Wilderness Skill Builders Building Skills!

06/30/2010

Waking up the first morning here at Frost Valley was exciting as we packed up our bags to hike Table Mountain. Along the hike we learned how to filter our water, cook on a stove and set up a tent & campsite. After cleaning our own dishes, we had a great devotion and finished with a rousing game of UNO. Tuesday was more of a challenging hike, but by the end of the day, we conquered Table Mountain and Peekamoose, with a total mileage (between Monday and Tuesday) of 8.2!

Today, we played in the lake, perfecting some of our canoeing skills and working our a few riddles (is this a stick?) that our counselors gave to us! Last we saw Amanda, she was waving goodbye as we drove down to the Delaware Water Gap!

Overall, the group has formed some strong bonds right away and everyone has been picking up the new skills quickly. A few shout outs:

Charles – is on the never ending quest to find the perfect walking stick. He’s come close a few times, but nothing quite perfect yet!

Inwon – the bug spray master is making sure no bugs come anywhere near him or his new friends! His jokes have kept everyone entertained, and he’s sharing his culture by teaching each person to spell his or her name in Korean!

Galen – already a pro at setting up her tent, she wanted to let everyone at home know that her fencing lessons have really helped out with the hard hike!

Gabriel – his knowledge of nature and how things work has started a lot of great discussions, and his jokes have been keeping everyone laughing!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zach eigenbrodt

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Zach couldn't keep himself out of the woods when growing up. He started working at a Northern Wisconsin YMCA Camp as a wilderness trip leader while in college and fell in love with getting kids into nature. The smiles on kids faces after returning from a once in a life time wilderness experience is why he is here today. Zach brought his talents to Frost Valley YMCA, in 2014, when he started as the Trips Coordinator and soon was promoted to Adventure Director. Zach loves all forms of Wilderness exploration, though some would say his heart lies most with canoeing.