Exploring Routes - Day 2 (S2)
We had some super sleepy campers and a much appreciated slower morning today because of the rain! One camper went for a lovely morning swim while it rained lightly and the others took their time rolling out of bed.
For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, bagels and fruit salad on the porch. We talked about our different hike options for the day and then the counselors had individual check ins (without social sway) with each of the campers. We discussed which hike they were interested in and what their energy levels were like so that we could figure out as a group which hike we wanted to do today. We decided on a 4 mile hike that was relatively gradual and had a nice view of the White Mountains at the top.
We then did our morning chores, packed our bags, made trail mix, and got ready to leave. Just before heading out, we opened our tie dye to reveal some pretty cool masterpieces. These tie dye shirts are a multi-day process — 1. dying them, 2. opening and washing/drying them, and 3. ironing on the logos. With step two in the works, we left for our adventure!
The first part of the trail was through a thickly grown hillside. This landscape led to an awesome discovery: blackberries everywhere! Once the trail widened, it went up an old road with a little stream running alongside it. We stopped by the stream a few times, near deeper pools of water, and splashed our faces to cool off. One camper even dipped all her hair in!
Along the way, we looked for and identified a variety of mushrooms! Once we reached the summit, we ate lunch on a section of exposed rock overlooking a beautiful view of the surrounding lakes and mountains. We relaxed for a while up there and then remembered we had some fresh tangerines that the counselors had carried up.
Eventually we started hiking back down, which went much more quickly that the hike up! When we got to the bottom we did some stretching as a group and then headed for some post-hike high bush blueberry picking. We picked enough berries to make a pie or smoothies, or even some blueberry pancakes later in the week!
When we got back home we had a long swim time in the afternoon sun! The campers swam around for a while, enjoying the warmth. We then transitioned into free time, during which the campers hung out on the porch swing and took turns showering while the counselors started preparing for dinner. We made burgers and corn cooked over the fire with beans on the side. We sat by the water and ate before making s’mores. The counselors faced off in a “who can make the best toasted marshmallow” challenge and the campers were the judges. The result: a tie! Tired and full of food, our ideas got silly…we then did a marshmallow wrapped around chocolate experiment that was more successful than we were expecting!
Once the experiments were complete, we sat in a circle on the dock and shared our highlights, gave shout outs, and expressed one thing we are grateful for. One camper shared that she was grateful we had given them hike options to choose from this morning because it meant that they were more motivated because they had chosen the challenge. This is something the counselors very consciously strive to do and so we were excited to hear them confirm it’s impact! By empowering the campers with voice and choice in how and when they choose to push themselves, they are much more self motivated than if we force them into it. Our goal is to inspire a love of hiking in these campers, not crush miles!
As our sharing circle wound down and the air began to cool, we headed inside to learn a new game called Pit which we all really liked! It is a chaotic and energetic game!
We took a quick pause in our game to go back out to the dock and watch the sunset and talk about the hike tomorrow. We talked about the importance of being in the moment both in general and while we are hiking! We then came back in for a few more rounds of Pit before having our tea while Chloë read aloud.
It was such a great day and awesome to have the campers choose the more challenging hike and do such a great job with it! More tomorrow…
