Advanced Adventurer Overnight$695
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Advanced Adventurer Overnight!
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July 9 - 14, 2017
Ages 10 - 15+ (older students may CIT) Smoke Hole Canyon, WV This overnight program offers a unique and powerful experience to a small group of intrepid explorers who:
Rock climbing Rock climbing is a very psychological sport. Each climb is a unique puzzle that you must solve with your mind and body. On the one hand, it’s a partnership – you rely on someone you trust to belay you as you climb – to back you up, and catch you if you fall. On the other hand, nobody else can climb it for you – it’s your climb! You need to move past your fears, and innovate your way through novel sequences that each climb presents. It’s a great metaphor for living boldly and independently, and as part of a community. Emphasis will be on safety, having fun, and working through challenges in a friendly, supportive environment. This is a beautiful area to climb in, and features a good mix of climbs ranging from easy to advanced, and from 30’ to 85’ in height. The dense canopy and mixed orientation of the cliff faces allows for great climbing even in summer, and is quick and easy to reach from the campground. All climbing gear will be provided. Tubing Big bend is a fantastic tubing destination. The South Branch of the Potomac wraps around the campground in a giant oxbow so that you can walk to the put-in, and then back to your campground from the take-out. Watch for eagles soaring above, or perched on the cliffs that overlook the river. It feels really remote and pristine, but at any time you can come ashore and return to the campground. There are also other fun runs we will be doing down other stretches of river. Survival challenges Providing shelter, fire and water are the core skills needed for most real-life wilderness survival situations. Food is important for longer term scenarios. Students will have opportunities to push their edges in each of these areas daily, culminating in a final group overnight challenge. What adventures will follow? My goal is for your child to leave with the sense that: "That was awesome! Life is awesome! What a beautiful place earth is! I can take on challenges, look after myself and others." My goal is to cultivate courage, confidence and responsibility. I believe your child has wonderful qualities and capabilities to share with the world, and my goal is to help him or her to develop a sense of personal power and potential. For your child to see life as full of promise, a world to relish, and have a visceral sense of what healthy, vibrant living is. Please contact Nick to learn more. Notes from scouting the area: June 13th: The family and I spent three days scouting Smoke Hole canyon last week, and it rocked. Also, my former student Neil, and my mother-in-law and brother-in-law joined us. Neil and I explored the New Trout Cave, which was pretty cool. It was our first time exploring a wild cave, unguided. We sketched a map as we made our way in, and followed it to get back out. It's a pretty straight-forward cave, dry and warm and linear, but you should still pay close attention because there are multiple levels that parallel each other. However, this and the nearby Hamilton Cave are closed to commercial use so we won't be able to explore these on the overnight. But email me for directions if you want to explore these on your own time. Neil and I also did some great rock climbing in the canyon, and then walked up to the top to check out the view. I was excited to find the area covered in blueberry bushes, which will hopefully be ripe in late July for us. On our final day in the canyon we explored a small stream that comes out by the parking area for the climbing. This stream was a magical place of waterfalls, moss, and cliffs. See slideshow... May 27th: I have a lead on a wild cave that we should be able to explore, especially if we get a rainy day. I hope to scout it out in June. Super excited! April 23rd: We will camp out, climb, swim and explore in and around Smoke Hole Canyon in "Wild and Wonderful" West Virginia. Our base camp will be at Big Bend Campground which is in the middle of a big oxbow of the Potomac that wraps around it. It's way upstream from DC, so the river is rather cleaner and much much smaller. From the campground you can easily walk to a put in, enjoy a picturesque two-hour tubing expedition, and then walk right back to your tent. There are apparently over 200 climbs in the area covering a broad range of difficulty, so something for everyone in that regard. The walls are relatively easy to access, and face diverse directions such that we should have shaded climbs available pretty much anytime of day. There are also some nice swim holes to boot, and tons of forest to explore. Intriguingly, there are said to be caves in this area. I am trying to find out where they are and get access to one. No promises, just fingers crossed on this... [Update 5/27/2016: I now have directions to one, will explore it in early June] I led a camping expedition here a few years ago and we all loved it. In June I am planning to return and scout out the best areas for our climbing and survival challenges. |
Please note:
Transportation will be provided to and from a mutually convenient meeting place in the DC area. Nick is currently trained as Wilderness First Responder, and has been rock-climbing since middle school, at times competitively, and has led trad climbs up to 5.11 difficulty. He worked for Montgomery County Department of Recreation as a Top-Rope and Rappelling instructor. Nick is a member of the AMGA, and attended a 3-day Single Pitch Instructor training in May of this year. |
