paddln'

Last week I departed for a 4 day recon trip with the summer youth leaders to scope out life on the lake. It was a wonderful week that was jammed packed with smiles, curriculum, camp food and paddling. This was our big prep trip for what lies beyond this summer: Taking kids out into the wilderness and providing them with a sense of place.

I'll be working on one trip for NC Wild. NC Wild has a goal of taking under-served and diverse youth out into the woods to provide them with leadership skills and a sense of stewardship and accomplishment. We work with the park on various service projects to improve the park for future generations use. We also assign one student as "leader of the day" that allows them to explore what it is to be like to be a leader and begin forming the skills to be successful. Oh, and we get to be outside on Ross Lake for 11 days!!! I leave on Tuesday June 28th for my first trip and will return around July 8th. I know the 28th will get here way before I expect it to. Anyway, here are some shots from our recon trip:

loading all our gear to get up and over the dam

Views from Ross Lake Resort

Lake's still low. 1st nights camp at MacMillan

Rafting up

Sailing!!