Girls' Camp with the Fourth Years

Rus and I were asked to be the fourth year leaders at girls camp this last June. The fourth year girls go on a 3-day, 2-night backpacking trip and this was the main focus that Rus and I had - taking 11 girls out, getting them to do hard things, hike far, and work together. 

It was a blast to do this hike with Rus! We scouted out the trail about a week before and found it to be a fairly difficult trail with numerous water crossings - but it was breathtakingly beautiful as well!

(First water crossing)

The meadows were one of my favorite parts - they were so green and lush and had these gently rolling hills that looked like they could be in a movie.

My mountain man made this possible. He is so knowledgeable about surviving and enjoying the outdoors! It doesn't hurt that he's a mountain goat too.

One awesome place we found on our hike was an abandoned sawmill. All of the ends of the lumber had been piled and left there for decades. A river cuts under and around the pile, and I'm sure all sort of animals live inside of it. We didn't let the girls climb on it because it is potentially quite unstable...but I snuck up there for a picture on our scouting trip.

See? Gorgeous meadow!

The river was incredible - there were all sorts of little falls and rapids to take in. I loved this one because it looks so man-made - but that's all natural!

This was a picture we took on our scouting trip. When we came back a week later I couldn't have even stood there anymore - the water was flowing even more (which made all of our water crossings with the girls a little more exciting!)

This is the meadow where we camped the first night. A couple of tiny creeks flow through.

Here's my Manly Mountain Man (that's what the girls called him) on the Nob.

And here are all of our girls! This is all of them before we headed out...which might be why they are all smiling...Erica and Tim Winter were our assistants and they were fantastic!

It started drizzling before we made it to our campsite, so we set everything up in a light rain. But it wasn't too cold or awful. It was fun to see what everyone brought to eat - there was so much food!

Here's a shot of our bear bags. Only manly men like Tim and Rus could get that sucker hoisted up. Believe me, no bear feasted on our food!

My absolute favorite part of the hike was were this natural spring ran down the side of the mountain and joined the river below. I love how mossy it was!

Rus and I snuck a kiss during this group shot in front of the huge lumber pile.

Here are Erica and I bookending all of our ladies. They did a FANTASTIC job - no complaining, excellent listeners, supportive of each other.

The last couple who led this hike did it for 30 years. I'm hoping that Rus and I get at least 12 years so we can take both of our girls. It was an unforgettable experience. I think we all learned that we can do very hard things - and that we don't have to suffer through them - we can enjoy difficult experiences!