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Day 1 Monday, May 26 We all arrived in Shreveport at 5:30 to load up and pull out by 6:00.After a few name games to get re-acquainted with one another, we headed off on our long journey. We traveled the 15 long hours across Texas and after many naps and traveling games, we finally arrived in Raton, New Mexico. There we ate dinner and passed out!
Day 2 Tuesday, May 27 We woke up bright and early to finish the journey to Colorado. After lunch
in Salida, we finished our trip with our arrival at Chalk Creek Campgrounds at about 2:30 in the afternoon. We unpacked luggage
and set up camp. We ended the day with a fabulous spaghetti and sausage dinner.
Day 3 Wednesday, May 28 Group A
Group B Rock-climbing day! After an unfortunately late start, Group B set off to the climbing
site. We climbed at a new site this year, one with harder routes, but better hand-holds. We had a blast, some of us went up
as many as four or five times. Hopefully we won't be too sore Both groups finished of the day with a hike up to Agnes
Falls and ate hamburgers for dinner. Good stuff!
Day 4 Thursday, May 29 Another day of rafting! This morning we went to Brown's Canyon, which consisted of larger rapids than
we encountered yesterday. We got onto the water at about 9:00. It was really, really cold! We went through many Class Three
rapids such as Zoom Floom, Pinball, and Slidell Suck Hole. We had a blast, so it's to bad it's our last day on the
river. Once we got back from the rafting, we went to a ghost town. While driving up to the ghost town, we came upon a road
closed sign because there ad been an avalanche in the area. So instead of driving through we decided to walk the rest of the
way. We had a huge snowball fight because there was still snow on the ground. It was so much fun!
Group B Today was probably
the most challenging day of the week. Group B biked this morning and hiked up the Waterdog Lake trail today. At the biking
site, our group split two ways. One group took a scenic and relaxing route and the others went on "the hard trail".
The hard trail was the more technical of the two, complete with steep hills covered in rocks and sand. Congrats to those who
made it! We were rewarded for our hard work by an ice cream stop after lunch. The sweet treat was also helpful in gearing
everyone up for tackling Waterdog. This year, we didn't make it to the top (almost the entire trail was covered in at
least three feet of snow), but we managed to have a good time making a few snowmen, tossing snowballs and attempting to sled.
Even though we returned to camp cold, wet and exhausted, we still had a lot of fun today.
Day 5 For our group it was a late start, we didn't have to leave
from the camp until 8:30. Once we all ate breakfast and packed our lunches for the day, we headed off for the climbing site.
When we arrived at the site we went over rules and safety procedures, some of the boys started off jumping right into the
climbing head first. Everyone had a chance to choose between four climbs. Everyone at least attempted one climb. We are looking
forward to tomorrow when we get to go mountain biking, it should be a blast!
Group B Our first day of rafting! And we had a blast. Group B woke up at 6:30 this morning and set
out for the portion of the Arkansas River we planned to raft. The rapids were amazing, some of the best OGR has seen in years.
The water level has been steadily rising, making for high waves and fast currents. Awesome! We had wonderful weather as well:
very sunny with a wind going. Even though the wind was pretty chilly (like the water!), the sun dried us off fairly quickly.
We were really lucky! All of us are excited for Brown's Canyon tomorrow, where we will hit some Class 3 and 4 rapids.
Wahoo!
Both groups finished the day by
taking a short hike to Rainbow Rock. It's only about a mile from our camp
site, so it was not a very long excursion. We had so much fun, from the top of the rock you could see where Group A rafted yesterday and where Group B will be rafting tomorrow. We all came back to camp
and had a wonderful dinner of jambalaya and red beans and rice, just like home!
Day 6 Saturday, May 31 Group A Today was our chance to mountain bike. We had to choose between two different courses, a hard trail and an easy trial.
Most of the people chose to take the hard trail to challenge themselves but then there were also a few that chose to go on
the easy trial in order to see the beautiful scenery. On the easy trail, you ride on the old train tussles and end up where
a bridge used to be but was destroyed and used during WWII It was a very exciting day. After we were done biking we came back
to camp and got ready to g on a hike. We went to trail called Browns Creek. It was a work out for all of us since we had just
finished biking all morning. At the end of the trail there was a beautiful waterfall Then we went back to camp and met up
with the other group and exchanged stories from the day. But some how I think that group B’s day was a little more exciting.
Group B Today we got back on the Arkansas River for our second
day of white water rafting. The water was even higher than yesterday making our trip fast and exciting.
We made it through the rapids Zoom Floom, Pinball, Seven Steps and them came the infamous Sidell Suck Hole.
Sidell is typically a class three rapid and has always been hard to get through, but because of the high waters, today
the suck hole was classified as a class four rapid. Out of our three boats, two rafters flipped out of
one and one of the boats flipped entirely. All of the swimmers were rescued quickly with no injuries by
our wonderful guides and we continued to finished the trip with no other mishaps. It was a very exciting
day!
Day 7 Sunday, June 1 Group A &B Today both groups came together as one for a day hike. We went up a beautiful a trail called Green’s
Creek. It was a very long hike but not too hard.
One Phone (318) 798-0880
Email: Admin@onegreatriver.org
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