|
|
|
 |
||
 |
Summary The final Adventure Studies trip for the 2003 class, and it couldn't have ended any better way. We started our drive down to Shawnee National Forest on Wednesday night. It took about seven hours of hard driving, but both our instructors managed to stay awake the whole time (Not like the first year, right Al). We pulled up late on Wednesday night and set our tents up in the Garden of the Gods. The next morning we all worked on some Time Control Plans (TCP...hmm sounds like something from Office Space) for the day, but we also visited some of the cliffs around the area. That day we began a 16 mile hike on the River-to-River trail. Now remember just a couple of months ago, we were doing six miles in a day, now we were doing 16! Also, a student ran group was the lead group on the trail this time (A first in Adventure Studies history). We ran into a little rain that day, but Dan, David, and Ben called it in time for everyone to throw on their rain gear. That night we found a great place to set up tents and hung out around our cooking area. By the next morning, almost everyone had earned their carabineer (If you took a dump in the woods, you got a prize!) and was ready to head out. We decided to go visit One Horse Gap. Along the way, we got hit by a monster thunderstorm. It was great! It took us a while (after getting lost a couple of times) but we finally found a way to One Horse Gap. We hung out there for a while, and then headed off to a lake to filter some water, eat some lunch, and go for a swim. Along the way though, we found some nice puddles to jump in. Dan had a few good jumps in to them, along with Phil following, and Mary Kate got stuck in a pit. Luckily David and Ben were there to get her out before she sunk too far in. After the lunch break we hiked for a good deal and crossed many streams. Eventually we got to our campsite for the night and put up our tents. We had reached our last dinner. We ate very well and told some good stories. We decided to play a game of mafia, but right from the beginning Pankuch knew who the bad guys were. Too bad no one listened to him, because the mafia (Chris, Caitlin, and Ben) won the game without anyone else taking them out. That night there was a big tent party with eight of us (Mary Kate, Caitlin, Chris, David, Dan, Becky, Sandi, and Ben) playing mao. After Phil's groan we couldn't stop laughing and had to stop playing for a while. The next day was our last day of hiking. We crossed a very large stream, and while doing so had to cross a very large mud pit. Many of us got stuck in it, and Pankuch decided to break off the trial to avoid the mud! Who knows how it happened, but somehow David fell in the mud and then created a chain reaction of Mary Kate, Ben, Sandi, and Dan all flying into the mud too. After the big mud fight, it was only a couple of hours before we were done with our big backpacking trip. Jamie and Steph pushed each other up the hills, while Caitlin, Chris, Becky and Pankuch all came up together. When we reached the finished line (Pankuch's group) we found Al's group waiting for us to run across the finish line. After we all crossed the line, we choose Becky to led us out to the cars because she showed us true will power over the entire period of the class. The trip was an amazing trip, and I know that none of us will forget it for the rest of our lives! Thanks Al, Thanks Pankuch, you guys are the bomb! of our lives. Awards For Shawnee National Forest Stupidity
Award: Everyone gets it for one reason or another, but
David stands out~ he bonked his head on the monkey bars
while racing Ben to the top of the slide Map A Map of the Garden of the
Gods - This is a map of the area
that we camped at on our first night of our trip |
|
 |
||
|
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
||
