Ben reunites with City Kids

Like Katy, I spent the last few weeks leading a troupe of teenagers through the wilds of an exotic destination. Well, if you call Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho exotic (which, apparently, I do). Anyway, while Katy was leading a group of 21 well-off (read: upper-East Side NYC slash VA burbs) teens, I was leading a group of 6 disadvantage (read: NE/SE DC) teens. Before the advent of lovehardsteins.blogspot, Katy and I spent two summers (2001 & 2002) working at the City Kids Wilderness Project and we actually worked with many of the older siblings of the kids I led this summer.

Anywho, here is a picture of our group - setting off on our kayaking adventure on the Clark Fork River near Missoula, Montana. I'm the one fourth from the left (hehe).


I'll spare you many of the details, but the trip involved a four day kayaking section, and what was supposed to be a six day backpacking section. The kayaking went purty well - despite several flipped boats, one of which resulted in losing the bag of pots, bowls, spoons, etc. We did plenty of swimming, ate a five pound bag of gummy worms, and navigated a pretty section of river. At a sandy campsite, two of the guys made an amazingly landscaped watercourse complete with miniature trees (not pictured - they were a later addition).


Kayaking was followed by a couple nights at Lolo Hot Springs, near Missoula, Montana. All the guys pleaded (to no avail) to stay past 9 pm when the hot springs became "clothing optional." We spent one day in Missoula shopping, bowling, and resupplying, and then drove over to the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho for the backpacking portion of our trip. Backpacking provided me with the biggest ups and downs of the trip. We set out from the Grandjean trailhead - about an hour's drive from the nearest form of civilization.


The first day was a long one - 11 slightly uphill miles along a river. The guys were psyched to make it further than that though - and they started out faster than any group of City Kids campers I'd ever seen. That was the problem. They walked fast, put off lunch, and didn't drink enough water so that by late afternoon, when they were still a couple miles from our campsite, many had developed cramps, were dehydrated, or were stumbling and impaling themselves with sticks (seriously). Not a good scene. Thus, at camp that night they were pissed. Their dream of busting out more than one day of hiking had not been realized and they took that to mean that they couldn't do the trip. So, the next day, rather than walk 6 miles further up into the beautiful alpine area, they MUTINIED and simply hiked back to the trailhead - without the permission of their counselors. This was how I felt about that:


Pissed as I was, we regrouped and set out on a different backpacking trip the next day (they weren't getting out of backpacking, dammit!). Starting at Pettit Lake, this loop was spectacular - though not as challenging as the one we were supposed to do. Here are pictures to prove it.



The kids did a great job on this three day loop, and a couple even chose to accompany me up a minor peak. This was the highlight of the trip for me - they were excited to get up high to grab views, pictures, and play in some snow. The below picture is of Tyrhee and Brandon at the summit of Sand Peak - the lake where we camped (and from which we hiked) is in the background.


Brandon tried to leave his mark. I assured him that it would be gone by the next day.


So, all in all, it was a challenging, but incredibly rewarding experience for all involved. When we sat around the campfire the night before heading back to DC, I heard the campers recount their memories of the trip - and at that point I knew that I'd succeeded. The kids were proud of all they'd accomplished, experienced, and seen. I felt warm and fuzzy inside - and not because of the dehydrated "Backpackers Pantry" meals we'd eaten on trail.

And, one parting shot.