AdVill’s home!

08/10/2011

The last of our Adventure mini-trips have returned home! See below for all the fun details:

Bikers: loved biking the downhill section yesterday in the rain, and were glad it didn’t rain during the uphill first thing in the morning! Swimming was great, and the biking was “real” mountain biking through the woods which seemed to make everyone happy. Monday and today were also fun and included some biking, short hikes, great views and fun swims in the lifeguarded lakes they passed.

Backpackers: also came back with great stories, although very tired! They are glad to be able to put their packs down and sleep in their tents again tonight. Yesterday’s storm after they set up camp for the night was the coolest part, as well as climbing the firetower this morning before hiking out of the woods. Weather held out pretty good for them with patches of quick, light rain Monday, Tuesday and today (and downpour last night – but their tents were already up at that point!!).

Climbers: definitely had some rain, but were still able to climb all three days. Today’s weather was beautiful, so the group stayed out longer than usual to get in some last climbs. They learned about how to properly climb up cracks, position hands and feet on the wall and how to “trust their feet” on different sections of the rock.

Canoers: coming back early to camp, our canoers enjoyed a variety of activities. Taking some downtime to rest during the first part of being back on camp they played banana grams and scrabble, showered, went creeking and got to hold our friendly snake Houdini. They were hoping to jump into the lake yesterday to canoe and swim around, but thunderstorms and rain held that plan off until today. Instead, they headed over to our “castle'” for a tour, followed by a game of sardines in the castle and a challenge night where the group divided into two and competed to complete different tasks . Today they hiked up to our waterfall – High Falls – and are currently at the lake swimming and canoeing . Tonight, the group gets a special treat of going on the “old-new zipline.” We recently rebuilt our old zipline that was out of commission for the past three years and just came back online earlier this week. Our canoers will be the third group to get to ride the zip! Spirits are high all around and the group has a great bond with each other!! (They also LOVE to sing Disney songs and Adventure cheers at the top of their lungs as they travel from activity to activity!!)

Check tonight for pictures – we’re gathering them from the counselors and starting to upload!

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.