This is the girls account of CANOE/HIKING TRIP ‘08.
The trip started out as Stephen said in the previous blog, early in the morning
with breakfast and last goodbyes to guys. We headed out on probably about
a two hour bus ride. Upon arrival at our launch site we prepared to canoe first
by grabbing a paddle, life jacket and canoe. And soon dividing group gear
into our boats and tying it in. All us girls excluding two leaders Steve Kaack and Greg
Rokos got into a circle and prayed before leaving. I was nervous to be leaving since
I had never been in a canoe before. So we set out, it rained a little and we saw little
sun but it was a good day of canoeing. At around supper hour we stopped
to set up camp, thankfully our group had a tent and quickly got that put together
and started making a fire. I’m not sure a lot of people understand this but, food
from camping tastes the best there is nothing quite like it. We had a campfire which
each D-group (Discipleship group) planned at least one. And then went to bed, I
can say for sure my muscles were sore and tired it didn’t matter where
we were we all needed some rest.
Day Two
Still sore we all slowly but surely wake up, finally take the chance of getting out of
our warm sleeping bags to face another day on the river. Of course not without first
having breakfast, warm drinks and packing our tent up. It was foggy when we
first got up, but a few hours later the sun shone down on us while we paddled
down the river. This was our first full day of canoeing, it was much more challenging
being that there were some rapids and just tough spots that we could have been
swept into and tipped into the river. Also there were times were the river was calm,
it gave us moments to relax, take pictures or just revel in Gods creation. There were
times where we could grab onto each others canoes and become one large raft.
It’s amazing even by the second day of being together how connected you can become
to a small or large group, and also how God can work through all of the individuals
that are girls and we all ended up at the same place. We set up camp later in the day
and prepared dinner for ourselves before campfire. Part of the trip for the girls
was also reading through the book of Ruth and journalling about it as well as
our experiences throughout the trip. There were many deep discussions about
everything from what it means to be a godly good wife to just having respect
for one another.
Day Three
We woke up in good time, not too early or too late. So it definitely made it easier to
climb out of the sleeping bag and get going. We got onto the river, my paddling
partner and I (Genaya, oh and I am Erica) were doing well. We had some races
against Emma and Kristianne right before the end of the beautiful day.
That is before we hit some small rapids and dumped our canoe. Lets just say
that is an experience in and of itself, I won’t go into depth about it.
(Emma and Kristianne did end up saving us) So right after that Steve decided that
we were done canoeing. So well my group made our fire and set up the tent
while I tried to warm up. Afterward we ate supper and then proceeded to have our
normal campfire, and bed time.
Day Four
We got up at 6am, I remember hearing someone say it’s time to get up and opening
my eyes still to darkness. I was for sure not ready to get up, but we did and it was
beautifuloutside. The moon was still out and shining brightly, and the fog was
coming off of the river it was one of those special once in a lifetime sights. And I
guess having a fire made fast made up for being up that early too. I think we were
all thankful to be almost done canoeing, but at the same time sad that the experience
was over too. By the time we were awake and fed we were ready to get on the river.
It took around an hour to get where the bus was, again the weather was simply beautiful
if we weren’t done there it would’ve been an awesome day to be on the water all day.
Upon arrival we cleaned our canoes for the boys, and loaded them onto the carts.
We boarded the bus to an alumnus farm for lunch, and trading of gear with the boys.
Got some time to dry out clothes needed for hiking, and our tents. As well as
trading the cooking gear (the people hiking have a stove) as well as the tents/tarps.
It was really good to swap stories and just see how the guys were. It was ridiculously
hot, throughout the day and when we later boarded the bus that took us to where we
were to be camping for one night and then hiking out to another site the next day.
The night was really relaxing we had some time to just sit around after supper was
done and we were set up.
Day Five
It wasn’t nearly as hard to get up this day as much as the others. We had the time to
relax the night before so the mood kinda carried on through the night and the morning.
I had a different attitude when leaving the camp that morning, I knew that hiking would
be hard physically as well as emotionally. I, as I am sure many others had to rely on
God for strength and perseverance that day, there were a lot of prayers said silently
and even aloud. They said it was about halfway to our destination that we had this
climb up a hill that consisted of shale, I’d say it was the second most
challenging part of the the hiking trip. (the first challenging was on the way back,
which I will tell you about later) All of the girls were very encouraging when we
were almost at the top, shouting encouragements that I’m sure were helping us
with every last step. We stopped for lunch break at the very top, the wind was
refreshing and we tried to stay out of the sunshine. It was hot and we were all so
hot just from the climb up. But I must say the view once we got to the top was
amazing, breath-taking. One mountain just out ahead of us, you could just feel
the majesty and power God has. About half an hour later we were back on our feet
again, I felt refreshed and ready to hike some more. It took I think around an hour
or 45 minutes to reach our destination. We knew we were close because of the
rushing waters of the river, once we got there we unpacked and set up. Most of
the girls also went down to the rocks by the river and washed up a little. It was
very cold but felt very good after the hike. The rest of the afternoon/night was spent
with some solo time to journal about our experiences or just to take in Gods beautiful
creation.
Day Six
This was more of a relaxed day, the leaders planned for us to go on a day hike
with a possibility of going further if we wanted to. We probably didn’t wake until
8am, which later than we usually got up. I was excited because we were hiking without
our backpacks which would make it a much lighter and less physically challenging hike.
We took a wrong turn however so the option to go further was not there anymore.
We ate lunch in the spot we stopped and had about half an hour of solo time to
finish journals. We all turned back afterward and headed for camp, where we had
time to just hangout with whomever or have more solo time if we desired. We
ate supper around 5 and then had a campfire session, the last of the trip. Later
on in the night we were encouraged at another campfire to share our struggles or
the blessings God has had for us or even how we got to the point where we were at.
It was neat to hear all the other girls stories, and it I felt really connected me more
to them because it was our time to share with each other. We laughed and we cried,
and I’m sure God used the time to bond us closer together. I was very emotionally
drained so it wasn’t hard to sleep when I got into the sleeping bag.
Day Seven
Last day, we got up and I could just feel the anticipation of us getting out and
going back to CLBI. Don’t get me wrong, we very much enjoyed the experience
but we do really now more appreciate hot showers and warm beds. We got up
and packed up (usually before everyone else) so it gave us a while to just relax
and eat before we had to head out. The hike was much easier for the most part
until we got back to the hill to now go down. That was the most difficult part
of the hiking, we started down a side with loose rocks and it was dry. It was
quite a bit backed up with all of us being there so we were going down very slowly.
We made it through that and everyone sped ahead of us there were about five or
six of us at the back of the group. We had very good talks about everything from hair
color to where we’re from. At one point there were two paths and we tried to figure
out where to go because I guess the group was way ahead of us. After some
deliberation we decided the bigger path because, we knew it would get us
somewhere at least to the highway and from there we would be able to find
the bus. So we kept on that path and did eventually find the bus and everyone else
eating lunch. We packed up our backpacks and were on our way right after lunch. It
was a VERY hot and stinky bus ride. Wasn’t really that comfortable either, we were
really eager to get back and shower. When we arrived at CLBI, we were glad to be off
the bus and first unpacked all our group gear. Then we allowed to shower, boy were
they lined up. Also the boys who got back to CLBI at around 2pm helped us out with
the cleaning and airing out of tents. It was a very memorable trip to say the least.
I am thankful that the experience was out there to be had, to further connect
the students as they first come together this year. And I hope to see God further
bless us through the friendships and memories that were built during this trip.
