This past weekend I took members of the tennis team on an overnight backpacking trip. I've always thought it would be fun to share my love of the outdoors with the team and this year I decided to make it happen!
We kicked things off Friday with a brief fly casting lesson. Since I teach a fly fishing class at Whitman I'm lucky enough to have access to a fair amount of equipment. Was pretty fun watching the guys try their hands at casting a fly. Those that have ever tried to fly fish know the difficulties of learning how to cast.
Saturday we were up "bright and early"..well I didn't think that leaving at 10am was all that bright and early but some of the team members had a difficult time getting up. In fact we had to get Adriel out of bed!
Since this would be the first time backpacking for some of the guys I decided it would be best to head to an area and trail I know well: the Wenaha Wilderness area. In terms of distance the Wenaha Wilderness area is pretty close to campus (about 50 miles). However it takes a couple hours of driving on gravel roads to make it to the southern part of the wilderness area. We hiked the 3.5 miles down the Hoodoo trail to the Wenaha river to set up camp. Let me say its a pretty steep hike down..certainly a MUCH easier hike in than out.
After getting the packs loaded up and hiking down the trail we were able to set up camp around 4pm. This left the guys a couple hours to try out their new fly fishing skills. Below the camp is a nice stretch of river where I've caught a number of Bull Trout. After getting everyone set up with rods, reels, leaders, flies, waders and boots they were able to start with the fishing. After making sure everyone was doing OK, I slipped across the river to fish the deeper section of the hole. First cast and BAM I caught a nice 20" Bull Trout..much to the surprise of the team. Someone asked if it were skill or luck that I caught a fish so fast..obviously it was skill!
After an evening of fishing we gathered around the camp fire for a dinner of steak fajitas (complements of coach). With full bellies we hung around the camp fire talking and sharing stories. It was wonderful to be away from cell phones, text messaging, emails, computers etc. and spend a relaxing evening together. Was an absolutely perfect team event!
Next morning we awoke, huddled around the campfire to have breakfast. After a bit of exploring our time was short so we packed up camp to make the hard hike out of the canyon.
All agreed it was a wonderful personal and team experience.
Here are some pictures of our night in the wilderness area.
Coach
PS- for those not familiar with a wilderness area, it is a designated area where nothing mechanical is allowed: no bikes, motorcycles, or engines. The only way into a Wilderness area is by hiking or horseback.
No comments:
Post a Comment