24 Hour Camping

Cabin 20 was my home for the night

Hello Blog world, yes it is Wednesday, not Thursday, like I mentioned I would be back online, but I had to come home from our school camping trip a little early. After fainting in the bathroom on Monday night, I came down with flu-like symptoms which was most unpleasant when sharing a cabin with 3 other people who you don't know very well. Some people at the camp thought I had altitude sickness, others thought the flu or dehydration, and I don't know what the final diagnosis is, but I do know I am very grateful that the people from HW leading the camp were understanding and volunteered to drive me home. I laid in bed all day yesterday and I am very happy that I woke up without a pounding headache this morning.

Lasting 24 hours in the wilderness can be seen as an accomplishment or an embarrassment, but I am actually disappointed because we were having a great time at camp. Alpine Meadows is a camp about two and half hours away from LA in Angelus Oaks, which is in the mountains above Redlands. The forrest had beautiful fall leaves and all of us on the bus was surprised to see snow on the ground as we climbed up the hill.

Playing Tarp Volleyball

My retreat group had 12 students and we were lead by a naturalist named Melissa, who was great. She grew up in Colorado and I could tell camping and hiking were her calling. She kept the kids engaged, taught us all kinds of cool things about bats and the forrest, and it seemed like every 20-30 minutes she would pull something else for us to do out of her backpack. I learned a bunch of bonding games I am excited to play with my team this season. One of the favorite activities of the day was playing volleyball with a tarp. Everyone in the group had to keep one hand on the tarp to catch and throw the ball over the net. It was fun to see the kids communicating and strategizing while playing this spin on volleyball.

We also had some spontaneous fun playing in a small snow patch that was left over from the storm last week. The students were fascinated with the snow and we had a snowball throwing contest. I didn't pack mine hard enough and I was bummed that I lost.

Throwing Snowballs

At night we had to bundle up for night activities. I was wearing 5 layers and was still cold. Looking back it is funny to think about now because it is 90 degrees in Pasadena today and wearing anything but shorts and a tshirt sounds ridiculous.

The best thing I packed was definitely my headlamp! It came in handy while walking through the woods at night and I was not in the minority of people who brought them instead of a flashlight.

I don't think this experience has turned me into a rugged outdoors women, but I am glad I went. My goals for the trip were to get to know a few faculty members and students better, and I did that even though I wasn't there the whole time. It is fun to try new things, and I am sad to have missed out on the canoeing, hiking, and ropes course. Hopefully I can do that next year. However, I did want to come home with a good story and I think I accomplished that. 

For the rest of the week, I plan to have a mini "staycation" in my apartment and not stray too far away from bed. Softball starts next week and I want to be well rested.