Evan Harr's Blog River, Rocks, and Caves

            During our last expedition we did three things. These included rock climbing, canoeing, and caving. They were all very fun, but my favorite ended up being rock climbing. This is mainly because it was the biggest achievement that I made throughout the whole expedition.

Canoeing took place in Lake Fontana. We started at the boat drop off area, and canoed for many miles. The first place we camped at was basically like a peninsula with little flat ground and a small area for the chef to cook. When we woke up, we thought the canoes were gone, but they were just around on the other side, and flipped upside down so they wouldn’t float away. The second place we stayed at was a hunting ground with many bear tracks. There was a lightning storm with a lot of rain and thunder, and we even heard a strike really close to us. After that, we paddled for a while more and camped on an island. The island was very rocky to get up to the small little strip of flatland at the top where all of our tents were setup.

The next thing we did was go through a cave. We did things like sliding, crawling, and even climbing. There were cool little animals in the water like albino crawfish and salamanders. There were also bats, which you couldn’t shine your lights on too brightly or they will fly around, and that isn’t good for them because they will die. There were some parts of the caves where we had to lay flat on our stomachs and crawl under a tight space. We then camped a few hundred feet away from the cave entrance. After that, we whitewater rafted the New River. It was pretty intense compared to the Nantahala River, mainly because it had bigger rapids.

We drove all the way from North Carolina to West Virginia to climb Seneca Rocks. It was a long drive to make it to the Indian Village campgrounds, but when we got there, it was pretty cool to see the huge rock that basically jetted out of the ground. Out of the three days that we were there, we only got to climb two of the days. On the first day, I didn’t even climb, I only repelled. On the third day, I climbed all the way to the top of the summit. This was very hard for me, but when I reached the top, I felt so happy and accomplished. The repel down was the hard part because it was a 200 foot drop while being strapped to a rope that was connected to a metal figure eight. I also started to move away from the rock, which made it a little scary. The repelling was easier compared to rock climbing vertically, but it was fun overall.

Overall it was a pretty cool expedition. It was some of the greatest and toughest things I’ve done in a while, and I actually did some of the stuff that I was afraid to do, which made it even better. These are some of the sweetest things that I’ve ever done, and it is also cool that we have school as a part of it too. That about sums it up and I had fun doing all of this.

isaac

Hi it is me and I just came back from my 2^nd expedition. We did white water rafting on the New River. I went caving for the first time. It was a lot of fun. We also went canoeing for 4 days. Caving was a lot of fun.

 It was wet and muddy. I loved it. The white water rafting was a lot of fun for me, and I hope the rest of the group enjoyed it. It was class 4 – 2 rapids, some parts were hard and some were easier than others.

 The canoe trip was a lot of fun. We got to swim and fish. We got to camp on an island and peninsula which was cool. I think that the most fun part was getting to explore where we stayed.

Billy's Blog =)

Billy Cullity                                                                                                    10-25-10

            On our previous expedition we went on a canoeing trip. We also had a caving trip, which was really fun. One of my favorite things was white water rafting on the New River. I’d have to say my favorite thing of all was rock climbing. It was really high up, 254 feet to be exact. We climbed the Seneca Rocks in West Virginia.

            The canoeing trip was really fun. I got to be a guide the whole time; I’m really good at it. Sophie and I had to pull all the canoes up on shore and flip them so that they wouldn’t bang against the shore or float away. Flipping the canoes in the middle of the night is not fun because you can’t see and the shore was very steep. I think I liked being a guide because I had control over the boat. I’m not a control freak but liked it because I’m really good at it and know that I’m doing it right. Canoeing is all around fun for me because I like being a guide and I love the water and paddling.

            I think that the caving trip was really fun because I got to set up safety stations with Sophie. I also liked caving because we got to crawl in the mud and climb Devils Staircase. I got to walk through the freezing cold water and crawl into holes. There was one hole that you go in one end and come out another and in the middle of it there’s water that you have to cross. I also like the Fox’s Den because you had to crawl through a very tight area to get into a big area and we crawled out in the dark when we couldn’t see.

            Whitewater rafting the New River Gorge was really fun. I loved it. Some of the rapids were so big that when we went down them I lifted out of the raft. I also liked getting splashed in the face with water constantly. One of my favorite parts was getting to jump out of the raft and swim through a rapid. There were two rocks you were supposed to swim through. It’s hard but once you get there you’re fine and can just sit and let the currents take you. I like white water rafting a lot because it’s just fun in general.

