May 3-4, 2014, leap went on their 1st Annual camping trip to Pyramid Lake. It was a very extraordinary trip with students, leap staff, and a couple of teachers. While the students were hanging out on a semi hill by the campsite, and the teachers were keeping an "eye" on us. We decided to take little adventure. It was a new step towards a secret hiking trail. Kat was the deepest into the climb and got a sneak peek of what was behind the trees and trail before the teacher's asked us to return to the ground level. We saw a path that led towards an area filled with trees and an exit to another destination which looked like a forest. The sneak peak we got was fascinating.
Campfire time! It started to get dark after the long exhausting walk back from the lake. For dinner we ate delicious burgers and hot dogs! (Made by a very awesome teacher, Mr. Salazar). After dinner we started the campfire, got the marshmallows, chocolates, and also graham crackers out to make s'mores. We all got settled and warmed up, and started to tell spooky stories. Ms. Hinna told a really scary story about Gins, it was so scary that it made Dorian cry. If you want to know about the story, you'll have to ask her. On a fun note, Alexia played a "mind" game with Mr. Westrup. They actually created this game together. Almost fooling everyone. But their jig was up, most of us, found out the trick. It still was a great game though! Fun in front of the camp fire.
On the trip, we decided to take a nice hike, after all the setting up. We all got into groups and started to walk. The walk took about two hours. We got to talk to the teachers and leap staff, hung out with our friends, and also were allowed to walk or run between the trails. When we finally got to our destination, all of us had fun. We got to take a dip in the lake after all the walking. Some students and teachers went all the way into the water! All the kids had a blast playing in the water.
Building the tents was a little difficult because we had a couple of students and teachers who had never built a tent before, like Ms. Hinna and a student Maria G. Even though they struggled for a bit, in the end they succeeded. After three failed attempts at builing tents, the fourth one was perfect! This was one of my favorite parts of camping, because us kids and the staff came together and learned together.
Well the last thing we did, over at the camp site was a pretty heart warming experience. We got this really cool yarn, wrapped it around our knuckles, and said something nice while tossing it to someone else as we stood in a huge circle. After everyone got a chance we made a big web! Everyone was connected, and we all got free yarn and made anything we wanted with it. The piece of yarn serves a nice memory token for the wonderful trip we had.
Written by: Kat