Nikolai
11/7/11
What we did in Utah was explore the canyons for a long time and we started to come back when Miles ran off. Then Miles came back and got in trouble for 4 days.
Then we stayed in the Canyon Land for a week and played and hiked for a while .We set up tents and tarps. Once we set up, then a storm came and blew away some tents and tarps. Then we went into the city for a while ,then went back into canyons.
Someone ran away for 6 hours and the police came and went for awhile. Then after wards he came back and every one ran and gave him a big hug. He had to go home. I will miss him really badly .His name was Nick and he was very funny. It was sad when he was kicked out.
The last night we were in bed and our x staff could not go to sleep. One kid went to the van at 12:31 and tried to open the van and It was locked. Anne said ‘’Did you lock the van?’’ Tim said’’ yeah’’. The kid came and knocked on the tent and he said his water battle was in the van. Another was up all night walking around all over the place at KOA.
We only have 25 more days till we go home. I can’t wait till then so I can come home and then I see my parents for the first time in a really long time.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
TRISTAN'S THIRD BLOG =)
Hello readers.
In this blog I shall talk about several key points and some high lights of my trip.
The subjects I shall talk about are listed below.
• Climbing
• Building anchors
• Van camping
• Storms
• Thomas
• And last but not least, my favorite part about my trip.
Ok so like I listed the first thing I will talk about is climbing and building anchors. The climbing site that I climbed at is called the Ice Cream Parlor. I don’t know why but that’s what it is called. The actual route was a 5.6 or a 5.7 not that challenging for me but it was fun though. I was the last one to climb the route because Tim was teaching me how to build a 3 point anchor system. Tim is so smart and I really like him as a staff. I feel that there is so much I can learn from him.
So know you know what my system is for writing this blog and the format. Let’s move on to van camping. Van camping is a lot like car camping but with a van that is on steroids. So we were van camping in Canyon Lands in Utah. I have to say Utah has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth it has so much biodiversity going on. You have canyons to deserts and the crystal clear night sky. I loved van camping because you still get the luxuries of the front country when you are in the back country.
So on the first day of van camping we ran in to some foul weather, but that did not stop us. We set up camp tarps and all that good stuff. We had rain and all but what was the most interesting to me was the hail at the beginning of my trip. The hail was the size of dimes! We only had two cases of stormy days in my opinion.
Thomas is a street racer in Colorado. The reason he is in my blog is because he made a good day great. He talked to us like he has known us for years. He is pretty chill. He gave Evan and I an oatmeal cream pie thing. It was like a moon pie except with oatmeal. He also said if you ever get into street racing do the race on an old track not on the streets.
My favorite part of the trip would have to be climbing as you may know already. Climbing had to be my favorite part because climbing is what I love to do. What makes it even cooler is that got to learn how to build a three point anchor system.
To conclude this would have to be one of the coolest trips I have ever been on at SOAR.
SEE Y’ALL NEXT TIME FOLKS!!!!!
In this blog I shall talk about several key points and some high lights of my trip.
The subjects I shall talk about are listed below.
• Climbing
• Building anchors
• Van camping
• Storms
• Thomas
• And last but not least, my favorite part about my trip.
Ok so like I listed the first thing I will talk about is climbing and building anchors. The climbing site that I climbed at is called the Ice Cream Parlor. I don’t know why but that’s what it is called. The actual route was a 5.6 or a 5.7 not that challenging for me but it was fun though. I was the last one to climb the route because Tim was teaching me how to build a 3 point anchor system. Tim is so smart and I really like him as a staff. I feel that there is so much I can learn from him.
So know you know what my system is for writing this blog and the format. Let’s move on to van camping. Van camping is a lot like car camping but with a van that is on steroids. So we were van camping in Canyon Lands in Utah. I have to say Utah has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth it has so much biodiversity going on. You have canyons to deserts and the crystal clear night sky. I loved van camping because you still get the luxuries of the front country when you are in the back country.
So on the first day of van camping we ran in to some foul weather, but that did not stop us. We set up camp tarps and all that good stuff. We had rain and all but what was the most interesting to me was the hail at the beginning of my trip. The hail was the size of dimes! We only had two cases of stormy days in my opinion.
Thomas is a street racer in Colorado. The reason he is in my blog is because he made a good day great. He talked to us like he has known us for years. He is pretty chill. He gave Evan and I an oatmeal cream pie thing. It was like a moon pie except with oatmeal. He also said if you ever get into street racing do the race on an old track not on the streets.
My favorite part of the trip would have to be climbing as you may know already. Climbing had to be my favorite part because climbing is what I love to do. What makes it even cooler is that got to learn how to build a three point anchor system.
To conclude this would have to be one of the coolest trips I have ever been on at SOAR.
SEE Y’ALL NEXT TIME FOLKS!!!!!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
What’s up dudes and dudettes?
