Girls Camp

Girls Camp was a ward one this year and we went and stayed at Reunion Flats - on the way up to Grand Targhee ski resort. We began on Monday, July 23 (my birthday) and stayed through Thursday the 26th.  I have to say that I was not excited to be leaving on my birthday but I was spoiled rotten. Amazing people who did everything they could to make it an awesome day.

The first day at camp was really low key. We really did just do nothing except craft and drink water. Lots and lots and lots of water in preparation for hike the following day.

The theme of camp this year was "I can do hard things."  We really feel that so many youth in the ward and in the area don't realize this power they have that they can do hard things. That we all have hard things in life, or will have hard things in life - and there is power in knowing that we can do it.

The main reason I dreaded camp this year was because of the hike that was planned for the 24th. It was decicded to hike table rock - which if googled you will find out that it is a very strenuous hike and you begin at 7000 ft elevation and actually climb 4100 ft to 1100 ft elevation.

I know I was not completely prepared physically, although I had been doing a lot of Zumba and walking, but I am also terrified of heights and I was not looking forward to that either.

Since we have a lot of young women, and we actually had quite a few priesthood that joined us, we split into four different groups and each group was given extra water and bear spray. Two of the groups climbed up face - which is a lot steeper but shaves off three miles one way. I was one of the groups who chose to go up huckleberry way and it is seven miles each way - which doesn't sound bad, but trust me, it is.

For whatever reason, our group had the least amount of priesthood and our group just kind of disentegrated. I ended up being with an older couple who had just returned from a mission and he was having a hard time hiking up. There were three rivers we had to cross and it was exhausting. Tender mercy however is that every single weather report said it would be in the 80's and sunny, it ended up being much cooler and cloudy. What a blessing. The couple I was with, he actually taught some sort of outside science like class for many years in the high school and he knew every single plant and flower. I was blessed to learn a lot and saw things that I probably otherwise wouldn't have.

About half way up I started experiencing extreme leg cramping in my legs. OUCH! I began sipping on the gatorade I had and water, but it was making it really hard to walk with these charley horses. At the top of the switch backs (I had been hiking for a little over 4 hours at this point), I began experiencing altitude sickness and the higher I went, the worse I felt. I finally found a rock and sat down. The nice older couple I was with tried to make me eat, but my stomach couldn't handle the thought of eating. Tried sipping on some water, but I was quickly running out of water, and I didn't have enough and the people with the extra water (and bear spray) were who knows where! I decided to be done. It was starting to rain and the lightning began and I knew that there was still about a hour left to get to the top and then the hike down, my legs and feeling dizzy and wanting to throw up,  I knew I was as far as I could go.

This was such an emotional experience for me and I felt so horrible about not making it to the very top, but looking back, I have decided to focus on what I did accomplish. Four hours of hiking a few thousand feet up, crossing rivers - that is pretty dang awesome. I could have chosen not to try, but I did. Here are some pictures from close to the top of the trees. This is literally towards the very top of a mountain.

As I was descending, I took some more just so I could compare where I was.

The hike down was quite memorable. The older couple I was with decided to come back with me and I was glad they did because I didn't want to run into any wildlife all alone. Plus like I said, he was having a hard time and was grateful to have an excuse to come down.

After we'd been hiking down for a couple of hours I saw some crazy people who just pitched a tent literally on the side of a mountain. Then the couple I was with said "Look, there's a moose." So we stopped and started watching the moose for a little bit and it begins raining more steadily. As we were watching the moose we saw more movement and at first thought it was an elk, but it was actually a grizzly bear. On the mountain and there was not a fence. The lady said - and this is an exact quote - "We love bear encounters!" At that point I am trying to decide what I would do if it starts charging at us and feeling frustrated that the person with the bear spray was who knows where! :) The gentleman starts hiking towards the bear so he can look at it better and I just stayed where I was not feeling too excited about our situation! Finally after awhile he came back and we left. In hindsight, I should have pulled out my camera, but I wasn't too excited about this at that time!  We made it down to the bottom of the trailhead and were there for only about 5 minutes until the first group came down.

The rest of camp was really laid back. We did have an opportunity to go and shoot shotguns at clay pigeons. That was fun. Dr. Walker, my dentist was actually the one helping with all of that. On my first try I shot and hit that clay flying disc. It was awesome!  We did a lot of crafts and of course tried to heal from the hike!

We had a pajama parade and the leaders were the ninja turtles - and as crazy as it is, I included a picture of that as well.

I love these ladies! Not everyone is pictured, but the feeling is the same towards all of them. I feel so blessed to have served in young womens with them. They are amazing and each have qualities that I hope to learn someday!