            My favorite part of the trip was rock climbing the Seneca rocks. My group was the first group to make to the top of the summit. We climbed 800 ft total, but we were only 254 ft high. We repelled from the top of the rocks, a 254 ft repel. It was scary but fun at the same time. My favorite part of repelling was when I was just hanging there not being able to touch the wall. Well I think my favorite part of the whole climb was being able to know I climbed to the summit, and seeing the beautiful views. 

            Over all the whole experience was great. I had loads of fun with all the things we did. Still I’d have to say rock climbing was my favorite. Don’t get me wrong everything else was fun too. If I could do it all again I definitely would.

The New River by Alec Thompson

This expedition, our AT group decided to go on a whitewater rafting trip on the New River. We were broken into groups. We went on a class five rapid. Then we swam in some class one rapids.

Once everyone was changed into his or her wet suit, water shoes, and splash jacket, we went onto the rafting bus. On the way to the starting point we went over the safety briefing. Once we got to the starting point we were assigned rafting groups. My group was Dustin, Sophie, Joe, Isaac, Alex, Coley, Brian (our raft guide), and myself. The other group was Tristan, Nat, Preston, Evan, Kyle, Billy, and two other people that were not part of our group.

We went to a small class five rapid. It was really fun and the whole time we were screaming and yelling in excitement. Right after the class five we went to a class four-called bloody nose. It was under the tallest East Coast Bridge. The bridge was 285 feet tall. Then we went towards a class three rapid and I was eager not to get in the water.  However, Sophie caught me off guard and took me down, getting me in the water. I got out before the rapid and was ready right away.

After we went through the last class three rapid on the river, there was swimming rapid that we got to swim through. It was only a class one rapid. It was a really small class one so it was like going down a waterslide. We got past it and paddled towards the take out. I jumped in and swam towards it.  Then we went to the bus. After we got the raft in the bus. I took the splash jacket off. Everyone stared at me for a moment. I noticed that I was almost completely dry under the splash jacket. It was really an achievement for me.

The AT group finished the New River with smiles and funny stories to tell their parents. The rafting expedition will be in our memories for a long time. This will be one of the favorite moments this semester.

Alex expidition blog

The group went caving in a big cave. We went into the cave and walked really far into it. The first really cool thing we came to was the fox’s den. The fox’s den was a small hole on the inside of the cave. It is not a cave in a cave because a cave must be 30 feet wide and 60 feet deep or more. The fox’s den is only about 7 feet wide, 3 feet tall and 5 feet deep.

            The next really cool place we came to was the devils staircase. The devils staircase is about 7 feet tall and hard to climb, but we all got over with no problem. I did the staircase with a backpack full of water bottles. A few others and I spotted the rest of the group while they got up. After the staircase we had to climb up a little.

            The third really cool thing in the cave was a room in it that had a tunnel in the floor that went in one place and came out the other. I went through the tunnel and saw water in the bottom of the tunnel.  The person before me went through the tunnel without getting in the water. I could not do that even if I tried really hard. Also in that room was a little room right next to the bigger room with the tunnel. The little room was just cut off because a rock over hung one side.

            At the midpoint of the cave the group went down into an underground river that was really deep in the cave and led most of the way out. On the way out we saw a crawdad in the water and looked at it. I took some pictures of the crawdad with my camera. The crawdad was white and very hard. It was hard because the cave was healthy and the minerals hardened its shell. If the cave was unhealthy the bad minerals and bad stuff like oil would soften its shell. At the end of the underground river we got back onto the way we came in and walked out.

            The group went white water rafting on the New River. It was really fun because we went on class 3 and 4 rapids and maybe one or two 5’s. A really nice thing was the lunch on the raft.  It was a really good lunch and it made me full. On calm places we pushed people out and swam.  The water was really cold. One time I swam a rapid with a few others that we were allowed to swim.

            The last really cool thing was rock climbing. 3 others and I were the first SOAR group to reach the summit. We were able to do that because we got up to the rappel spot before dark. We went back down to the rappel sight and rappelled 245 feet down to the bottom. I spun all the way down. Over all I had a really fun time this expedition.

kyle nystrom

Last expedition we did several things. We went canoeing, caving, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing. Joe came with us so we could do the rock climbing.

We went canoeing for 4 days. I think four is about the right number of days for when I go into the backcountry. Any more than that and it begins to grate… it was a fun trip though. On the last day we stayed on an island. It was nice not having to hang a bear bag, plus the view was amazing.