SOAR is so much fun. I went to Canyon Lands National Park and Moab Utah. We are going mountain biking and to the Grand Canyon our last expedition.
Here is my poem for today.
I’m in class
My class is not a large mass
I just got out of math
Now I can’t wait for a bath
Going to go to lunch
And there I will munch
On pickles and beans
And hope to not slosh on my jeans
See you soon
Right now its noon
My time has come
To say” I’me not dumb!!!!
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
Andrew Jonathan Saunders
Love you lots
Andrew Jonathan Saunders
SOAR is so much fun. I went to Canyon Lands National Park and Moab Utah. We are going mountain biking and to the Grand Canyon our last expedition.
Here is my poem for today.
I’m in class
My class is not a large mass
I just got out of math
Now I can’t wait for a bath
Going to go to lunch
And there I will munch
On pickles and beans
And hope to not slosh on my jeans
See you soon
Right now its noon
My time has come
To say” I’me not dumb!!!!
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
Andrew Jonathan Saunders
Love you lots
Andrew Jonathan Saunders
Expedition 3—Canyonlands and Arches! By Evan Harr
Our third expedition was my favorite one so far! We went to some really cool national parks and little towns. These included Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Moab, Grand Junction, and more! My favorite places were Canyonlands and Moab. Canyonlands is one of the most amazing national parks that I have ever been to! It is literally a giant land of what seems like to be never ending canyons! The name is pretty self explanatory. Moab is an awesome little town in Utah with some fun things to do.
So, we started our expedition on a bad foot. We landed at about 9 at night, and one person barfed in the van, and another got out of the van and wouldn’t come back in. It was a rough first night. I’ll admit that I was also causing some problems when we got to the campsite. To top it off, in the morning there were another two people acting up, and their actions caused them to be on intervention with Jeremy for a few days.
While those two were gone, we stayed a campsite right outside of Moab, literally next to the Colorado River. We went into Moab and went to this sweet diner where I got an awesome dessert. I got a cinnamon roll where they took out the middle and put a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle and pecans with a sugary caramel sauce on top. It was delicious!
We had some nice nights there until I went on TAG for two days for an act of violence, which I regretted right after I did it. It was my first time being on actual TAG. We still had fun at the campsite (which was right outside of Moab), especially when we were filling up wash bins in the Colorado River, and we would usually fall in because it was a fairly steep drop- off.
For a few days, we kept going to Arches National Park. The first day there, we went to the famous Delicate Arch, and a storm came in when we got to the arch. It was extremely windy, and I even saw lightning in the clouds right above us, and felt the thunder shake the ground!
After we got Miles and Andy back in our group, we went on to a different campsite near our rock climbing site, called Ice Cream Parlor. We had a lot of fun rock climbing! Miles climbed blindfolded, and Mitch climbed with a lot of determination after he said that he didn’t want to climb! I got a little nervous when I got higher, and I didn’t have the right shoes to touch the very top, but it was still pretty cool.
The next day, we tried going to Double 0 Arch, and got lost along the way. It was really fun because we started finding different little paths to go since we didn’t have any idea where we were supposed to go. We just explored and ran around and climbed a little. I really enjoyed it!
After all that, we headed to Canyonlands! We stayed for a couple nights. On the second day, Nick disappeared for the whole day, and that made Tim leave for most of the day, and he had to call the sheriff and a Search and Rescue team. We were very excited when Nick came back, but then the next day Anne gave him the unfortunate news that he is no longer in our group or in SOAR semester. I will miss that kid, because he was always full of funny jokes and interesting facts.
We had a very fun Halloween, and it started off with the two staff dressed up in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Halloween costumes! After that, we had two teams compete in a fun trivia game to earn candy, then we had an awesome dinner where we put chicken, potatoes, cheese, and mushrooms wrapped in tin foil into the fire, and took it out and ate it. It was so delicious! After that, we pulled up the van next to the fire and had a dance-off to Michael Jackson music! It was really fun/ funny, and Mitch and I won! We picked candies, and I picked a big bag of Skittles, and Mitchell got gum. The rest of the contestants picked their candy. Staff picked gum and split a pack of gum in half and had a dare to jam all those pieces in their mouth at once! It was one of the best Halloweens I have ever had!
Anyways, after that we decided to hike in the backcountry of Canyonlands, but all the backcountry sites were taken. So, instead we camped at some awesome campsites out of the van. The first night it had an insane storm with some insane winds! It was pretty cool. The next two nights were average desert nights—very hot in the day and very cold in the morning and night.
Overall, it was my favorite expedition so far this semester, and I am looking forward to the next expedition! We are landing in Vegas and having Thanksgiving there! All I really know after that is that we are going to the Grand Canyon, and I have never been there before! After that we have a mini base phase, then we have parent weekend/ banquet. Then we have the whole month of December for Christmas break! This semester has gone by so fast!
