I want to be like Bear Grylls.

I am back, once again, from round dos of wilderness adventures. This time around the 11 of us (8 students and 3 instructors) found our way into the Lake Kushaqua area where we lived for four days amidst a jungle of ferns. I didn't actually take this picture but here is a scene from the large lake area... We ate lunch on the shore a few times and even had dinner during sunset once (the girls had a fire sparked and pot boiling in 17 minutes!)

 We actually stayed near a little body of water called "Chub Pond" but chose to take the longer route to Lake Kushaqua for our water source considering Chub is really a leech infested mud region (a few of the girls gagged drinking the water and I don't blame them). In the middle of the week we hiked a tiny mountain called Little Haystack and ate lunch atop it's glory, surrounded by beautiful scenery. It is the first "summit" I have conquered here at 4,662 Ft high. Little Haystack is on the left side and Mount Haystack on the right...

It was great to be with the same girls again and to have already built connections with them coming in. The most exciting part was seeing how much they had grown from my previous time. Many are almost to the third stage, known as "wolf", which is the second to last phase of the program. And many of the girls I met during their first week to camp, who previously refused to eat oats and cried at night, now are laughing, hiking, and boldly claiming their love for oats and brown sugar.

My biggest personal challenge I faced all week was getting lost from the group for a little more than an hour. I was fortunate enough to head out on a break while the other two instructors stayed behind with the girls. So naturally, I headed toward the lake to spend my evening admiring God's beautiful creation. Finding the lake was easy shmeasy but finding the campsite was, well, not so much. At first I simply denied I was lost and continued to follow my already weak sense of direction. When I finally transitioned into acknowledgement I had retraced my steps three times, found the main road, and talked to a kind man fishing with his young son. No compass, no communication device and no GPS comforted my side; only a crinkled map of the region. The following are some of the thoughts that passed through my mind during this expedition:

"Wow, the first apprentice to get lost from their group in the history of this program."

"Double wow, how embarrassing if they have to send out a search team for me."

"Ok, I have lots of iodine tablets with me, I'm good on water. But only a handful of almonds which will have to suffice. Well, I can always eat plaintain if I have to."

"Dear Holy Spirit, grant me some of your ultimate geographical knowledge... for serious."

"I'm going to be ok, I'm going to be ok..."

"Will I have to kill a dear with my 3 inch swiss army knife, dig out it's insides and live in it's carcass for warmth?" (thank you, Bear Grylls)

"I'm so glad I ate that Cliff bar before I left"

and the winner of them all...

"What the Hell did I get myself into."

At certain points in our life we all stop and ask ourselves this same question. "How the heck did I end up where I am?" And in my case it was in the middle of a mountain, in the middle of the Adirondacks, in the middle of NY. With only the guidance of the Spirit. I am asking myself the same question today as I sit in this library using their free internet. Why did I leave such a beautiful community of friends again? Why did I choose to spend so much money to end up in a place where I know so few people? And why am I pooping in the woods again?

At last, while near tears, I found my group. I took some time to compose myself and headed back into the action. Although it was only an hour I could have sworn it was three. I am proud of myself for not breaking down and continuing in perseverence and also embarrassed to find out I was about a quarter of a mile from my group the whole time. The woods, my friends, are an entirely different world of their own.

So this is where I wrap up the whole mass of my words into one wise metaphorical sentence. And the truth is, I don't have one. I miss my parents, I miss my dog, I miss the Virginia morning mist and the sound of the JMU clock striking twelve.

Love, La Loba

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