ice cream, we went back to the campsite and hung around for about an hour before we started making food for dinner. We had burrito bowls for dinner! Harrison ate all of our leftover beans for some extra protein.
Day Four started with some packing for backpacking and oatmeal for breakfast. Darby (our backpacking guide) met us at our campsite early morning to drive with us to the trail head. Once everyone unloaded their gear we got in a huddle for a little prep talk to get everyone hype. We started on the trail which was about 2 miles until our tent spot. Once we reached our camp site we laid out our tents and dropped our bags because we were heading on another 2 mile hike! At that spot we were at around 9,300 feet but we walked all the way up to the top of the ridge which was a little over 10,000 feet. On the way back down, we got to stop at a patch of snow that hadn’t melted yet and Luke got to touch snow for the FIRST TIME EVER! Once we were back at camp we made some pita bread pizzas with some hot cocoa! Before bed, we made up silly stories and Will C entertained us all with his imaginative additions to tales.
Day 5 everyone was tired from the long hike and wanted to sleep in a little bit. So, we all did! We packed up tents and walked back to the car. We headed to a local food stop, where everyone enjoyed some very tasty burgers and fries. Once on the road, we found a place to surprise the kids about the shower! So we all took a shower in Jackson to wash away all the dirt from backpacking. We then went to a grocery store to pick up dinner food then got right back on the road to get to the Teton Valley Rodeo!!! This was awesome, a true local rodeo and the kids loved it. Barrett was the LOUDEST cheerer in the entire stadium. The kids pretended to be 12-years-old to compete to chase calves. Caroline, being so short, blended in well and even George, who looks way taller than a 12-year-old, joined. After the rodeo, we drove back to our campsite and set up tents then hit the hay before rock climbing tomorrow!!! We are having a blast and can’t wait to update you again!
Student Shoutouts:
Will C- Hey guys, this trip is actually pretty fun. I miss y’all. Love you. Tell the girls I miss them.
Will D- Hey guys! I’m having a great time out here and it’s flying by. Love you Buxter, Mom, Dad, Harry, Gramie, Ba, Mimi, & Gigi. And whoever I’m missing! See you all soon!!
Harrison – Lowkey miss you guys and the gym but I’ve been having a fun time.
Barrett – Hey fam! I am having so much fun and making so many new friends. We went backpacking, fishing, and just went to a rodeo where I chased a calf. I have never felt dirtier but it’s worth it! Love y’all!
Caroline – Hey guys! I am having sooo much fun and making lots of friends. Lowkey having a blast without my phone. I survived backpacking btw. Love y’all.
Addison – Hey everybody! I am having the best time, but I miss y’all! We have made it through backpacking and got to shower today! I can’t wait for white water rafting! I love you!
Luca – Hi y’all! I am having so much fun and have met so many great people. We have done so many things and I tried to tackle calves today at a rodeo. I love y’all so much and I can’t wait to tell you more when I get home.
Luke – Hello Mom and Dad, love u very much but want to save trip stories for when home, cya soon pops <3
Eleanor – Hi Mom and Dad! I am having so much fun we went backpacking and went 10,000 feet and it was really pretty. Today we went to the rodeo and we chased calves. Tomorrow we go rock climbing. Miss you and love you tons!
Peyton – Hey mom & dad! I love and miss you both so much! I have done so many cool things like summiting a 10,000ft mtn! When I get home I will tell you all about it! Hope you had a blast on your trip. Can’t wait to see y’all!
George – Yo what up mom and dad. I miss y’all and Zeke. I lowk having fun tho. Love, George
Safe Arrival!
June 23, 2026
Hello Big Wild Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely in Jackson! 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 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