So, we started our expedition on a bad foot. We landed at about 9 at night, and one person barfed in the van, and another got out of the van and wouldn’t come back in. It was a rough first night. I’ll admit that I was also causing some problems when we got to the campsite. To top it off, in the morning there were another two people acting up, and their actions caused them to be on intervention with Jeremy for a few days.
While those two were gone, we stayed a campsite right outside of Moab, literally next to the Colorado River. We went into Moab and went to this sweet diner where I got an awesome dessert. I got a cinnamon roll where they took out the middle and put a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle and pecans with a sugary caramel sauce on top. It was delicious!
We had some nice nights there until I went on TAG for two days for an act of violence, which I regretted right after I did it. It was my first time being on actual TAG. We still had fun at the campsite (which was right outside of Moab), especially when we were filling up wash bins in the Colorado River, and we would usually fall in because it was a fairly steep drop- off.
For a few days, we kept going to Arches National Park. The first day there, we went to the famous Delicate Arch, and a storm came in when we got to the arch. It was extremely windy, and I even saw lightning in the clouds right above us, and felt the thunder shake the ground!
After we got Miles and Andy back in our group, we went on to a different campsite near our rock climbing site, called Ice Cream Parlor. We had a lot of fun rock climbing! Miles climbed blindfolded, and Mitch climbed with a lot of determination after he said that he didn’t want to climb! I got a little nervous when I got higher, and I didn’t have the right shoes to touch the very top, but it was still pretty cool.
The next day, we tried going to Double 0 Arch, and got lost along the way. It was really fun because we started finding different little paths to go since we didn’t have any idea where we were supposed to go. We just explored and ran around and climbed a little. I really enjoyed it!
After all that, we headed to Canyonlands! We stayed for a couple nights. On the second day, Nick disappeared for the whole day, and that made Tim leave for most of the day, and he had to call the sheriff and a Search and Rescue team. We were very excited when Nick came back, but then the next day Anne gave him the unfortunate news that he is no longer in our group or in SOAR semester. I will miss that kid, because he was always full of funny jokes and interesting facts.
We had a very fun Halloween, and it started off with the two staff dressed up in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Halloween costumes! After that, we had two teams compete in a fun trivia game to earn candy, then we had an awesome dinner where we put chicken, potatoes, cheese, and mushrooms wrapped in tin foil into the fire, and took it out and ate it. It was so delicious! After that, we pulled up the van next to the fire and had a dance-off to Michael Jackson music! It was really fun/ funny, and Mitch and I won! We picked candies, and I picked a big bag of Skittles, and Mitchell got gum. The rest of the contestants picked their candy. Staff picked gum and split a pack of gum in half and had a dare to jam all those pieces in their mouth at once! It was one of the best Halloweens I have ever had!
Anyways, after that we decided to hike in the backcountry of Canyonlands, but all the backcountry sites were taken. So, instead we camped at some awesome campsites out of the van. The first night it had an insane storm with some insane winds! It was pretty cool. The next two nights were average desert nights—very hot in the day and very cold in the morning and night.
Overall, it was my favorite expedition so far this semester, and I am looking forward to the next expedition! We are landing in Vegas and having Thanksgiving there! All I really know after that is that we are going to the Grand Canyon, and I have never been there before! After that we have a mini base phase, then we have parent weekend/ banquet. Then we have the whole month of December for Christmas break! This semester has gone by so fast!
Mitchell Harrison Blog
This Expedition we went to Utah for two weeks. One of the days we went to the re center in Moab Utah. They had two diving boards and I jump off them if a lot of times into the water. They also had a slide there too and I went on it a lot of times like the diving boards.
One of the days we got to rocking climbing in Hunter Canyon and it was a fun thing to do on this expedition.
One of the days we got a special treat and we went to a Moab diner and I got three favors of ice cream on a waffle cone. The favors I got are Vanilla, Cookies in Cream and Superman. It was so good to have ice cream again.
An other day we went to Hogi Yogi Teriyaki Stix and I got a raspberry razzle and it was so good have in a long time.
Before we went into the backcountry everyone had to buy a two-liter of Gatorade that we could have extra water to drink in case we ran out of water in the desert.
One of the nights in the backcountry it was very windy and it was raining a lot.
On Halloween we had a dance contest Evan and Mitchell tied for first place it was fun that night. Everyone got a lot of candy on Halloween from Tim And Anne.
On the last day in the canyon we all stayed in a cave on top of a hill.
On the last day of the expedition we all had an American Cook out we had Cheeseburger, Hamburgers and Hotdogs and a lot of cookies and chip too and Tim was cooking for us at the K08 campground.
The next expedition we are going to the Grand Canyon for two weeks. I had a great time on expedition with Tim And Anne and the all team.
