June, 2002

Camp Howard

It was a warm, sunny morning a Camp Howard. The grass is green and a little wet. We all looked okay for not being morning people. It's about 8:00 am in the morning of coarse. As we are walking the gravel crunches together. Some people are dragging their feet so it makes more noises.

We all weren't real awake yet. So we weren't real talkative either. When we got there the leader was passing out little pieces of paper. The paper had names of animals on them. My card had a robin on it. After everyone looked at their card. We were separated into a two person group. You had to guess what was on the other person's card. Then we were separated into a group of mammals, reptiles and other kinds of animals. My group was the mammals. We talked about different facts about the animals like the bear. Then we told everyone the facts we learned.

Now that we've done all that the biggest challenge had come hiking the big hills. We had to hike this for one whole hour. So we were finally put into our real groups. I was with Marcus, Kara, Marty, Katie, and Jessie. This group was my favorite because it had almost all my friends in it that was out of my class. Any how we had to walk through the wet and green grass to get where we wanted to go.

So we finally we started to go on our hike. As we were walking I felt the plants rubbing against my legs. We stopped and we played a game of walk like a fox. It was a very fun game. So after we played the game five more times we had to keep walking along or we wouldn't make it on time. When we were hiking we were going up hill for Almost all of it.

We came to a stop. We stopped at a tree that has been rotting for about a year. The termites were eating them when we were there. So we were looking at the front of the tree and it didn't look that bad. Then we went to the back of the tree and it looked like it was going to fall down. So we were talking about how the termites eat it and it was time to start hiking again. As I was walking up to get back on the trail I slipped on a piece of the root. It was really funny I kept on laughing about it on the way back.

Then we played another game that was sort of like hide-and-seek. We had to blend in with the trees and bushes so the seeker couldn't find us. For the first time through the week we actually got to go off the trail. I admit that I was sort of scared to because what if you sit on a little chipmunk or sit on a habitat. Well any how I had to hide with the rest of the group so I hid next to a pine tree. As I was sitting there a bee started to buzz around me. It scared me and I didn't want to move what so ever. So I just sat there waiting so they can call my name. I got up very slowly and got up and left. The bee was happy I was out of his habitat. Thank god I moved when I did, but I was still the last one to be found for the third time. We were told to sit in the soft patch of grass.

We kept on walking again. We were walking through dust. As we were walking the dust stirred around at our feet. Dust was getting in my eyes. I had so much fun. I still even learned a lot about what we were talking about.

We came to a creek. I was so thirsty that when I came to the water I wanted to drink it all up. I was so tired too from not getting enough sleep from the last night. My feet ached. I just wanted to go home.

We just left the creek. We came to the end of it. I was so relieved. I was glad to be out of there. However we were the first ones to be there. We had to answer some questions so we can earn our red bead. We all earned the final bead. That was the whole reason for going on that hike I thought. Earning that bead was the biggest accomplishment I ever made!

Now, it was time to go home. We said our goodbyes to everyone. We got loaded on the bus. We were sung a song by the counselors. Off we went go for a two hour ride all the way home. That long way was totally worth it. I was glad to home for the first time in three days. I missed my family a whole bunches.

by Debbie., A-6

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