Sunday, April 19, 2009

Friday and Saturday in the Woods

Adventure Challenge Programming, camping trip
Day 1:
We arrived at Camp Edge in Alloway, New Jersey at around 2:00PM on Friday. We headed to the ropes course right away and learned how to hook up our harnesses and about safety and then we basically got to play on the High Ropes course all afternoon and evening. I did pretty much all the activities that were available to do on the high ropes course. I did the Burma Bridge: Burma Bridge (this isn’t me, but the pictures of our trip haven’t been posted yet), and then this other thing. I don’t remember what it was called, but basically, you had to climb up there and there were little wooden platforms about 2 x 2 feet and they were strung up with the wires, and you had to walk across them and then back, except there was nothing to hold on to and they were swinging all over the place. Then I climbed up the net and walked across a single wire, just holding onto a rope. And lastly I did the zip, which is basically just that I was strapped onto a rope, let go of the wooden platform, and went zipping down the wire at about 40mph: Photobucket (again, not me, but so you get the drift).

Then we went to our little cabin in the woods and ate dinner. Some people still had to run activities (we had to lead a group activity), so we did that until around 10:30 at night, and then 12 of us went out to build a campfire and make s’mores. We also told a really dumb ghoststory (by going around the circle and each person making up a line) about 12 TR students who were standing around a campfire when the seaweed witch from the lake came out and dragged them all away. About 2 hours later, we put out our fire and went back to the house and Melissa, Allie, Steffen and I took the telescope out of the house and into the field, because it was beautiful and the stars were amazing, but alas… the telescope was broken, so we had to stand there with our head tilted up to see the stars. Totally worth it though.

Day 2:
We woke up at 7AM (it was horrible), had breakfast, cleaned the cabin/house, and then headed out to do the Low Ropes Course. We had to basically spend all day doing this, because coming out of the course, we’re all trained to facilitate a Low Ropes Course group, meaning that I could go work at a place with a Low Ropes Course. We learned how to do each activity, how to do different variations, and safety precautions and stuff. It was a really fun time. I participated in a lot of stuff, and of course being one of the smallest people in the class, got lifted and carried a lot. For instance, I went through one of the upper holes of the rope web (the object is to get through the holes without touching the sides, but each hole can only be used by the group once). So I was lifted and went through head first and supported by the other group on the other side. It was amazing, because I had so much trust in my group, that I knew they would never drop me, and I felt completely safe. I also tore up my arms on the tire thing (you have to get through the tire to the other side, but it was over my head and I had to get lifted into it and climb out the other side (insert tire burn on my arms here). Bruised and burned, it was still totally worth it. It was such an amazing two days. I can’t wait to see the pictures that people took of the whole experience, even though I probably look like an idiot in half of them.

Below is a picture of the wall (that I didn't go over. I was going to but I chickened out) at Camp Edge. It was our last activity of the day:
Camp Edge Wall
Photobucket

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