One of the days we got to rocking climbing in Hunter Canyon and it was a fun thing to do on this expedition.
One of the days we got a special treat and we went to a Moab diner and I got three favors of ice cream on a waffle cone. The favors I got are Vanilla, Cookies in Cream and Superman. It was so good to have ice cream again.
An other day we went to Hogi Yogi Teriyaki Stix and I got a raspberry razzle and it was so good have in a long time.
Before we went into the backcountry everyone had to buy a two-liter of Gatorade that we could have extra water to drink in case we ran out of water in the desert.
One of the nights in the backcountry it was very windy and it was raining a lot.
On Halloween we had a dance contest Evan and Mitchell tied for first place it was fun that night. Everyone got a lot of candy on Halloween from Tim And Anne.
On the last day in the canyon we all stayed in a cave on top of a hill.
On the last day of the expedition we all had an American Cook out we had Cheeseburger, Hamburgers and Hotdogs and a lot of cookies and chip too and Tim was cooking for us at the K08 campground.
The next expedition we are going to the Grand Canyon for two weeks. I had a great time on expedition with Tim And Anne and the all team.
Miles
in 2 Blog 3rd expedition Utah/canyon lands/arches
Well we just got back from our second to last ex in Utah, and personally it is my favorite ex so far. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was just massive and all the different types of formations of rock were freaking cool. It really makes you think about how small you really are…very small. It’s also insane how old they are they are, like billions of years old and we just left our mark there. It’s also pretty cool how it used to be under water, and it is all a bunch of compacted sand that has been forming forever.
But as usual I like being back at home in North Carolina. I’m starting to really miss being at home, like my real home. This last expedition is going to be well worth the wait, with all the crazy stuff we are going to be doing. Like going to the Grand Canyon, and Zion and what not. Anyway that’s about it, talk to you weeks.
Well we just got back from our second to last ex in Utah, and personally it is my favorite ex so far. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was just massive and all the different types of formations of rock were freaking cool. It really makes you think about how small you really are…very small. It’s also insane how old they are they are, like billions of years old and we just left our mark there. It’s also pretty cool how it used to be under water, and it is all a bunch of compacted sand that has been forming forever.
But as usual I like being back at home in North Carolina. I’m starting to really miss being at home, like my real home. This last expedition is going to be well worth the wait, with all the crazy stuff we are going to be doing. Like going to the Grand Canyon, and Zion and what not. Anyway that’s about it, talk to you weeks.
Friday, October 21, 2011
what we did in wyoming nikolai
Blog of what we did in Wyoming
Nikolai
10-17-11
When we were in Wyoming we shot Mozmagits and .22s. That was really sweet. For Miles’ birthday, we went to Golden Coral for dinner. It was really good. When we were driving in the van, we saw a grizzly bear and tons of elk and ducks. We also saw a lot of half cow half bison. We saw Old Faithful, visited the bear and wolf center, and Imax.
The first week, we were really bad. We were being non- compliant. Only one person was really good. That was a really bad week but we changed it around so that’s a plus. One night, we put ourselves in a bathroom. Six out of 7 people went into the bathroom and locked it. That night, we never went to sleep because we stayed there and went in and out of the bathroom, but almost always we went back in. I was behaving very badly. I now realize that.
We are now back on track. We broke down the old foundation of trust and started a new one. We are still working on other stuff. Sometimes we fight with each other but it’s not that much. I feel like we are going the right way now.
Nikolai
10-17-11
When we were in Wyoming we shot Mozmagits and .22s. That was really sweet. For Miles’ birthday, we went to Golden Coral for dinner. It was really good. When we were driving in the van, we saw a grizzly bear and tons of elk and ducks. We also saw a lot of half cow half bison. We saw Old Faithful, visited the bear and wolf center, and Imax.
The first week, we were really bad. We were being non- compliant. Only one person was really good. That was a really bad week but we changed it around so that’s a plus. One night, we put ourselves in a bathroom. Six out of 7 people went into the bathroom and locked it. That night, we never went to sleep because we stayed there and went in and out of the bathroom, but almost always we went back in. I was behaving very badly. I now realize that.
We are now back on track. We broke down the old foundation of trust and started a new one. We are still working on other stuff. Sometimes we fight with each other but it’s not that much. I feel like we are going the right way now.
Nikolai
When we were in Wyoming, we shot mozmagits and .22s. That was really sweet .For miles birth we went to Golden Coral for dinner it was really good. When we were driving in the van, we saw a grizzly bear and a ton of elk and ducks. We also saw a lot of half cow half bison. We saw old faithful visited a bear and wolf center and Imax. The first week,we were bad really bad . we were being noncompliant. Only 1 person was really good. That was a really bad week but we changed it around d,so that’s a +. We are now back on track. We broke down the old foundation and started a new one. We still work on other stuff sometimes we fight with each other but its not that. I feel like we are going the right way.
