Sunday, June 13, 2004

Idaho Wilderness Boys Camp Journal by Hans Mast Day One At 7 o’clock my uncle, Nelson Mast, dropped me off at the base of a hill that rises steeply, leading up to a rustic cabin that served as our base camp. We then hiked up to base camp. There were ten boys and 4 chiefs. At the end of the day we were to be divided into two permanent groups of five boys and two counselors each. The theme of the day was teamwork, working together to achieve a goal. The day’s verse was Philippians 2:2, “…then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Owen Beachy, one of the chief planners, cooked a delicious breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs that we devoured with obvious relish. After breakfast as we sat around cabin, and Chief Danny kept saying such things as, “Don’t talk all at once,” and ”My, what a talkative bunch.” He observed later that he was a bit worried at first, but at the end of the day he couldn’t get us to stop talking. We then played a bunch of teamwork games. For this, we divided into two temporary groups that we kept through out the day. The first thing was climbing the wall. There was a twelve-foot sheer wall that we had to assist each other in climbing. I was selected leader of group A, and Dwayne was selected leader of Group B. Group B had the first turn scaling the wall. Group B had a lad whose size was inversely proportional to his zeal for the proceedings, which gave us a marked advantage. It took them a lengthy 27 minutes to get everybody over. It took us 12 minutes. Later, as you shall see, Group B more than redeemed itself. We then set up a volleyball net and played a game of volleyball which Group A won by a narrow margin. We then tramped out behind the cabin to confront a huge swing with a mighty arc of close to 120 feet. We then donned harnesses and scaled a 35-40 foot tower. We clipped ourselves to a cable, sat on a flimsy plastic 5-gallon bucket lid, and jumped off the tower. We dropped and came about foot from the ground before soaring out over a steep drop-off and coming to an apex of close to 65 feet in the air. Never having ridden a roller coaster, this was the greatest rush of adrenaline I had ever gotten. It was a blast! Later that afternoon we went swimming in Deep Creek by the third railroad bridge. Someone had dammed up the exit with stones, and there was a nice pool to swim in. There was a guy there who wasn’t with our group that actually dived off the bridge. It was like 40 ft or so. We had a good time getting cooled off from the scorching sun (yes, it does actually get hot in Idaho) and then headed back to base camp. That evening we sat around the campfire, sang songs, had devotions, and ate s’mores. We could barely sleep that night in the hot, crowded cabin (both groups were still together) with about twenty mosquitoes a person. In the end it was a choice between a 40 below rated sleeping bag and the mosquitoes. This was not the least sleep we got in a night though; just wait till I tell you about the bear…. To Be Continued…