Girls’ Camping Trip Fun!
“When are we going camping?” was a question Miss Grace and Miss Kayla heard quite frequently over the past semester. Prompted by the outdoor adventure stories of Grace and Kayla, the girls longed for their own trip into the wilderness. That day finally came on May 15th.
The girls gathered in their living room as Kayla began her camping briefing, explaining, “there are three types of fun: Type 1- everything goes perfectly; great trip! Type 2- some things go wrong, it could be miserable but will make a great story later. And finally, Type 3- you probably don’t want to experience this one.” Armed with this knowledge, the girls were curious to see what kind of fun they would experience.
Kayla, who is accustomed to leading wilderness trips, planned an exciting adventure for the girls in the nearby Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area. The overnight expedition consisted of canoeing two miles in, hiking up a steep hill, camping on top of a cave, exploring a creek, spelunking in the cave, and canoeing two miles back.
On day one, the weather was idyllic and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Shawnia commented, “my favorite part of the trip was playing in the water and finding all of the geode rocks!” Nasia loved, “going inside of the cave because I saw a bat! And I liked walking through the dark.” After exploring, the girls learned to set up a tent, gather wood, start a fire, and cook over the fire. They ate Grace’s favorite camping meal, macaroni and cheese with crackers and broccoli. It started to drizzle after dinner but the girls hardly noticed, as they were snug in their waterproof tents and only emerged once for s’mores.
It rained off and on during the night. On Sunday the type 2 fun began. The girls donned their ponchos before exiting their tent and after packing up they quickly found themselves in the middle of Lake Monroe, in canoes, in a torrential downpour. Surprisingly, this was Lilli’s favorite part of the entire adventure, “it was my first time to canoe in a storm! I felt a little scared but excited at the same time!” The girls had to take a break on the shore to let the worst of the storm pass. Soaked and freezing, the girls didn’t let the weather dampen their mood as they tried again to paddle to shore. “I was so proud of them,” Grace commented, “they didn’t even complain but made the best of the bad weather!”
After drying off and enjoying pizza, they couldn’t stop talking about their epic canoeing in the storm and all of the fun they had. “I want to do it again!” Shawnia exclaimed. “I think that was definitely type 2 fun,” Lilli commented. And type 2 it was! For most of the girls, this trip was full of firsts–first trip through a cave, first time cooking over a fire, first time skipping a rock, or splitting open a geode.
The girls were able to appreciate God’s Creation in a fresh way on this wilderness expedition. “This was by far my favorite New Song memory and one of my favorite camping trips! It was great to finally be able to share a camping trip with my girls!” shared Miss Grace. “Thanks for having us go on this trip, I hope we get to go again!” Shawnia remarked. It’s a trip for the books and an adventure they won’t soon forget.