When we were in Wyoming, we shot mozmagits and .22s. That was really sweet .For miles birth we went to Golden Coral for dinner it was really good. When we were driving in the van, we saw a grizzly bear and a ton of elk and ducks. We also saw a lot of half cow half bison. We saw old faithful visited a bear and wolf center and Imax. The first week,we were bad really bad . we were being noncompliant. Only 1 person was really good. That was a really bad week but we changed it around d,so that’s a +. We are now back on track. We broke down the old foundation and started a new one. We still work on other stuff sometimes we fight with each other but its not that. I feel like we are going the right way.
Tristan's second blog!
Tristan’s second blog!
O.k. so now you know you know a little about me I shall ramble on about my second expedition.
Here are some things I shall talk about…
• E.V.R. (Eagle View Ranch)
• Shooting rifles
• Wild animals
• Eating out
Ok so the first topic I shall ramble on about is Eagle View Ranch. E.V.R. is basically a large ranch on the side of a mountain in Wyoming. I personally like the E.V.R. base better than Balsam base. The only drawback is that the lower base and upper base at E.V.R. are just so far apart. The things that I like about E.V.R. are listed below
• Heated bathrooms
• Heated showers
• A massive fire place
• A massive covered dining area
• A cowboy tent
• A fire place in the cowboy tent
• A griddle twice as big than the one at Balsam base
So there are some of the beautiful features about Eagle View Ranch.
Ok so now I shall talk about shooting rifles. That was not my first time shooting rifles. It was more like my fourth. I really enjoy firing firearms. We shot little .22 rifles. Jeremy said if I got a good enough 5 shot grouping I would be able to shoot the Russian rifle. Surely enough I did get a good grouping. In fact; I got a great grouping. I earned 3 shots with the Russian rifle. I forgot the name of it because it was not really my favorite gun. I would have to say my favorite guns would have to be any .338 rifle and of course the famous AR15. Those are my favorite guns because they are just so accurate and reliable.
Ok on to the next topic. The next topic I shall discuss shall be wild animals. The wild animals are sweet. Some of the animals I saw were a wild grizzly bear, birds, lots of birds, fish, more birds, and wolfs.
I will have to say that the most exciting thing to see was the wild grizzly because I have never saw a wild grizzly. If I have not seen the wolfs in a discovery center and in the wild instead then that would beat the wild grizzly bear by a mile. But that did not happen! I saw the wolfs in a discovery center so yes the grizzly bear is the coolest thing.
Ok so on Miles birthday we went out to eat. We went to GOLDEN CORRAL!!!!!!!!!! I had for beginners a tray with mac and cheese, hush puppies, pigs on a blanket, broccoli dipped in nacho cheese, and one fudge ball covered in rainbow sprinkles. On my second dish I had a whole plate of teriyaki chicken and on another plate I had fettuccini Alf redo. I was so full after that. So yes I had a great dinner.
To conclude I had a decent expedition.
See y’all next time
O.k. so now you know you know a little about me I shall ramble on about my second expedition.
Here are some things I shall talk about…
• E.V.R. (Eagle View Ranch)
• Shooting rifles
• Wild animals
• Eating out
Ok so the first topic I shall ramble on about is Eagle View Ranch. E.V.R. is basically a large ranch on the side of a mountain in Wyoming. I personally like the E.V.R. base better than Balsam base. The only drawback is that the lower base and upper base at E.V.R. are just so far apart. The things that I like about E.V.R. are listed below
• Heated bathrooms
• Heated showers
• A massive fire place
• A massive covered dining area
• A cowboy tent
• A fire place in the cowboy tent
• A griddle twice as big than the one at Balsam base
So there are some of the beautiful features about Eagle View Ranch.
Ok so now I shall talk about shooting rifles. That was not my first time shooting rifles. It was more like my fourth. I really enjoy firing firearms. We shot little .22 rifles. Jeremy said if I got a good enough 5 shot grouping I would be able to shoot the Russian rifle. Surely enough I did get a good grouping. In fact; I got a great grouping. I earned 3 shots with the Russian rifle. I forgot the name of it because it was not really my favorite gun. I would have to say my favorite guns would have to be any .338 rifle and of course the famous AR15. Those are my favorite guns because they are just so accurate and reliable.
Ok on to the next topic. The next topic I shall discuss shall be wild animals. The wild animals are sweet. Some of the animals I saw were a wild grizzly bear, birds, lots of birds, fish, more birds, and wolfs.
I will have to say that the most exciting thing to see was the wild grizzly because I have never saw a wild grizzly. If I have not seen the wolfs in a discovery center and in the wild instead then that would beat the wild grizzly bear by a mile. But that did not happen! I saw the wolfs in a discovery center so yes the grizzly bear is the coolest thing.
