I just got home from girls camp last night. It went quite well. I was camp director and took them down the Ruby-Horsethief section of the Colorado river for 3 days. We camped at a beautiful campground the first night although some farm kids were driving their huge and extremely loud tractor/ combine around the campground from 12:00pm to 1:30 am. Between the tractor and the girls we didn't get much sleep. The trip went well considering there were 45 people on the trip in paddle rafts and kayaks. Ric, my really good friend, Nancy, and I rowed the gear boats. It was Ric first time on a raft. I was very nervous to be taking such a big group of girls on the water camping. Remember these are girls who have never done any primitive camp and roughing it to them is staying at a 3 star hotel. They had to set up their tents each evening and take them down each morning, learn how to use a groover, use propane stoves, dutch ovens and wash their own dishes( I don't think some had ever done that before). It was a huge learning curve for them but they were great. We had rain on one night but I never heard complaining even though some were cold. The morning of the first day was chaos at the put in while we found places for 49+ dry bags, 5 tables, camp kitchen gear, 4 dutch ovens, food for 45 people, groovers, firepans etc etc.etc. While rigging the boats, we realized that the boat rental company had not given us the oars to Ric's raft and the place was 2 1/2 hours back one way. Luckily, Nancy had brought 2 spare oars and I had 1 so we used those even though Ric's boat had oarlocks and ours had fulpins. Ric was a trouper for rowing the last half of the river without one clip after it popped off which meant he had to hold the oar up to as not to lose it. Crazy!!! They also didn't give us enough paddles for the kayaks. It was windy paddling down to camp, but the current was fast or we might not have made it. The first evening it rained and pretty hard. Some of the tents were wet inside and most of the girls had only brought a fleece blanket to sleep in. What happened to summer? We had one day with some swift current and some maneuvering to get our camp which was nestled in some gorgeous smooth basalt rocks. We had two little 12 year old miss the stop in their kayak, getting swept downstream, but were able to pull out at a ledge just below. While we recovered them, two other 12 year olds asked Nancy if they could take the right channel. They were told no but were goofing off and carried off by the current down the wrong side. They ended up on the tip of the island just across from camp. We had to figure out how to get them across the very swift powerful current in the river back to camp. They were scared and thinking they were going to have to spend the night on the island without food and sleeping bags. We ended up ferrying a paddle raft across (which means you paddle like crazy upstream at an angle to get across the river without being swept downstream). Ric and I paddled the kayak across to the sound of wild cheers from our group at camp. We were all so glad to be reunited. Especially one of the girl's mother who was there and beside herself with worry. It was a good life lesson for the girls. Follow your leaders and pay attention to where you are. We had great food and gorgeous scenery. We were able to land all 45 of us safely and I am so relieved for that. What an undertaking! I know that God was very involved in the experience and helped me with things I could not control. So many things could have gone wrong or been difficult, weather ( I worried about wind even more than rain since I have been on that river when my friend Nancy could not row down the river and was pinned against a bank by wind), and getting the camps we needed ( it is a non permit river so it is first come/first serve and we needed camps that could hold 45! ). So why did I do it? Yes I am crazy, but I felt that the Lord wanted these girls to do something hard for them and really get out in nature. The girls comments reflected that we accomplished that as well as had fun. It was an experience they will always remember. I am just so grateful for His help and the help of awesome friends and husband.
