Training Trip

Hi everybody! We just returned from our first Titan Traverse Trip. I got to tag along on the trip even though I am not officially part of TT, and I was excited to be a part of it. We spent 5 days with 7 students. The goal of the trip was to train them to be competant trip assistants, so that they can help lead trips in the future. We base-camped at Outdoor Odyssey, the camp Brian and I worked at in college. It was fun to be back, and we were jealous of all the new things the camp has to play on (indoor high ropes course, etc). For this trip, though, we really only camped at O.O., and spent our days elsewhere.

On our first day, we traveled to Ohiopyle, in southern PA. We spent the afternoon playing on the natural waterslides there. Over the years, the water has worn away the rock to make a waterslide that you can sit in and slide down. It's a lot of fun, but ended up in a lot of bruises. Most of us could only handle a few trips down, but it was a good beginning to the trip.

We spent the next two days caving. For those of you who have never been caving, the basic idea is that you climb down into a natural cave and explore. The first cave we went to was Bear Cave, which Brian and I went through every week with campers when we worked at O.O. So, there weren't many surprises there. The students were very enthusiastic about exploring, and most wanted to crawl through all the tiny little holes we came upon. We're talking down in the mud, on your belly, crawling. We ended the day very tired and VERY dirty. The next day we visited Coon Cave, which we have never been to. It was a lot different from Bear Cave - very wet. At times, we walked through water up to our knees. It had a lot of cool formations, though, so there was a lot to see.

After two days of caving, we were glad to spen the next day out in the sunlight, rock climbing at Lost Cragg. The name was very appropriate for us, since we got a little turned around trying to find it. We made it there, though, and all sat down for a hiking break. To our dismay, the log I sat on was the home of a bee nest. After three of us got stung (myself incuded), we all ran away and found somewhere else to sit. As a side note, bees seem to really like tunafish, wich is what we were eating for lunch. Go figure. After the bee excitement, we spent the rest of the day climbing and had a great time. Climbing has some down time, and ended up being a great opportunity to have conversations with the students. Since we got a late start, we stopped and got pizza on the way home, and everyone ended the day in great spirits.

Overnight, we got quite a bit of rain, so climbing was canceled for our last day. We spent the day instead teaching the students how to set climbs, which will be valuable information for them in the future. We headed out in the early afternoon to the home of one of the students. His mother had invited us for dinner, and cooked out entire group a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It was delicious! After a dip in the pool, we headed home.

I think everyone had a great time on the trip, and the students seem more confident about being assistant leaders. I was very impressed with the students. They all got along, everyone pitched in, and all were eager to volunteer to do the things that needed to be done. There is a lot of potential in the group, and I am excited to see what the next year brings.