Campfire USA- by Elise

July 6-10th all the kids went to the Campfire USA camps. The little kids program was a program at a local school which I have no pictures for, but the big girls camp was much more exciting and we were able to get some pics from the counselors there.


Now I yield to my guest blogger: Elise

So this is our first day at camp. We went to Mt. Bachelor. In this pic our whole group is in front of a place to eat. We just rode the ski lift up to a place a little past the middle of the mountain. It was fun but it was lame because they said we were going to hike up to the summit and then when we were going to, they chickened out. They said it was too far (which it wasn't at all.) So we hiked DOWN the mountain. But then since some people wanted to ride down the ski lift we rode it back up, stayed for about 20 minutes, and then rode back down. Overall, it was fun.

The next day we went hiking, canoeing, and kayaking at Elk Lake. Only some of the people went swimming including me. It was really fun. We first split into two groups. Younger and older. I don't know why but somehow I got into the older group and we went hiking first. The hike was about 3 miles, maybe a little longer. But, I didn't say it was fun. There were a lot of mosquitoes. They were all over the place! It was like it was heaven for the mosquitoes. In the pic our group are swatting away mosquitoes. We couldn't even smile for the picture! They were biting us all over. We almost ran back after we hiked a good one and a half miles.

Now after the horrific hike Sam and I went canoeing and kayaking together. I think Sam and I both liked kayaking better probably because it's more fun and easier to control. In the middle, before we switched, I swam in the lake with a couple other people not including Sam. She wanted to go kayaking and gave me a lecture about how my mom spent money for us to go canoeing and kayaking and not swimming. But that day they said we were going to go swimming and I even put my bathing suit on so I went swimming. That day was really cool. On the third day, which was the best day, we went white water rafting all day down the McKenzie river. It was sooo fun! In the picture we are all geared up and myself personally, felt like a hippo in the coat, life jacket, and helmet. The life jacket was HUGE! Well it's just to keep us safe. So I went on a raft with two of my counselors, two of my friends that I met, Sam, and the river guide who was awesome. So on the river it was really fun! At first we took it slow and then we went into to some fun rapids. I had a great time!! After rafting we made tin foil dinners. They were so good! We put soup, corn, rice, pepper, and all kinds of things in them. They were sooo delicious! We camped that night at a place called Paradise. It was a good camping ground. Yeah that night was really hot so I didn't get much sleep but it was ok.

So we've come to the fourth day where everything changed. DO NOT LOOK AHEAD! It will spoil the story. So this is the story that the counselors were all worked up about. That day we were going to hike to a place called blue pool and they said we might hike to the waterfalls. So we drove to the place and had lunch and started hiking. There was these five people secluded from the rest of the group. Sam, Khaida, Megan, Stephenie, which was a counselor, and myself. We got to the pool way later than the rest of them and didn't see them. Blue pool was sooo beautiful. It was like it was dyed blue and sooo pretty. So back to the story. We thought that they went past the blue pool to the waterfalls. I'll get back to that later. So we kept going on. We kept stopping for 10 minute breaks and thought we weren't catching up with them for that reason. So we got to the first waterfall and it was really pretty. We spent about 5 to 8 minutes there. Then we started walking again. So after about 10 minutes we got to the second waterfall. That was really pretty, too. Plus, there was a mini rainbow made from the mist from the waterfall. We spent 10 minutes there. Finally we were doing the final stretch of the hike. We got across the bridge, hiked a little longer, and then got to the place where they were supposed to meet us. But instead of someone there, there was a note. The not said 'We went back to camp. Call me on my cell.' Then it said her cell number. First of all, there was no reception. Second, no cell. So we had no way to contact them and say that we weren't hurt or anything like that. So we were sorta upset with them for leaving us there. What if one of us were hurt? What if we had no way we could get back? What if one of us died? You never know. So then we waited and found someone who could give us a ride in the back of their truck. Then we hitch-hiked to Stephanie's car in this random but nice guys truck. When we got to her car we found a note on Stephanie's car saying 'We are leaving for the hot springs at 6:00' It was 6:15. Then after we found two of the counselors near the car. It turned out they went down to the blue pool and then hiked back the way our whole group came in. We explained that we didn't see them at all. So then we went back to camp and everyone was like "You survived." We also explained to them that we went to the waterfalls and didn't see them at the blue pool. We ate dinner and went to the hot springs. It was really relaxing after all that. It was a long day. We also had to camp that night. But it was better that night. Got about 7 hours of sleep.

Our little 'group' hiking
The First Waterfall Sam and I looking out to the second waterfall.

The Second Waterfall

Isn't it cool how there's a rainbow? Why? Why did they leave us here? This is a pic we took before we hitch-hiked.
Ahhhhh........ the nice feel of the hot springs. It was sooo relaxing after the hiking.
We stopped here on our way back from the camp. Here there were caves and in the background is my friend, Khaida. The caves were cool. Ok.

This week was so long! Thursday was the longest though. Overall I really liked this camp. The rafting was the best day during the week. It was good.