Exploring Routes - Day 4
We woke up to more sun this morning and went for an invigorating dip in the lake. We then had an efficient morning and headed off to Tumbledown Mt early!
We parked by the loop trail and did some stretching before starting up the mountain. The trail was relatively gentle for the first little while and after a few nimble stream crossings, we started talking about Mantras - phrases you can repeat in your head when you are doing something hard. We shared some Mantras we had used in the past and then each camper came up with their own mantra for today’s hike.
One of the things we were working on for today’s hike was self advocacy, so as the trail got steeper, campers got to practice asking for breaks when they needed them. There were some beautiful views along the way and plenty of good snacks! The best snack though was the cookies left over from the ice cream sandwiches we had made earlier in the week. After a while, we reached a rocky false summit and took a longer snack break during which we were visited by a curious butterfly!
As we got closer to the greatly anticipated climb through boulders, the terrain became more technical and our focus became heightened. Although some of the campers were nervous for the section, their confidence increased with each step closer to the summit. With some well time snacks, we got the perfect energy boost we needed for the final steep climb!
When we reached the climb through the boulders, the group was faced with a team challenge - passing all the backpacks up through the rocks to avoid having to carry them while climbing. With some campers climbing up through the tunnel, and some staying down bellow, all campers and counselors worked together to carefully pass the bags up! Unprompted, the campers said encouraging words and helped boost each others’ confidence for this technical section. When all the backpacks and hikers were finally through the boulders, we were able to see the false summit far below where we had eaten snack just a little while earlier. Seeing the rocks down there and picturing ourselves walking along them reminded us of one person’s mantra for the hike, “Look what we just did!”
We kept climbing up and were soon on the rocky top of the mountain where we stopped to have lunch with a expansive view of the surrounding mountains and Webb lake. On a perfectly clear day, one can apparently see as far as Mt Washington in NH! The view was spectacular but some campers were just as excited about the blueberries all around. We relaxed on the rocks, cooled off from the breeze, celebrated how far up we had come, and took in what some of the campers said was genuinely the most beautiful view they had ever seen.
A tiny bit more climbing and we got our first view of the lake on top of Tumbledown. We didn’t stand staring at the view for too long though because we wanted to get swimming!! The water was freezing but it felt pretty amazing after a hot and challenging hike! After numbing our legs in the water, we lounged for a while on the rocks, letting the sun and breeze dry our wet bathing suits, looking out at the lake and the mountains, and munching on some wild blueberries. Eventually it was time to move on and we changed back into dry clothes, packed up our bags, and headed down the mountain.
The hike back down was less physically challenging but required a lot of mental energy to focus on where we were putting our feet. We dunked our heads in a refreshing stream along the way and passed the time solving riddles!
When we got back to the bottom we reminisced on the hike and were pretty proud of all we had accomplished. We then headed back to the cottage and dipped in the lake, opened our tie die t-shirts from yesterday, and enjoyed some much deserved time to relax.
We had burritos for dinner and then hung out on the porch sharing highlights from the day while eating the last bits of our Bald Mt blueberry pie! Before Chloë read aloud, we did our shout out circle (lots to say tonight!) and then shared what we are grateful for. We are all going to sleep well tonight after such a challenging and rewarding day hiking!
