Adventures

After my Hocking Hills trip, I made sure to stay updated on the trips that the Outdoor Adventure Center was planning. I knew that I wanted to go on another trip during my first semester in college. I remembered that my trip leader from the Wilderness Welcome trip was supposed to lead a caving trip in October. I had been eyeing the trip for a few weeks when my friend signed up for it and inspired me to sign up. I had wanted to properly go caving since I was about 12 when my bunk in camp went on a trip to a small cave with one room and one squeeze. So I signed up for the weekend trip. We left Friday night for Virginia, set up camp at midnight, and got up bright and early for our first day in the cave. We ended up spending close to eight hours in the cave. We got to explore multiple rooms (including a room resembling the surface of the moon that was aptly named the moon room). We also went through a squeeze to get to a room that was almost entirely made of moldable clay. It was an incredible sight to see. During the second day, we went into another — much dryer cave. This time, my headlamp malfunctioned, and I had to explore the cave in darkness. My friends helped out during the more dangerous stretches, but I explored almost the entire cave with nothing but the light of a glow stick. I was challenged to rely on my other senses and became much more confident in myself over the four or five hours spent in this cave. This trip taught me to trust myself and to analyze every situation to best get to my end goal. I truly enjoyed myself and am looking forward to the next time I get to go caving.

The first experience that I had with camping was through a Wilderness Welcome trip. The Honors and Scholars trip took us to Hocking Hills, Ohio to camp, horseback ride, zip line, stand-up paddleboard, and hike. As a kid growing up in Manhatten, I never played in the “real” outdoors. I went to playgrounds where the ground was concrete or stayed inside when I wanted to see my friends. My high school’s soccer team even had to travel to other boroughs to practice because very few were available where our school was located (Times Square).  So I signed up for the trip to push myself out of my comfort zone because college is supposed to be about leaving behind the known and going toward the unknown. I ended up learning so much about who I am and about outdoor adventure. Even though I fell a lot, I got back up again and enjoyed every moment. I made friends for life and discovered something new that I love.