Day 25

September 9th

Today was a day full of first times. It was the first day on the river, first time canoeing rapids, climbing up rapids, and nose and toes down rapids. Which left us with a lot of bumps and bruises. For those of you back home nose and toes is when you stand at the top of a set of rapids and sit down with your nose up and toes up and ride them all the way down to the bottom. After we went down the rapids we cleaned up are scrapes and bumps before we went down the rapids with empty canoes. For many of us it was our first time running rapids which can be pretty scary, but we all made it through. Further down the river we were faced with a class 1 rapid. When you approach any rapid you have to scout first to look for a clear path to go down. When approaching a rapid you look for a “V” which is a section where you can enter. Then you look further down the rapid for haystacks, which is where there the water dips down, and can become very dangerous if you enter them. After making it to camp that night I am glad I can look to my left and right and so we have accomplished so much, and that I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Every day I am constantly reminded that I am learning in one of the best classrooms that one can ask for.

Vickey Benhart