THE Hike

Well yesterday (friday) was nothing short of eventful! The morning got started off with breakfast and a nice 2 mile run next to a nearby lake. The girls did a good job finishing well despite the higher altitude. After the run we relaxed for just a little bit and headed out on the adventure of the day... hiking. The plan was to hike about a mile and half up to Harvard lake take in the scenery and hike the mile and half back down. Yeah things didn't go as planned. We got to what we thought as the starting point and started up! Justin and EB took the lead while Ki followed up the back. Taking Ki's map leads we headed up the "easy" path... until we came to where the trail ended... to no where. So we headed back down the path disappointed of not seeing lake. When we got to the vans Coach Morris saw the sign that somehow all 17 of missed at the begining stating TRAIL <--- the way we DIDN'T go. After a good laugh, a bit of embarassing stories, some snacks and water we started our next adventure down the right path, which was much easier. But somehow this didn't seem to be the mile and half path either. After another hour of hiking up this trail and running into another fellow hiker on his way down, we realized the lake was not in short reach. Exhausted and out of breath we all headed back down the path, excited to get back down to the vans and to the campsite for lunch.
After our late lunch, and a few maps, Coach Morris and Ki put together a bit of a scavenger hunt for the girls do around the camp grounds. Seeing the girls run around in teams searching for granola bars was entertaining to say the least :) Even though we had a late lunch half the team seemed to be 'starving' just 3 hours later so we broke out the grill for hot dogs, built a fire and enjoyed the rest of the night. As the sunset and the night got colder we all gathered around the fire enjoying the cool weather, each others company, and of course smores!

This morning started off in a bit of craziness. Coach Morris was the first one up and I'm pretty sure all the girls woke up to "TIME TO GET UP! You have 25 minutes to be ready to go rafting!" Swimsuits and toothbrushes were being scrambled too as we all raced to get ready. Thankfully we were all ready to go by 830. The guides took us down the Arkansas River and through 7 rapids in which not everyone was able to stay in the raft but thanks to all the safety talk we all made it out SAFELY.
This afternoon we're taking it easy, exploring the town and I'm sure coming back with all sorts of souviners. On the schedule tonight? The hot springs, which all the girls haven't stopped talking about since we got here Thursday night.

Hope everyone is staying as cool as we are up here!