Monday, July 12, 2010

Porcupine Trip a Success!!


This Saturday afternoon, all 33 PAs, counselors, and trip staff arrived safely back at camp after a great 3 days in the backcountry of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Area in Upper Michigan. Thursday afternoon the vans departed, stopped for a quick picnic lunch in Ironwood, Michigan, and arrived at the Lake of the Clouds overlook area around 3:30pm. The four groups split off, led by myself (Amy Brickheimer), Ada, Wes, and Johannes, along with counselor staff. The weather was phenomenal and the views were breathtaking. All 4 groups hiked anywhere from 1-6 miles that first night before setting up camp and making a dinner of chicken fajitas, rice and dessert. They played games and told stories before heading to bed. The next day, the groups ate a breakfast of bagels and jelly before starting out on their long hike. Groups hiked 8-12 miles on Friday before once again setting up camp for the night. The girls really enjoyed the evenings' dinner of alfredo pasta, but especially the dessert of Oreo Cheesecake served wilderness style-upside down in a Frisbee. The girls were exhausted from the long day of hiking and went to bed fairly early. Saturday morning came quickly and the groups hiked the final 1-3 miles back to the trail head where everyone was once again reunited. Hugs and laughter abound, everyone piled back into the vans and drove to the pristine shores of Lake Superior where the ladies jumped in the lake to clean up and a picnic lunch was shared before heading back to the comforts of camp and Blue Lake. I was SO impressed with the girl's motivation and how well they did on the trip. I have led this same trip multiple times with university students and I must say this was one of the most successful trips I've been on...so props to the girls and a huge thanks to the staff and trip leaders! This new PA trip is certainly a great prep to the CIT boundary waters trip, and most certainly here to stay.
*Be sure to check back here as well as on the Agawak website for photos from the trip!

Friday, July 2, 2010

PA Trip Date Change


Due to scheduling conflicts with large program events first session the PA trip to the Porcupine Mountains of Ontanogan, Upper Michigan has changed from July 9th-11th to July 7th-9th.