People to People - June 24th, 2007

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

Our second "People to People" program took place at George Washington University. We ran two groups through a series of teambuilding activities that focused on leadership, communication, problem solving and trust. The biggest challenge for our facilitators was getting pumped up to run another program after the first group. Kudos to the professionals for their excellent facilitation...

Caving with Cousins at Carnegie Cave...

Saturday, June 23rd -

I took Eliza, Rachel and her cousins to a cave near Shippensburg, PA today, and we had a great time. Carnegie Cave, is a horizontal shaft cave that begins with a 200 foot corrugated pipe crawl under I-81. Once we got through the pipe the fun began, and we tried to get into whatever holes we could find. When we got to the back chamber of the cave, Eliza and one of her cousins went off on their own to explore every nook and cranny while the rest of us hung out in the big room.

Naturally, I forgot to take any pictures in the cave, but did manage to snap this photo on the way out...

I'll get more photos next time!

Practical Survival in the Shenandoah

I just got back last night from a wild and crazy 2-day Introduction to Wilderness Skills (which I think I might rename "Practical Survival: trashbags, bears, and you") course, concentrating on backpacking, with a group of five folks who are all friends and signed up together. One is a writer for a Virginia magazine, so with any luck we'll be able to post a link to the article here when it's published in September! We left from the Matthews Arm campground in Shenandoah National Park on Saturday at close to 2 pm after a late start and a gear shakedown and introduction to map and compass navigation. The first day was spent mostly on working more on those navigation skills, such as reading topo maps, aligning maps to north, taking map bearings and landscape bearings, finding your heading, and more. A photographer accompanied us for most of the first day, with a huge clunky backpack and lots of cameras, but he had to leave before we got to camp because our planned campsite (.3 miles downstream of the tallest waterfall in VA) was already taken by a group of Boy Scouts, and he had to get back home!

We headed about another 1.5 hrs down the trail and found ourselves a stunning campsite next to a wide and deep swimming hole, where we could waterslide down a moss-slick slope into the cooooold water or leap from the rocks above! Speedo-man made a timely appearance at this point, and we laughed at him for the rest of the evening. We made supper together and talked about emergency planning, first-aid supplies and how to use them, backcountry food planning and storage, and off-trail navigation before a popcorn snack and then turning in to our slanty beds.

The next morning we had rolled oatmeal for breakfast, went for another dip, and then pitched a 10'x10' tarp in lots of different ways, learning knots and improvisational strategies along the way. Traditional skills dispensed with, we then moved on to primitive/survival skills! The group made a fine brush shelter that fit four sweaty adults inside and kept them nice and toasty warm, emergency trashbag shelters, and found a site for a solar still to get water out of the ground. Then we broke camp and marched a long, slow, poison-ivy exposed trail uphill over Beecher Ridge, finally arriving back at the Matthews Arm campground area for a minimalist fire-building exercise.

A hearty Irish pub dinner and a beer, as well as a few lil' ol' ticks and blackfly bites, rounded out a weekend spent outdoors--the very best kind of weekend!

Photos hopefully to come.

Post-graduation climbing at Sugarloaf Mtn.

No pictures for this one (I really have to remember to start bringing my camera along--but even when I do, I'm so involved in instructing and facilitating that I forget to shoot pictures), but on Friday morning I took a group of girls from Mary of Nazareth school rock climbing at Sugarloaf on Boy Scout Ledges. They had just graduated from 8th grade and had won the contest to go climbing with two of their favorite teachers, who they teased with all the familiarity of newly-minted equals! The girls belayed and backup-belayed one another after they learned how to manage the rope, tie in, check one another for safety, and call out the climber-belayer cadence ("on belay? belay on! climbing? climb on!"). They all had fun and encouraged one another to keep climbing and keep trying, and I hope they come out for another program sometime soon!

Portable Team Challenge - People to People

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

A few of my staff and I helped out with a huge portable teambuilding program for 'People to People' (a college prep program for students interested in entering the field of medicine). The high school students were very cool, and did a great job working together and accomplishing the challenges we presented for them.

Adventure Challenge - June 8th, 2007

On the hottest day of the year (so far!) we headed out to Rock Creek Park and met a group from Georgetown University Medical Center for an Adventure Challenge! The group took part in a self-led, rotational teambuilding program, and in spite of the heat, they were great sports and had a good time...

Butler ROPES Facilitator Training 2007

This weekend I ran a training for Butler Camp Staff and a couple of my facilitators at the Butler School ROPES Course, near Germantown, Maryland. The team worked hard, learning games, low elements, high elements and rescues... I'm sure they are overloaded with new skills and information!

Here are a couple of shots from the high ropes training day.

What I did on my day off

I went paddling! I checked out a new spot on the Potomac near Angler's Inn (there's always more to explore there), taught a guy how to hand-roll his kayak (it has nothing to do with sushi!), wiped out over and over in Maryland Chute, and met all kinds of nice people out on the river. I also acted like a pirate around a couple of rafts full of Calleva campers and got a little bit sunburned, and tried to learn a new rolling technique.

All in all, an excellent day off.

Zip/Wall at JR's Pavilions of Turkey Run

Last weekend we ran a zipline/climbing wall program at JR's Pavilions of Turkey Run (corporate picnic facility near McLean, VA). Participants had to climb up our challenge wall, step onto a platform that sits 40 feet off the ground, and zip down the 500 foot cable. Fun!

Although the action shots didn't come out, one of the clients was able to get shots of his wife climbing the wall and stepping onto the platform. Enjoy!

Family Fun Day at Butler School!!

- June 2nd, 2007 - Well, it's been a busy week at GO-Adventures. The end of the school year at Butler School means the beginning of the summer season, and between end of school-year trips and beginning of summer trainings, I re-installed a zip line for the Family Fun Day.

One of the parents was kind enough to make this little video of her children on the zip line - enjoy...