I arrived at school one Thursday morning with my dad’s army duffel in my arms and my pillow in my hand. Almost everyone was gathered in front of the school, awaiting the buses that would take us on our first field trip since 2020, three years ago. When the two buses arrived, we filed on, storing our luggage below. The bus ride wasn’t very eventful. In the two hours we were on the bus, we played card games, watched a movie—provided by my advisor, Mrs. Williams—, passed out candy, and mostly just talked with our friends. You could feel the anticipation hanging in the air. Since there was a tiny bathroom at the back of the bus, we did not make any emergency bathroom breaks at a gas station. We finally arrived, setting our luggage in the gym and going to this room where we played games while our teachers were told all about what we were to do. After, we lugged out stuff into our cabins that we were sharing with another advisory. The girls of my advisory shared a cabin with the girls of Mr. Harris’s advisory so Sloane and Kendall were with us. We unpacked and got dressed for the activities. Some included team building, canoeing, archery, a hike, and this climbing wall. After that, we were finally taken to our first activity, team building.
At team building, we played games with a rope and a stuffed animal. In the last game, we all had to touch the cow and say the person who would have it next name. The standing record was 0.3 seconds, which seemed impossible. Through many rounds of trial and error, we settled on the solution to all hold the cow at the same time and shout everyone’s name. We beat the record and got 0.29 seconds. Then it was time for the next activity.
After team building, group 2, my group, went to the climbing wall. I made it up to the top at one, and spent the rest of the time climbing on the other stuff. There was this wooden climbing structure called Pixie Sticks which were wooden beams hanging sideways and slanted and criss-crossing. They led up to this area above called the Sky Hammock. On the other side of the Sky Hammock, there were maybe four or five diagonal climbing walls. The one on the bottom slanted to the right, and there was a hole in the next one up which allowed you to climb through to the next diagonal climbing wall which slanted left. This pattern continued all the way to the top. The climbing wall was very tiring but we still had enough energy for the next thing.
After the climbing wall, we went on the hike. The hike was about two hours long and during it we had to go up two very steep, rocky summits. The view at the top of the mountain was worth the hike. We could see very far, all the way over to the closest city which was about an hour away. It was interesting to watch how the clouds fell over the land, casting great shadows. Because we finished the hike so fast, we got to go back down behind the airnasium into the woods and play a survival game. We had to successfully build a fire and a fort. It was boys against girls and the girls obviously won. The boys built a lean-to while we had actual walls and a roof. I was very sad when we had to throw it all on the ground and stamp out the fire. But there was no time to be sad because we were already off to go to dinner.
All in all, the trip was a good experience. The hike and the climbing wall challenged me and forced me out of my comfort zone. The survival challenge and team building helped me work together with people who weren’t necessarily my friends. Although we had to leave early the next morning because of a hurricane, it was a good trip. My favorite thing was the hike and the survival challenge. I couldn’t believe our guide had to do the hike three times in a row! I had never been to a camp in the mountains before so I was very happy that I got to have this experience. I had a lot of fun.
Isla-
The detail you put into you’re writing is so amazing! I could just picture how you felt and what it was like for you hiking. Great job!
I really like how much detail you put into each of the activities. Even though I wasn’t in your group and didn’t get to do some of the activities you did, I could really envision what they looked like.