Ok so on Miles birthday we went out to eat. We went to GOLDEN CORRAL!!!!!!!!!! I had for beginners a tray with mac and cheese, hush puppies, pigs on a blanket, broccoli dipped in nacho cheese, and one fudge ball covered in rainbow sprinkles. On my second dish I had a whole plate of teriyaki chicken and on another plate I had fettuccini Alf redo. I was so full after that. So yes I had a great dinner.
To conclude I had a decent expedition.
See y’all next time
Miles Gibson
Blog October/18/2011 Wyoming second ex
Well I’m back from Wyoming and on base, its pretty good to be back. I enjoy the pleasantries of being on base, like a shower more often, and a better school day, better food options etc. plus it is nice to be back in my home state. Anyway we were in deep crap half the ex so we did not do much but we did go to Yellowstone for a little while and it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. As far as I can tell the only thing wrong with it was temperature it was absolutely freezing. We also went to Eagle View Ranch which is the base at Wyoming for Soar. It was pretty sweet. They had nice warm showers. But my personal favorite thing about last ex was defiantly going to the rifle range and shooting 22 and the Mosenaget because I’ve never shot a real rifle before, just a pistol. Anyway pretty good ex. We definately pulled our act together too.
Blog October/18/2011 Wyoming second ex
Well I’m back from Wyoming and on base, its pretty good to be back. I enjoy the pleasantries of being on base, like a shower more often, and a better school day, better food options etc. plus it is nice to be back in my home state. Anyway we were in deep crap half the ex so we did not do much but we did go to Yellowstone for a little while and it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. As far as I can tell the only thing wrong with it was temperature it was absolutely freezing. We also went to Eagle View Ranch which is the base at Wyoming for Soar. It was pretty sweet. They had nice warm showers. But my personal favorite thing about last ex was defiantly going to the rifle range and shooting 22 and the Mosenaget because I’ve never shot a real rifle before, just a pistol. Anyway pretty good ex. We definately pulled our act together too.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
my 3rd post by andy j saunders
YELLOWSTONE EXPIDITION
By Andrew J Saunders
What we did on ex is saw Old Faithful go off and we saw a live grizzly bear in captivity and in the wild. Another thing we did is shoot .22’s and a German sniper rifle. All of my shots hit the 5” by 5” target. We also went to a Golden Corral for Miles‘s b day. I am having so much fun at Soar. We are going to the Grand Canyon some time. It’s either this next ex- or the next one. Bet you’re jealous. Can’t wait to get some fun stuff to do at base. Judson Maggie & Anne are tied for the #1 spot on my favorite counselor list.
That’s all for now Andy says” by or (peace out):)
By Andrew J Saunders
What we did on ex is saw Old Faithful go off and we saw a live grizzly bear in captivity and in the wild. Another thing we did is shoot .22’s and a German sniper rifle. All of my shots hit the 5” by 5” target. We also went to a Golden Corral for Miles‘s b day. I am having so much fun at Soar. We are going to the Grand Canyon some time. It’s either this next ex- or the next one. Bet you’re jealous. Can’t wait to get some fun stuff to do at base. Judson Maggie & Anne are tied for the #1 spot on my favorite counselor list.
That’s all for now Andy says” by or (peace out):)
nick blog 10/21
Our Wyoming expedition was a huge letdown. In my opinion we didn’t do anything that interesting and the opportunity of a lifetime was taken away from me. I’ll never have another chance to go backpacking in Yellowstone. It’s very, very unlikely that I’ll ever get that chance again. I feel I was really letdown because this expedition was what I was looking forward to the whole semester. I don’t feel like we couldn’t handle it or anything . We went in public afterwards for a few days we did fine.
So four days or so in the backcountry we could have easily handled it. But that is in the past those opportunities are wasted and I’m done. On the other hand it’s nice to be back at base again I like it here. I got a sweet care package from my parents and made a bunch of Mexican food. It was really good I made some guacamole to go with it. I got my rule books for Warhammer fantasy . Everyone wants me to send them some prepainted Warhammer minis. I told them if they sent them I would paint them but there is that bond of artist to their work so it would be hard to let go of them when they’re done because I look at them when I’m done and feel a sense of total satisfaction. You can’t spend two hours on painting them and not feel that when their done it’s almost impossible.
Today we get to go to the Waynesville Rec Center and go swimming. That’s a good thing because its raining really hard today and its an indoor pool. We are almost done with a spending proposal so we can buy a soda/snack at a gas station or the Rec Center vending machine and or straps for my hammock. Because I’m using climbing rope for straps they work. But the slap straps you can set up in like less than a minute. Hopefully it’s in the cards.
