We had a great adventure walking along the coast. Originally
a co-ed trip, we had a roster with 7 boys and no girls. Tara and Matt helped
these big kids learn to pack their bags, tie their knots, and push through the
pain of adapting to new circumstances with humor and beauty along the way.
Of
our many nature encounters, a notable one is a river otter that loped out of
the forest and into the ocean right beside us as we arrived at the ocean for
the first time. Due to a failure in our stoves, we cooked many of our meals
over wood fire, which gave the children plenty experience gathering wood and
tending fire. The days were spent hiking and exploring, and gathering and
processing the materials from the land we needed to survive. The evenings were
spent in telling stories of our experience and hearing some stories of long
ago, as well. On our way to the boy's 3 hour silent vigil in solitude, a
threshold line was drawn as a juvenile bald eagle landed above us on a leaning
fir tree, and soon after the circling of the two parent eagles. We walked past
the eagle guardians to the river and the children's sit sites, where they spent
the next time in ritual engaging with and reflecting on their journeys.
After
the kids were welcomed back, we gathered as much firewood as we could carry and
hoofed the miles back to camp with the precious fuel from the trees we relied
on, enough for dinner, and even some hot chocolate before bed to celebrate all
we'd accomplished this week.
Submitted by Matt McKinney, Guide for Call to Adventure 2014
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