hiking, hiking, and more hiking

The Appalachian Trail.  30 miles in 3 days.  From Pine Grove Furnace state Park to Blue Ridge Summit, PA.  From Camden, NJ, to our closing retreat dubbed “Dis-Orientation.”  From a year of stable work and community life into the unknown future…

We hiked 13 miles the first day, 10 the second, and 7 the last day.  My feet tried to carry out a mutiny at the end of day two.  But I survived!  All 38 of us did! 

I was so excited to be out in the woods hiking and camping – something I haven’t done all year.  I wasn’t so excited when it rained during the night our first night.  And then in the morning as we were packing and getting ready to go.  We had to ear breakfast and make our lunches inside the Budget truck where our luggage and camping gear was supposed to go because it was pouring.  Luckily, it stopped before we left.  It was a lovely day of hiking.  Not too hot, and the terrain wasn’t too difficult -- although my toes got sore and I could tell how out of shape I was on the few uphills we had!  We ended up at a campground that had a swimming pool and showers – a nice ending to a long day…

Only that wasn’t the end.  *imperative expletive* the rain.  One night of dampness was annoying yet adventuresome, but two nights in a row was just miserable.  The staff helpers had kindly set our tents up early and laid our sleeping bags out in the sunshine to dry from the night before, but nothing had quite dried out completely.  And at 8pm, as everyone was finishing settling into their tents and thinking about s’mores over the campfire, we hear the rumble of thunder and then BOOM!  Downpour.  Escape into our tents.  What was there to do but give each other backrubs?  Just as the worst of it passed over our heads, the person with the truck and bus keys started coming around to ask people if they wanted to go find shelter elsewhere.  When we opened the tent door, we discovered that we were surrounded by an inch-deep lake of water.  Thank goodness for a plastic-bottomed tent!  Others weren’t so fortunate.  They ended up sleeping in the back of the truck, in the bus, and in the foyer of the bathroom building.  Only 14 of us stayed in our tents overnight.  Dan chose to sleep elsewhere, but I just put a plastic tarp over the top of the tent to keep the roof from dripping and managed to stay fairly dry the rest of the night.

The second day of hiking was brutal: it was hillier and rockier, and I got blisters on my pinky toes and the side of my left foot.  :(  I was one of many who hobbled more than walked around camp that evening…but joy of joys it didn’t rain!!! 

The third day wasn’t so bad because the damage had already been done, so I just bandaged my feet up, took some painkillers, loosened my laces, and hiked on…I had to go slow, but it didn’t hurt as much as the day before and it was a short hike – we made it to the trail exit by 11:45am!  We were the first group, so we got to wait and rest an hour for everyone else to get there and then we all walked the last mile up the road to the retreat center together. 

Whew!  I did it!  =D  

It’s the end of the world as we know it…

JVC Camden 08-09 has ended. 

Conor and Megan left a week ago, and Patti, Dan I finished out this last week together just – except that we didn’t really see much of each other…  Patti was really busy all week, and Mom and Dad visited Tuesday through Thursday, so I was somewhat preoccupied as well! 

It was really nice to have them visit, but a little stressful with trying to wrap up work and JVC stuff and spend time with them, too.  But they were really useful in helping me get my oil change taken care of!  They visited me at work on Wednesday afternoon and we dropped my car off at the shop on the way home.  Showed them around the neighborhood when we got home – went down some streets I’d never been on before all year!  Not having the car on Thursday morning meant I got to sleep in and walk to the Camden Children’s Garden to meet my summer camp crew there for our field trip – =)  As they were all getting on the bus to head back to ERLH, Mom and Dad picked me up and drove me to the shop to get my car so I could drive it back to work for the rest of the day.  I dropped my parents off at the airport that evening for their flight to New Hampshire for my aunt’s wedding.

Friday was my last day of work.  It felt kind of weird because we didn’t have a normal schedule and I didn’t really have to do anything at all.  There was a going-away feast for me: chicken, rice, beans, tacos, chips, fruit salad…and apple crisp (made by me).  After all that, a cake was brought out for me, and Cindy had the kids say nice goodbye things to me, which was really sweet (the best one was “thank you for helping me feel better when I was upset”).  After lunch, the kids went outside, and I was summoned over to the management building for another farewell (for me and the law intern) and more cake – which I managed to avoid.  When I got back to the Education Center, some of the kids were already getting ready to go home!  The ones who were left just had free time to play games – and then it started to rain.  And I mean RAIN!  There was a flash flood warning for the area.  And at 4:30, Cindy drove the 4 kids that were still left to their homes…the end. 

I’m really sad to be leaving the kids, especially before the end of the summer program because it feels like I’m deserting them and leaving my work unfinished…so I’m going to miss the kids and watching them grow, but I’m really glad to be done with the job…