Caving was fun. We did something called the foxes den, where we had to crawl into a tight space and come back out in absolute darkness. It’s really scary, especially for a big guy like me, but I got through it. There was a little tunnel which had a ton of water on the floor. It was so small that no one could stand in it. I figured out how to get through it without sticking my feet in the water by using the ledges. To leave, we had to walk through a river. My boots got completely water-logged. We found an albino crayfish (or crawfish, or crawdad, or whatever they might be called). You can use them to tell if the soil is acidic or alkaline because if they have a soft shell the soil is acidic, and if it’s hard then it will be alkaline.

Whitewater rafting was fun. Whitewater rafting is pretty much always fun. We got to go through several rapids, ranging from “I” (fart in a bathtub) to “V” (nearly fell out). The lunch was amazing. There was a cherry jell-o custard pie thingy and some really good crab stuff. I have no idea what I should really call these things. We also got to see the largest single arch bridge in America. It is made out of a special kind of iron that rusts on the outside and then stops rusting. That’s really cool. Also, the irons on the bridge were a lot smaller than I expected. It’s amazing what good design can do.

Rock-climbing was pretty fun. Sadly, my group didn’t get to summit because the wind would have thrashed us…

All-in-all, it was a good trip. I had a lot of fun and met some pretty interesting people. I fear the next expedition a bit though. Fourteen days in the backcountry in rain… that’s probably going to be awful. Oh well, at least I’ll try to keep my head up.

West Virgina Trip by Coley O'Brien

On this expedtion we went rafting,  caving, and Rock Climbing.  It was a lot of fun.                          

                       The New River

We did class three, four, and five rapids. It was fun and very easy for some people. For me it was very easy because I have been white water rafting 10 times. I saw some old Mill houses, lots of rapids, trees, and mountains. We had fun and saw some pretty cool sites.

                                          Caving 

We went and saw some bats and some really cool animals. A friend and I got to set up the safety measures like helping people up and down the cliffs. We got to crawl through a really tight hole in the dark. It was a lot of fun.

                                       Rock Climbing

        

 Rock climbing was a lot of fun. We got to climb Seneca Rock. This is one of the biggest and hardest climbs. Everyone got a chance to climb it. It was awesome, a little scary and hard, but still fun.

  

It was a very fun trip and I can’t wait for the next expedition.

Seneca Rocks by Tristan Carroll

Hello readers it’s Tristan!!!

I am back from the expedition and today I will be talking about my adventure on Seneca Rocks. Unfortunately I did not get to summit. The first summit group took till 7 o’clock when they needed to be back at 1:30 pm.  But that did not stop me from having a good time!!!

        So while summit group A was climbing to the summit Sophie, Isaac, Kyle, and I were chilling at a rock site. We had a climb set up that I climbed 3 times. One time I got to belay Sophie. She literally put her life in my hands. That was Sophie’s first time climbing in 3 to 4 years. Before I belayed Sophie, while I was climbing, she whipped me with the belay rope in mid climb. I was so tempted to do the same to her but I decided to be the better person!

        After the summit group repelled 257 feet, we got of that rock and went to the Front Porch restaurant. We ordered pizza and sang happy birthday to Alec. He ordered a coconut pie and ate it with pride. We did evening meeting and went to bed. I woke up the next morning thinking I was going to summit and retrieve $500 worth of gear that we accidentally left up on the rock, but that did not happen. Joe (a director at soar who was in the military), Sophie, and Nat got to summit and retrieve $500 worth of gear.

Overall, I still had a wonderful time at Seneca Rocks.

Thank you Joe for coming on our expedition!

Thank you mom for all you have done for me!!!!   

  

Dustin's Caving, Climbing, and Rafting Expedition blog

       In our last expedition we rock climbed, caved, and canoed. It was awesome, and a little scary. We all got through it safely, and together.

In the canoe trip we were on Lake Fontana and we did pretty well. We went all over the lake. We fished, we swam, and we rocked it out. We also had a freak storm and I was a little scared by that.

       The storm came up, it started with thunder and lightning. I was scared and not doing any work because of the storm.  I had to do my work anyways so I had to suck it up and not be a wimp. We also saw two bald eagles fly over our heads. It was so cool seeing the eagles. Canoeing was a great thing to do and I got a little stronger everyday.

During caving it was dark wet and awesome. We saw an albino crawfish, it was cool. We also saw a bat or two. To me it was not hard and/or scary because I had been in the same cave before in AD.

