Wednesday, August 28, 2013

8/28/13 The Winding River



The Winding River
Kyle Pickett

Today started off slow for us. Some didn’t wake up on time, and some didn’t move as quickly as they would have liked. We cooked, packed bags, loaded canoes all in a timely manner, but we still didn’t get on the river at the time we wanted too. We had all forgotten to check our maps and figure out what the mileage for the day would be. This had us sitting around for an extra hour. After we figured out everything, we finally got on the river and headed down the long and winding Grass River.
As we paddled down the river many felt like we were traveling down a long lazy creek like the ones in a water park. This lazy river allowed for us to enjoy ourselves as we paddled on, enjoyed each other’s company, and admired the scenery around us. After only one small mishap with directions, we finally reached our destination on Elbow Lake. WE set up camp at the best campsite we had seen yet and then began lessons. Ro taught us all about the birds we could encounter and Shane taught us about tolerance.
We ended lessons with Jeff’s, which was over conflict resolution. Jeff taught us the importance of how we should work with the people we are having conflicts with and not push them aside. After this lesson and the debrief we all went to our cook groups and got ready for dinner and the rest of the night.
As I sit here writing this entry I think back to times we have had conflicts as a group and what lies ahead for us. But even with all these conflicts I look at this group and I see men and women that I will be able to call friends, even when the hard times get us down.
“ Adventure, we found, was not about gymnastic moves or mental steel but the head on collision between what we wanted and what we got” – unknown

No comments: