Stress Camp '08
Day 1
(At last...)

One of the things we started doing a year or two ago is releasing the group information to the kids about a week in advance, so the kids know who they're going with, and there's time to have a meeting or 2 before we're actually out in the woods. It works really well--I get a chance to tell the kids what's important and what's not, how to build a fire in the rain, how to poop in the woods, do the maps/compass thing, etc. One of the things Nelle and I talk about, that we learned from someone who went through the same Masters program Nelle's in now (in Leadership, if you were curious), is that you have to be careful where you place the stressors when you're doing leadership training, or any sort of "learning game". If it's an easy initiative, make the groups stressful; put them with people they don't know or wouldn't usually hang out with. If it's a pretty stressful environment, you have to ease up in other ways. Which is why we don't wait until the day of to announce the groups anymore. And now we can pack ahead of time, so we actually leave CAJ at a decent time of the morning!

Because we were going somewhere that nobody had gone before, I actually had to go out and buy my own set of maps, which was fun--the kids are used to there being some safety net, some adult that will swoop in and save the day if they mess up, but I only had one set, and they got it! So, I said, I would have no idea where we were going. Of course, that's not strictly true--I had another map, just way more general and zoomed out. In addition to the maps, the kids that were leading got "the only" watch, so they had to get people up, choose where/when to eat and camp. More actual leadership!

As I said, I went somewhere nobody's gone before, as far as I know. I just didn't want to deal with bumping into other groups, competing for camping spots by cutting time off the group initiatives, etc. One of the other leaders were getting really possessive of their route, at one point actually telling Nelle that she wasn't allowed to hike on the route that she had marked on the maps, as he had apparently claimed it. I wasn't there when this happened, which is good, as i probably would have told him his butt smells like cheese, as a rebuttal to his elementary-school, "No fair, I saw it first" statement.

So I decided that rather than go out on the Seibu-Chichibu train line, and hike south to the Ome line, which is where the Okutama Bible Chalet (hitherforth referred to as OBC) and the end of our hiking is, we would actually take the Ome line out all the way to the end of the line, and hike a big arching route back. We were most of the way out there on the train--almost two hours of train travel--when I ran into my first major issue: we forgot the medkit.

Well, let's be honest here: it was totally my fault. When the team first assembled (that's just fun to say), i set it aside until we knew which set of students would be the first leaders--it's the responsibility of whichever team of kids is leading to carry and dispense the medicine (within reason, of course). this is one of the ways not only to give the kids more responsibility, but also means one less thing for me to cram into my pack. double bonus.

So, I admit, as I sat in the train, just a few stops from our destination, the idea did cross my mind (breifly, Brent) that we could do the trip without it. What a horrible idea! Ha! but still, I admit, i thought we would just be wasting our time waiting around for hours and hours for something that, in 4 trips, I had never needed, or really even opened, once. Instead, I did the "responsible" thing, and called some of the emergency numbers, to ask if we could get one delivered to us at all. no answer. i called some more of the emergency contact numbers. still nothing. silly people, i thought, they underestimate my ability to have an emergency before really even starting the trip!

I only ever ended up getting through to a teacher at CAJ, who really couldn't do anything for me. I sent the team ahead by bus, planning to catch up by taxi if i could, and wandered through the sleepy town at 10 in the morning, looking for a drug store. I ended up finding one, and even managed to get a pretty good little kit together, using my limited medical knowledge and some good old trusty hand-motions: medicine for pains, stomach stuff, poopy-stuff, etc. I then took the next bus up to the trailhead where the kids were waiting for me. all told, we lost about an hour. not really that bad.

The team was waiting for me at a pretty cool floating bridge. We filled up with water there, and hit the road. The route I had picked had us getting most of our elevation that first day, to make our way to a major ridge. There was (on the maps, at least) a shelter of some sort up on the ridge, and the plan was to hike well into the dark, but make the hut, so we wouldn't have to worry about setting up camp. it worked really well, actually. we were letting the kids lead, and we were going really, really slowly--interestingly, the 2 slowest people were guys. one of the slow guys had mentioned casually as we filled up water at the dam that he hadn't drank water since he could remember. thinking he was kidding, i played along, only to find out that he has drank only carbonated beverages since he can remember. mind-blowing.

Anyways, it would be drudgery to write about the actual hiking, other than that it was pretty steep and the weather was pretty much perfect. eventually, we made it to the hut, and the first thing we saw when we went in was a medkit with a note and a snack. evidently, someone had gotten the message, and, since we had all logged our route beforehand, the staff at the camp had hiked out and left us a present! even though we didn't have to set up camp, we still had to get a fire going and cook, and we didn't settle in until about midnight, so I decided to let them sleep in a little the next day. After all, this was more exercise in a day than some of them got in a month!