Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2006

State 4-H Communications Award Winner Lives up to Challenge

The following article by Monroe County 4-H teen Emilie Lennard was submitted to her 4-H club as a wrap-up of her recent Challenge trip. Funny and insightful, it demonstrates why she recently won the state award for communications.

Hey everyone this is Emilie!  We just got back from our trip to the UP tonight at 7:00.  It was a blast—I think one of the best trips I have taken!  We took off from my house at 1:30 on Friday afternoon and drove for about 12 hours, arriving at the camping site close to midnight.  We unpacked in the dark and went to sleep. 

We woke up early the next morning to walk 100 yards away, pop a squat and pee in the woods...that was not one of my favorite parts of the trip.  We took a walk and Chris and Scott showed us around the campsite.  The mountain was beautiful.  It looked like a picture out of a magazine.  We climbed up and rappelled down “The Canyon,” then went and gathered up harnesses and helmets for everyone to use.  We then cooked up some of our gourmet ramen noodles. 

We drove into the nearest “town”...if you can call it that, and looked at the lake and got some DEET (100% bug spray—we definitely needed it).  We stopped at the town’s general store for some ICE CREAM.....AND PIZZA!! Actually, there was no pizza, but it was a nice surprise to get some ice cream...and a toilet.

We all went back to camp and rappelled down “The Drip Pond,” a 120-foot cliff. Chris attempted to climb it but unfortunately, it was just too wet. We went back and cooked some spaghetti, then found a nice secluded spot to process and watch the stars.

The next morning, we got up early again for some of Chris’s wonderful omelets and then went
on a hike. I was in charge of the compass so naturally, about an hour later, we were right back where we started! We spent a few hours climbing and rappelling off some of the various cliffs, which was definitely a blast.

Then we took a drive to Independence Lake and took a swim—and a shower (we were so lucky)! We went back to camp and cooked up some BBQ chicken and corn.  We walked up the mountain to watch a wonderful sunset and stare at the stars for a couple hours. There, I successfully started a fire! YAY!! We walked back down and went to sleep.

Up bright and early this morning, we started our 12-hour car ride back home. When I left for the trip, I was looking forward to it, but I wasn’t so hot about the no-shower and pee-in-the-woods thing.  I didn’t think it was exactly for me.  But as the trip progressed, I started to not really care that I was a little dirty, and HONESTLY, peeing in the woods was not at bad as I thought.  The first time was a little ODD, but I got over it.

It was a lot of fun to root for each other while climbing and rappelling, and to work together as a team to cook and clean up after dinner, climb and take tough hikes up the mountain.  The six of us that went all got a little closer, and we learned to trust each other.

I pushed myself out of my comfort zone just like Scott wanted, and I had a lot of fun doing it.  I think everyone that went would agree with me on that.  I banged myself up, fell down a mountain, got some bruises and left a piece of me on every rock I climbed! I am a little sore now, but I am proud of the things that I did this weekend, and I think it is something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. I cannot wait, and I am so excited for our next trip up in September.