 After the cave we camped 300 ft away from the cave’s entrance.

       On the expedition I got to summit Seneca rocks. My staff said that I am fearless because I went through the summit so quickly. Rock climbing was fun and I got to repel 345 feet straight down, and I went fast. It was so cool getting to repel that far.

       Even though we did all of these cool things, the best part is that we had fun. I think that ADHD kids are great for all of these activities because we are adventurous and sometimes crazy. I wish I could do all of these great activities again.

Goodbye and I cannot wait until next time.  

BLOG By Alex Wilds

           The good thing for the group was that we hiked faster at the end of the expedition than ever before. We really improved on hiking and got there with no breaks. We also started to get along with each other. The group is starting to know each other. Everyone is finding his place in the group. We can now pack camp up fast and go. Everyone is performing well by eating fast and packing fast.

             There were many funny/cool moments. Vinnie the dog treed a bear and carried his own food on the hike. One time we were making coyote calls in a coyote active area. The coyotes came really close and scarred most people but I laughed because it was funny.

            Isaac and I sang a song called Frogs on the road. It goes a little something like this.

The frogs on the road go…

Splat, splat, splat!

Splat, splat, splat!

Splat, splat, splat!

The frogs on the road go…

Splat, splat, splat!

All over your wheels.

We did that over and over and got 30 minutes of silence because Sophie told us to stop and we didn’t listen. So I made up a new song for the group and it goes like this.

H, R, M, D, C!

This is the group for you and me.

We will scream and we will fight.

Then we will have to hike all night.

Hey, yo, here we go.

Up the mountainside.

One step closer to a van ride.

Hey, yo, here we go.

Up and down we climb.

We sing even though we can’t rhyme.

Hey, yo, here we go.

If we can speed up.

Then we can step up.

We might be able to get a proposal passed.

Then we will be able to last.

  Hey, yo, here we go.

Up the mountainside.

One step closer to a van ride.

Hey, yo, here we go.

Up and down we climb.

We sing even though we can’t rhyme.

Hey, yo, here we go.

That got banned too.

            Isaac got clotheslined, literary because Billy, Alec, and I found a huge frog. I picked up the frog and it peed on Alec’s shoe and then I yelled, “I want to eat it”. Isaac heard me yell that and ran to see what we were doing. He ran into a p-cord tied from a tree to a gear tarp. It cut him on the nose and right beside his left eye so it looked like he had make up on. The really funny thing to me was that I said to a staff or someone else that it was bad to have a rope over a path. I don’t remember who I said that to so that can be an inside joke between me, myself, and I.

            Billy and I went exploring and found a really huge rock so we climbed on top of it. There was a really great view up there. On the way down the rock we saw a cave under the rock. So we went back and got Sophie to show her the cave/hole thing. Sophie came and we saw a rock with a better view and we went there. We had to do some climbing and we got up there. Coley came up and we hid and made birdcalls. He found us and we all sat up there for a while. Kyle came looking for us but couldn’t find us. It was really nice. 

Trail names

1. Alec – Brave heart
2. Alex – Alex the great
3. Billy – Billy the kid
4. Coley – Cool hand Luke
5. Dustin – Donkey Kong
6. Evan – Evanator
7. Isaac – Twitch
8. Kyle – Chopstick
9. Tristan - Puma
10. Sophie – Cupcake
11. Preston – Precious
12. Nat – Bug

isaac

October/8/2010

Hi it is Isaac again. I just came back from my first expedition with my group

H, R, M, D, C. We were in Shandon National Park. The worst thing was an 11-hour hike. We went to bed at 2 am. The next day we hiked in groups. My group was three people.  My staff said a whole SpongeBob episode.  It was funny. By the end, we were faster hikers. We moved at 2 mph but at the beginning we were les then .5 mph. The dog Vinny treed a bear. In the end the trip was fun.

dustin's blog on blogger

Dustin’s    Blog                 October 4, 2010

INTRO

In this blog I am going to tell you about the 2 week hike, that what we did over the weekend, and what the cool things that we saw were. So sit back in your chair, grab a cup of coffee, and read the blog of Dustin Kenney.

Body 1

Ok   first I am going to tell you about the things that happened on the first few days of the hike. On the first day we got out of the car and hiked at night, which was really cool. We got to a shelter and stayed there for a night. The next day we went and hiked. I think it was three miles, but that is beside the point. So we hiked how ever many miles and we went again to stay at another shelter, which was really cool.  We got to the shelter and set up our camp. We ate our meals, had a fire, evening meeting, and then we went to bed. The next few days we hiked but on the fifth day we had to hike for 11 hrs at night. After the fifth day we got to the shelter and we went straight to bed.

