Sorry for not updating in a while. I have been pretty exhausted after doing skills everyday. We only get Sunday’s off. Everyday breakfast starts at 7:30 and from then on, we are busy until supper which starts at 6pm. Several times I have sat down to write something on this blog, but have just not felt up to it.
We started off last week with rock climbing. That was pretty fun. We learned how to build our own anchors, how to belay, proper climbing form, and lots of knots. Rock climbing is pretty hard physically. I tend to use a lot of arm strength and not utilize my leg power enough. I have been called a monkey and also spiderman because I arm my way up the rock.
Rock climbing can be scary. Even though you have a rope to catch you if you fall, sometimes looking down will make you nervous. I don’t have a big fear of heights, but we had this one climb that did scare me a bit. Kimberly took some photos; I will try and get them later. Nathan’s dad also took some, but those might be a little harder to get.
After rock climbing for three days, we switched to white water rafting. We had an amazing time. Well, at least I did. The two girls on our team had a hard time overcoming their fears. We did some scary stuff like swimming down a rapid, and other exercises. The girls did push through their fears though, and completed everything. Neither of them will specialize in rafting though.
The first day of rafting was cold and rainy. We started off by rafting down some class 1&2 rapids, and then doing a team swim for about 10 minutes. That was the coldest I have ever been. My team was worried I might be starting to get hypothermia. All I know was that I was cold. Despite the water being about 32.5 degrees, it was almost harder to get out of it back on the raft and into the wind. I was only wearing a wetsuit and my fleece jacket.
After lunch, we went back out to the river to do some rescue training. That was fun. I was able to borrow a dry top jacket from one of the camp staffers, which helped a lot. Rescue training consisted of throwing rope bags to staffers who were floating down the river. That is harder than it sounds because you have to time the throw just right and be able to throw hard enough. Then we all floated down a really small rapid into what they call a strainer, which for us was a 6 inch PVC pipe wedged between two rocks. We had to try and climb over the pipe without touching the bottom. The force of the current was really strong in this area, so it was really hard. I was only person on my team to make it over.
The next two days were a blast. We had sunny weather which made all the difference. I wasn’t too cold at all. Maybe my body was still in shock and numb from the first day. We rafted down class 2&3 rapids, and ended up flipping the boat (the first team to do so) on the last rapid of all. Dylan kinda did it on purpose. He was trying to dump every body out and just ended up flipping. It was a blast (well, I thought so). Afterwards we did raft flipping training.
I have tons of stories to tell and am leaving a lot out, but I have to get ready for church. I will try and upload pictures later on today. Nathan has a waterproof camera and took some photos of the raft trip. I will try and get those.