We have been having nonstop meetings recently.
Thursday’s meeting (6/5)
We started off the meeting with a refresher of knots and coiling p cord, and then we went straight into action! We worked on the maps, and plotted exactly where we want to travel, and some estimations of where we want to camp. Rapids, big lakes, rivers, waterfalls, “Best Island”… this route has it all! Afterwards we did a portage from basecamp to the end of Pinepoint (1.2 miles), and the boys crushed it! Right after we went paddling on the Mississippi and played a game called “Jayleaning”. The objective of the game is to keep your boat afloat, while letting water creep in over the side. Then we worked on our t-rescues, which is just a way to get a sunken boat out of the water, and the paddlers back into the boat without going to the shore.
Food Packing Day (6/6)
This is the meeting where we pack the majority of our food, we pack everything that we don’t bake on our own, or have to dehydrate, so think stuff like rice, or peanuts. The guys initially wanted to dress up like coal miners… their plan was to roll around in the dirt until “you look like a coal miner”… we moved onto lumberjacks after that. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring any axes into a school, something about a safety hazard??? so our theme really looked more like Sunday Best. Food Packing is rather uneventful, just a little chaotic. The boys devised a system where some of them would go grab food, then some of them would bag and tie it, and someone would be writing labels. To tie our bags shut we need string, so every now and then two of them would span across the whole cafeteria, and cut and fold the string into the length they wanted. The Far North Girls finished pretty quickly, so they helped us out and gave the guys a few pointers, and then we finished!
Saturday’s meeting (6/7)
Today we started off with some donuts under the tarp to talk a little more about what to expect for this next week, what each day will look like, etc. Than we had the guys take down the tarp, just to set it back up, practice makes perfect. Than we wrapped our p-cord, and it was a struggle, but we got through! We then packed the kettle with our toilet paper, now they are starting to realize the difficulty of packing the kettle pack! Afterwards we went paddling with Jack Grabinski! We went on the Mississippi and paddled just a few minutes north and played jayleaning again. A few of them successfully did it, which meant more experience with our t-rescues. We also played a game called teater toter, now this game has zero purpose is preperation for trail, it’s just kinda fun! You stand on each end of the canoe, and bounce up and down trying to make the other person fall off!
Anyways, the kids are getting excited for the Olympics and their crew date, so stay tuned!!!