From Vlad Grigore
This year’s backpacking trip was a resounding success! Beginning in late April, 17 grade nine students and 5 adults started meeting weekly, slowly turning a loose group of inexperienced kids into a strong team, having the necessary knowledge to successfully complete a five day backpacking trip. Only one of the 17 kids had ever backpacked before, and many of them had never slept in a tent! The weekly meetings, which lasted between two and three hours each, worked on individual and group goal setting, equipment, menu planning, group and team dynamics, flora and fauna, safety, hiking etiquette, no trace camping, stove and fire procedures, tent setup and take down, waterproofing, as well as a practice hike.

With every meeting, excitement in the group rose, and by June 1st, the first day of the trip, the kids had reached a veritable frenzy. Most didn’t sleep the night before we left, and their enthusiasm and smiles were hardly tempered by the extreme fatigue they must have been experiencing. On the first day we drove to the Shuswap, where we camped at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park. I drove a short distance to our cabin and returned to the beach where the kids were swimming with our ski boat. Many of the kids had never been past Golden, few had been to the Shuswap, and very few had ever been in a boat. Even fewer had gone cliff jumping or tubing, and our kids were blown away, even before the backpacking had begun. The day’s biggest highlight had to be dinner, when, while eating on the patio of a small restaurant on the water, a huge storm came and brought torrential rain all around our tables.

On our second day we drove to the northern part of Vancouver Island and camped in a remote forestry campground. After a long day of driving, we arrived at dusk in the middle of B.C.’s temperate deciduous rainforest and set up our tents. With the coming of night, we all went for a walk in the forest, and the kids wrote their day’s reflections by headlamp, surrounded by giant cedars and lush vegetation. The many spots of light, coming from the forest were eerie, almost magical.

For the third to eighth days, we backpacked through Cape Scott. Kids had to quickly adjust to the new weight of heavy backpacks, as well as mud, slippery boardwalks, and a new way of doing practically everything. One of our kids, who had never been West of Lake Louise before this, was entranced. Toward the end of the first day’s hike through the forest, we arrived at the beach, and her first unfettered view of the Pacific Ocean. She dropped her pack and sat in the sand, letting it slowly run through her fingers. She couldn’t believe the feeling of the sand. Seeing her face made my trip. That will be a memory that I will always carry with me. The kids encountered sunshine, rain, cold ocean baths, whales, seals, fatigue, scrapes, freeze-dried food and many other challenges and joys. Every night we met around the fire and talked about our day, we talked about the things that went right and the things that went wrong. We discussed the differences between Calgary and the West Coast, as well as the differences in the kids’ behaviours in the two places. We also talked about facing challenges, and the value of always doing our best. The kids then wrote in their journals, putting down their thoughts on the days, and on various discussion topics. And, on the last night on the trail, around the campfire, there wasn’t a dry eye in the group.

Of the many trips that I have done in the past, this was one of the best, and the level of emotional commitment that was demonstrated by the kids made it the best. I have kept in touch with many of the kids, and I am planning a Christmas snowshoeing trip with them, as well as next summer’s adventure, a combination backpacking / sea kayaking trip.