Body 2

 The next week we went hiking again. It was fun. We stayed in shelters the rest of the time, which was cool. Our trail names are

Dustin: donkey kong

Evan: evanater

Tristen: puma

Isaach: scarrface

 Coley: cool hand luck

Billy: billy the kid

Kyle: chop styx

Alec: braveheart

Alex: Alexander the great

Those are all of our trail names. Aren’t they cool?

 We went on the trail for another few days and we met a through hiker, which are hikers that hike the whole trail. We let them stayed in our shelter twice. On that same day Nat saw Vinnie chase a black bear up a tree; it was really funny. We got back to the van a few days later. We drove back and didn’t get back to base until four in the morning. We got to sleep in for a long, long time.

After we woke up we drove to Asheville and we went to the drum circle that goes on there every Friday at 7 pm .We were there for that whole thing and I got to dance to music. A hot girl came to me and said, “Why are you not dancing?” when I wasn’t dancing at the time, so we danced and her name was Emory. I showed her my martial arts and she said that it was really cool. She gave me a piece of paper that had her cell phone number on it and I told her I would call her when I get the chance to. We left to go back to camp. So that was my highlight of the trip.

Conclusion

That was a great trip, especially since I got a hot girls number. So it was really cool.

Well that is my blog. Hope you enjoyed it. So now I click you goodbye.   

Click    beep beep beep beep…   end  transmission

Coley OBrien

On the two-week at trip there was many fun things that happen like one day we were hiking in the rain and got all wet.. On that trip we hiked the fastest we ever did. Finley we got to where we were going and we were all happy and thanks to Sophie’s wet wood fire skills. We got a fire pretty fast and that was good.

Another time, we were hiking and we saw a sign that said, “warning coyotes in the area.” We got all worried for Nat’s dog Viney. Some people wanted to be dumb and started howling and the coyotes started to get closer. Sophie started yelling at them and told them to shut up and thay did. So, pretty much I think that it was a good trip and I am ready to go on the next trip.

BIlly's blog on the AT

Billy                                                                                                                10-4-10

Cullity

            Our previous expedition was great I had lots of fun. I think everybody had lots of fun on our expedition. We were hiking on the AT. We also went white water rafting. We also went to the drum circle in Asheville on Friday night that was really fun.

            One of the things that I did that I really liked was finding a secret rock that had a beautiful view from the top. Alex and I found it and then went and got Sophie to come look, she loved it. We sat on top of it for a while just admiring the beautiful view. The thing that made it so special was that it was ours and only we knew about it, it was secret.

            I really liked getting to set up my own tarp because when I set it up myself I know it’s good and then I don’t worry it’s going to fall in the middle of the night.

I also liked how we got to see all the beautiful views and especially seeing the coyotes; it was pretty cool. We also went to the drum circle, which was loads of fun. Preston and I were dancing so much while others were trying to get a girls number. I also liked the night we slept in a real cabin. It was our brake day. All we had to do was hike a mile up trail to the cabin and then just stayed there all day long, it was a very relaxing day.

I also really liked the end of the expedition where we all worked together as a team to get things done. I also saw a lot of improvement in peoples hiking skills, which made me happy. I liked how instead of everybody fighting all the time people were helping each other. Although there’s a lot of room for improvement, it’s a lot better then it originally was.

           

Our first expedition on the A.T. By Evan Harr

My group went hiking on the Appalachian Trail for 2 weeks. We stayed in a cabin, had an 11-hour hike, and gave each other trail names. We also ran into other hikers, and even hiked through coyote filled areas.

The cabin we stayed at was very nice, especially for the rainy night that we had while we were there. Luckily the inside was very warm and it kept us from getting too cold. We did a lot of homework in there, and then ate a very good meal of macaroni and cheese, which I got to serve after someone else on the team mainly made it. Also, the 11-hour hike before that was very gruesome. We didn’t really stop the whole time, and just kept going and going until we finally reached a shelter to stay the night in. Other hikers usually took the shelter, so we would have to set up tarps at the campsites near the shelter.

Our trail names could often times be very random. Alec is braveheart, Isaac is scarface, Kyle is chopstick, Dustin is Donkey Kong, Alex is Alex the great, Billy is Billy the Kid, Tristan is puma, and Coley is cool-hand Luke. They are all very fun trail names to go by instead of our simple names. Many other people we met had trail names too, and one was named Hitman.

