day1

We all arrived at Mr. Hooker’s house on Royce Street at about 8 o’clock in the morning. First, we loading our dry-bags and canoes into cars. Then, we were given journals, pens, our first ration of G.O.R.P. (Good Ol’ Raisin and Peanuts) and cheese. Liz Hall and I loaded our stuff into my mom’s van and headed for Mr. Peterson’s house in Brandon. After a 30-minute drive, we picked up the food and Mr. Peterson and proceeded on to Weybridge. Despite the clearly laid out directions, Liz, my mom, and I got lost on the way so we were a little late arriving.
When we finally got to the departure spot we unloaded all our things, took pictures, and filmed a short clip to be shown back at RHS on the morning announcements. Once everything was unloaded we picked our canoe partners. I ended up with Mike Kavouksorian, and I was very happy about that because he is an awesome canoer. It turns out I will be in the front of the canoe, so he can steer from the back.

We were really lucky because the weather was great for our take off…Sunny skies and temperatures around 75 degrees. We started off on the Lemon Fair but after a short while we ended up on the Otter Creek. We canoed for a couple of hours and then stopped for lunch on the side of the water. For lunch we all ate either a bagel or a rice cake with either peanut butter, tuna fish, or honey, and an apple or orange. I decided on the sesame seed bagel with peanut butter, an orange, and some water.
We continued canoeing for a while until we got to a waterfall in Vergennes. We got all of our canoes out of the water and prepared for a loooong portage. We had to make numerous trips (between 3 and 5) to get all our equipment and canoes to the bottom of the falls (about a half mile each way). After what seemed like a gazillion hours, we finally finished portaging. We all filled up our water bottles and then canoed a very short distance to our camp sight. Well, it wasn’t exactly a campsite…more like a clearing on the side of the water.
After setting up the tents etc., all the girls threw on their bathing suits for a dip in the creek. Although the water was chilly, it felt great after such a hot day in the canoes. We all used my peppermint scented multi-purpose solution to wash up in the river. (It can be used for shampoo, face wash, body wash, toothpaste, detergent, carpet cleaner, pet cleaner, and a fruit wash…pretty crazy, eh?)

We were all very hungry after our first day on the water so Mr. Peterson and Mr. Hooker gave us our work groups. They told us that everyone would be put in one of three different groups and we would have various responsibilities when it came to dinnertime. I was put in group #1 so I got to prepare the meal the first night. We made spaghetti and meatballs, and we also had bread, salad, and lemonade. It was delicious!
After dinner we walked around a mile into town to get some ice cream at “Main Scoop.” I had this really gross strawberry soft serve, but everyone else seemed to like their ice cream so it was cool. Luckily, we were near a Mobil station so we also got to use real toilets!

After sitting and eating at the ice cream place for a little while, we decided to head back to camp. It started to rain a tiny bit so we all packed everything up in our dry-bags. Some of the kids sat around and hung out for a bit, but I was really tired so I just headed off to bed. It was a great start to an awesome trip!
~Emily

NEXT DAY

To Day by Day

Back to Where the Rivers Flow North 2002 Home Page