We have a lot planned for the week if we Write the proposal for it we might go to the Drum Circle. One of us has a birthday on Saturday and were probably going to a nice Chinese restaurant for dinner .
So four days or so in the backcountry we could have easily handled it. But that is in the past those opportunities are wasted and I’m done. On the other hand it’s nice to be back at base again I like it here. I got a sweet care package from my parents and made a bunch of Mexican food. It was really good I made some guacamole to go with it. I got my rule books for Warhammer fantasy . Everyone wants me to send them some prepainted Warhammer minis. I told them if they sent them I would paint them but there is that bond of artist to their work so it would be hard to let go of them when they’re done because I look at them when I’m done and feel a sense of total satisfaction. You can’t spend two hours on painting them and not feel that when their done it’s almost impossible.
Today we get to go to the Waynesville Rec Center and go swimming. That’s a good thing because its raining really hard today and its an indoor pool. We are almost done with a spending proposal so we can buy a soda/snack at a gas station or the Rec Center vending machine and or straps for my hammock. Because I’m using climbing rope for straps they work. But the slap straps you can set up in like less than a minute. Hopefully it’s in the cards.
We have a lot planned for the week if we Write the proposal for it we might go to the Drum Circle. One of us has a birthday on Saturday and were probably going to a nice Chinese restaurant for dinner .
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Expedition Two: Utah and Wyoming! By Evan Harr
So, last expedition we were mainly in Wyoming, but we stayed in a campsite in Utah near a stream so we all could do our fun stream study for a science lab. After we finished that, we took off and went straight to Yellowstone. Which was a very long drive, but it was worth it in the end. Yellowstone is very beautiful, and is also the first National Park in history.
At Yellowstone, we did a science lesson about “How Geysers Work” in the visitor center, where we had to find all the info on our own in order to pass a science report. After that, we watched the amazing Old Faithful “explode” and after Tim gave us a science/ history lesson about Yellowstone and Old Faithful. Then we went to a Yellowstone campsite called Madison for the night. When we woke up, we packed up and drove up to a cool IMAX theatre with an awesome gift shop/ candy store. Before we went inside, we had to take off all of our dirty “backcountry” layers (which was a lot) to be presentable in public. It was pretty funny. Anyways, we went in and wandered around at the gift shop and finally went and saw an IMAX of Yellowstone, which was kind of funny/ awesome (funny due to actors, and awesome due to the sweet views of Yellowstone)! After the IMAX, we went to The Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center were there were two grizzlies, a bunch of wolves, and a couple golden hawks! We went at a good time because the wolves were being fed, but none of them went inside to eat, so we didn’t really to get the sweet eating process in action.
After we were done at The Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center, we went straight back to the exact same campsite we stayed at the night before. The only difference was that it was the one next to our previous one, so I don’t understand why we packed up in the first place. That night, we made some bad decisions, so then Jeremy sent us to a campsite/ area called Whiskey Basin—instead of Yellowstone backcountry—which was 15 minutes away from EVR (Eagle View Ranch).
We were earning back all of our privileges while there including iPods, fires, eating “fancy” dinners, and EVR. For the most part, we all turned everything around in a few days, and went to Eagle View Ranch! In my opinion, Eagle View Ranch is MUCH better than Balsam Base, and I think semester’s base should be at EVR instead of Balsam!
Anyways, EVR is cool because of things like cowboy tents, a giant fireplace with a chimney in the dining area, a giant kitchen, heaters in the nice bathroom/ showers, and more! It is a giant area with more than 40 acres and a lot of pretty trees and such. One of the days, Jeremy brought his basset hound, Lucy. She’s really cool, and she brings us all happiness and joy! Anyways, one of the nights most all of us slept in an actual cowboy tent. They were like our cabins, but the outside was made of a canvas tent instead of wood. It had bunk beds and a divider like the cabin, but it also had a little furnace that was powered by a fire that you would have to start. It was warm enough to not have to use it anyways.
At our last night at EVR we totally “demolished” the cowboy tent in a sense that we took down the giant, heavy canvas (connected to wood supports with too many knots to count), completely broke down all the bunks. It made me feel like I was work because all the hard work and moving around furniture- type items. I love my job, and when I do things that remind me of it, it makes me very happy, which always a good thing.
The next morning, we woke up pretty early to go to the shooting range close to Eagle View Ranch. Jeremy was there waiting for us with his baby. She is adorable—her real name is Betty, but Jeremy calls her Critter, which I think is kind of funny/ cute! Anyways, he gave us the safety briefing of handling guns, and we shot .22’s and if you were good enough, you got to shoot the Mosin- Naget. It was my first time EVER shooting a gun, and I did really well. My first three shots of the .22 on a blank piece of paper were very well grouped. Then, the next round was with 5 shots/ rounds at a real piece of paper on a target, and I got two on the middle of the target (the black) and the other three were pretty close, so that got me two shots on the Mosin- Naget. It recoils like crazy, and I hit both shots on the target! It’s very loud, especially compared to the .22’s. It has so much power that it goes through the stump, and hits the hill behind it! I hit both my shots on it on the target!
