*DEER LAKE*
By 5Z

You can see photos of our trip by clicking here.

Welcome / Worry Stones, by Olivia
On Wednesday morning, 10/17/07, we arrived at Deer Lake. We went to our cabins, chose a bunk and unpacked. The first step was to unroll your sleeping bags, take out a pillow, and spread out your blanket. As soon as we unpacked, we went to the dining hall where we dropped of our lunches. Then we went outside to do a warm-up activity with Jay Potter. The whole time, there were these baby deer that would walk right up to you and want to be petted. We learned about them after the warm-up games. Shortly after that we had our Worry Stone ceremony. We recited a pledge, attached all our worries to a stone, and threw it in the lake. PLUNK, all my worries went away!

Cabins, by Max, Mia and Caroline
The cabins were awesome because we were separated girls from boys. The boys cabin was named Leary Hall; I’m not sure why, but I sort of liked the name.  We also got to choose where we slept, and we had a mini kitchen in our cabin, too. The teachers stayed in our cabin, but slept in a different room. It was great that we went to bed at around 9:30 (I loved that!), but the bad part was waking up at 6:45 AM.
The girls got such an awesome cabin, too, and it was called Doros Lodge. It was a three-bunker cabin and the bunks were huge!  Like the boys cabin, there were three rooms – the main room and two bunkrooms, each with about 15 bunks in them, stacked three high.  Most of us went to bed quickly, but some people talked or read during the night.  Outside there was a lot of open land and an area where you had a nice view of the lake.  It was so beautiful!

Food, by Gabi
The food at Deer Lake was so good! There wasn’t a meal I didn’t want to eat! I liked that there were different things to eat, not just one choice at each meal. We had sandwiches, soup, cereal, salad, lasagna, hot dogs, mac ‘n cheese, tons of good desserts and more. We ate in the dining hall, which was a one-story building with a big kitchen. The parents were the ones who came and cooked and prepared every meal. We thanked them at each one, because they were delicious!

Rangers, by D.J.
The rangers were awesome! There was Ranger Mark who was the head ranger, his wife Patty, Erin who did games and the Fat Man’s Squeeze hike, Jay Potter who did the water walk and survival kits, Jeff, the canoeing instructor, and also Dave and Adam.  They knew so much about nature, it was like they study it and live in it all the time and don’t worry about anything else. They were also just fun to be around, because they made you feel comfortable and made the activities interesting.

Outhouses, by Clara
Deer Lake only had one bathroom, and if all of us used it the septic system would overflow and break. So we all had to use the outhouses, which were very smelly and gross. Outhouses are smelly wood boxes that have a bad rim of a toilet seat over a deep hole. You don’t want to look down there! But, at least if you have to go, you can go, because the outhouses were everywhere!

Soil Erosion, by Ben
The erosion activity was extremely fun, and maybe the best thing we did. It was with Ranger Mark and in many parts. First, we learned about erosion and mudslides. We tried to protect mudslides by covering a trough of dirt with leaves, pine needles, rocks, wood chips and anything we could find. My team was me, DJ and Max, and we didn’t do very well.  Next we walked along a dried out river to the ruins of an old paper mill. This mill made special, watermarked paper for George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War. The last thing we did was make water bars. Using metal shovels, and different types of rakes, we cleared away ditches for water runoff so the trails would not be eroded by heavy rainfall. 

Orienteering, by Peter
Orienteering was surprisingly fun. I thought it would be boring, but it was really cool. We had to use a compass and a map to find bottles hidden in the woods with messages on them. Stuart and I were partners, and we did really well—we found every bottle except one. (We also saw a garter snake at one point!) It was fun to learn how to use a compass and a map. Overall, it was a great experience.

Water Source Walk, by Gabrielle
Jay Potter was our instructor for the Water Source Walk. First we sat in a circle and discussed where our water comes from. Some of us get it from a well, but most of our water comes from reservoirs. We also talked about how we sterilize water, using filters, purifiers and chemicals so it is safe to drink. Then we went on a long walk, but because it was so dry we didn’t see much water on the walk.

Night Hike, by Dana and Ian
The first night we stayed at Deer Lake we went on a night hike. We could hardly see where we were going (we couldn’t use flashlights!), and we had to use all our senses besides our sight to guide us. This was both good and bad, as it was a “close to nature” experience, but also difficult. Sometimes our eyes and our thoughts played tricks on us. For example, it was hard not to think someone was going to jump out of the woods and scare us. During the night hike we also did an experiment with Wintergreen Life Savers. When you bite into them in the dark they make sparks and little flashes of light. Overall the night hike was a good experience.

Team Building, by Hannah
For the Team Building activity our class played a game where we each got a wood circle with a hole in the middle. We pretended that they were marshmallows and that we had to cross a huge cup of hot chocolate (which was really a field). We could only cross the cup of hot chocolate by stepping on a marshmallow. But if nobody’s foot was on a marshmallow – if it was left floating alone – we would lose that marshmallow – it would dissolve in the hot chocolate. We ended up losing five or six marshmallows in all, but we still figured out how to get the whole class across safely!

Canoeing, by Caitlin
Canoeing was one of my favorite activities, because it was fun to be in a boat with someone else out on the lake, and to just paddle and learn different strokes. I loved it because I felt more freedom out there than on the other activities. We even saw a turtle sunbathing on a log, which was really cool. But before we even got in the canoes we learned some different strokes, such as how to hold water, forward paddle, and sweep hip-to-tip and tip-to-hip. We learned that two people in a canoe should always paddle on opposite sides. My partner Clara and I worked well together in our green canoe, except it wasn’t always easy to keep the canoe going straight.

Camp Fire, by Nicolas
On our last night at Deer Lake we had a big campfire. Up by the lake, by the girls cabin, we sat on benches and tree stumps around the fire. First Ranger Mark told us a real story about Deer Lake, and one part was spooky. We learned that the guy who the story Dr. Doolittle was based on lived by Deer Lake and helped make it what it is today. Next we sang songs with Mrs. Chamberlain, who came up for the campfire. She played the guitar and we all sang together. I liked the sing along, because I didn’t know these songs before and it was fun. Then some people did their own songs and little skits. Lastly, we all got to roast marshmallows and make Smores!

Fat Man’s Squeeze, by Dory
Fat Man’s Squeeze is a rock formation that has lots of small spaces and holes you have to squeeze through. The rocks were in a sort of maze, and the provided good shelter for American Indians and other early inhabitants. Erin was our guide, who showed us how to get through all the squeezes. Sometimes you had to crawl through these little nooks on your hands and knees. Even though it rained it was still really fun.

Rock Climbing, by Stuart
Rock climbing, in my mind, was the best part of Deer Lake. It was so fun because we got a harness and a helmet, and we got to climb some really cool rocks. We learned how to put on the harnesses, how to belay and come down safely. There were three different rocks and three different rangers to belay us at each one. The middle rock was pretty hard, but I managed to climb to the top. I also got to do one of the other ones. It was definitely one of the best experiences.

Pond Study, by Clara and Hannah
On the last day at Deer Lake we did a pond study with Ranger Mark. We got into pairs and each got a bucket and a net. Then we went looking for anything living. We found water spiders, snails, frogs, tadpoles, salamanders and other creatures. One group even found a turtle. There were charts and books to identify which bugs and creatures we caught. Everybody caught at least one interesting thing. It was fun, but it started to rain really hard halfway through.