Hitman was a through hiker, which meant that he was hiking the whole Appalachian Trail all the way without stopping. He was a very speedy hiker, just like many of the other hikers that we met. One of the parts of our hike was through a bunch of wild coyotes. One of our group members howled like one, and then it got a whole pack of them to howl back at us.

Overall, it was a hike full of adventure. We hiked many miles, whether it was rain or sunshine, and met a few other hikers along the way. There were many different struggles also, especially with people getting along. It was a fun experience for the most part.

Tristan's Blog

Hey it's Tristan.

I am having a great time here at SOAR.

For example we went on a 14 day hike in the Shenandoah National Park and I fell at least 7 times, all in which were with a 40 to 60 pound pack on.

We saw wild coyotes, mostly because Dustin and I were howling and then all we hear is a whole pack of coyotes howl back at us. Then the next day Nat and I went on a solo hike and I saw a bear while on that hike. I also met this hiker who was named hit man. My trail name is puma. We even got to stay in a cabin along with taking showers. That was a nice treat. Then on the last day Sophie hiked some extra miles so that we didn't have to hike the full 8 miles that day. We walked to a road and saw Sophie in our van but at first we thought that it was a trick, but it wasn't! That’s how I remember things!

Thank you expedition staff for sacrificing your life and time to be with us!

Thank you mom for all you have done for me!!!

kyle nystrom

Kyle Nystrom

We went on the AT for 2 weeks. It was my first time really backpacking. It was hard doing 5 miles a day with a heavy pack, but I made it. A lot of things happened while we were on the trail, but I’ll try to summarize it.

During the start of the trip, we were having a lot, and I mean A LOT, of problems with people stopping, or just not carrying their weight. We did end up being able to go a good distance without more than a few breaks though. On the last day I saw everyone doing so well during the hike. We went about 4 miles in the cold and rain without more than a 20 minute break for snacks. We would have had to go 2 more miles, but one of our staff had driven the van up to the halfway point so we didn’t have to hike so far. That was really cool. It was also a lot of fun when we just sat around the fire and I got to tell some of my jokes. That was hilarious, and I got to do a lot of skits, like the fiery water, the burger king, and the order of the red orb.

During the 6^th day we stayed in a cabin. That was really fun because it was raining hard that day, and we got to sleep inside a dry, heated cabin. We also got to eat Mac-n-cheese with bacon mixed in. that was really good. On the last day we cooked up burgers and hotdogs. We used the pan with the burger grease and fried onions in it, and then mixed that with maple bacon beans. That those were the best beans I’ve ever had, and ever made, and pretty much everyone agreed with me about that. One thing I missed having on the trail was snack bags. It’s really cool when each person has an entire gallon zip-loc baggie of food to eat during hikes.

All in all, I think it was a decent expedition. We had some problems and fights, but we did really well in the end. Sometimes people get frustrated and it keeps the trips from being fun, but it usually works out in the end.

Taken out by Alec Thompson

On our two week AT hiking trip, HRMDC (our group) stopped at a shelter to make camp on the AT. This was my first time trail backpacking on a real trail. This was a really fun expedition and here is something important that happend.

 Alex found a frog and said “ooh I want to eat it”. It peed on my shoe and peed on Alex’s hand. After Alex said, “ooh I want to eat it”, Isaac ran over to see the frog.  Isaac got clotheslined and fell to the ground. He hit the parachute cord that was holding up a gear tarp.  Alex, Billy and I were laughing until we saw that it wasn’t a practical joke and he was hurt. All I saw was Isaac falling down and then hearing him laugh and say “ow”. We took him over to Sophie and Preston to make sure he was ok. After about 20 minutes Sophie said Isaac would be fine and wouldn’t have any serious injuries. Isaac started talking about it after one day and made it a funny story for all of the students and staff who didn’t see it. Afterward Alex was mad that he lost the frog and said “stupid log”. Isaac was wondering why Alex had said, “I want to eat it”. Alex told him he was messing around and wanted to be funny. He didn’t think that Isaac would run into the P-cord. The lesson that Isaac learned was when he hears something weird he shouldn’t run toward the person who said it without looking around for obstacles first. He now knows when to run and when to walk in a high traffic area.

After the AT hike we all knew when and how to avoid P-cord at night from Isaac’s great day. After all the hiking on the AT we had a really fun and weird first expedition. It is one expedition I will not forget.