Overall, it was a pretty awesome expedition, and there were many different types of weather. The positives ruled out the negatives, so I guess it was a positive outcome!
At Yellowstone, we did a science lesson about “How Geysers Work” in the visitor center, where we had to find all the info on our own in order to pass a science report. After that, we watched the amazing Old Faithful “explode” and after Tim gave us a science/ history lesson about Yellowstone and Old Faithful. Then we went to a Yellowstone campsite called Madison for the night. When we woke up, we packed up and drove up to a cool IMAX theatre with an awesome gift shop/ candy store. Before we went inside, we had to take off all of our dirty “backcountry” layers (which was a lot) to be presentable in public. It was pretty funny. Anyways, we went in and wandered around at the gift shop and finally went and saw an IMAX of Yellowstone, which was kind of funny/ awesome (funny due to actors, and awesome due to the sweet views of Yellowstone)! After the IMAX, we went to The Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center were there were two grizzlies, a bunch of wolves, and a couple golden hawks! We went at a good time because the wolves were being fed, but none of them went inside to eat, so we didn’t really to get the sweet eating process in action.
After we were done at The Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center, we went straight back to the exact same campsite we stayed at the night before. The only difference was that it was the one next to our previous one, so I don’t understand why we packed up in the first place. That night, we made some bad decisions, so then Jeremy sent us to a campsite/ area called Whiskey Basin—instead of Yellowstone backcountry—which was 15 minutes away from EVR (Eagle View Ranch).
We were earning back all of our privileges while there including iPods, fires, eating “fancy” dinners, and EVR. For the most part, we all turned everything around in a few days, and went to Eagle View Ranch! In my opinion, Eagle View Ranch is MUCH better than Balsam Base, and I think semester’s base should be at EVR instead of Balsam!
Anyways, EVR is cool because of things like cowboy tents, a giant fireplace with a chimney in the dining area, a giant kitchen, heaters in the nice bathroom/ showers, and more! It is a giant area with more than 40 acres and a lot of pretty trees and such. One of the days, Jeremy brought his basset hound, Lucy. She’s really cool, and she brings us all happiness and joy! Anyways, one of the nights most all of us slept in an actual cowboy tent. They were like our cabins, but the outside was made of a canvas tent instead of wood. It had bunk beds and a divider like the cabin, but it also had a little furnace that was powered by a fire that you would have to start. It was warm enough to not have to use it anyways.
At our last night at EVR we totally “demolished” the cowboy tent in a sense that we took down the giant, heavy canvas (connected to wood supports with too many knots to count), completely broke down all the bunks. It made me feel like I was work because all the hard work and moving around furniture- type items. I love my job, and when I do things that remind me of it, it makes me very happy, which always a good thing.
The next morning, we woke up pretty early to go to the shooting range close to Eagle View Ranch. Jeremy was there waiting for us with his baby. She is adorable—her real name is Betty, but Jeremy calls her Critter, which I think is kind of funny/ cute! Anyways, he gave us the safety briefing of handling guns, and we shot .22’s and if you were good enough, you got to shoot the Mosin- Naget. It was my first time EVER shooting a gun, and I did really well. My first three shots of the .22 on a blank piece of paper were very well grouped. Then, the next round was with 5 shots/ rounds at a real piece of paper on a target, and I got two on the middle of the target (the black) and the other three were pretty close, so that got me two shots on the Mosin- Naget. It recoils like crazy, and I hit both shots on the target! It’s very loud, especially compared to the .22’s. It has so much power that it goes through the stump, and hits the hill behind it! I hit both my shots on it on the target!
Overall, it was a pretty awesome expedition, and there were many different types of weather. The positives ruled out the negatives, so I guess it was a positive outcome!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Mitchell Harrison Blog
This expedition, we went to Yellowstone for two weeks. We went to a grizzly and wolf Discovery Center in west Yellowstone / Montana. We got to see wolfs two grizzly bears and some golden eagle hawks there. Then, we went to an Imax to see a video about Yellowstone in a movie theater. We got to drive through Yellowstone and got to stop and watch Old Faithful it was cool to see. Next we went to the visitor center to do some science work and we got to watch other movie in an other a different theater. One of the days we got to stay at Eagle View Ranch. It is the Wyoming base. We got to go the shooting range and shoot some SOAR guns have they for us to shoot. After we were done with shooting at the range, we got into the van and drove to Salt Lake, City Utah. We got to stay at a k08 campground and take showers and did some laundry as well. After we were done, we got to go out for dinner at Golden Coral buffet and ate a lot of food there. I had a good time out in Wyoming and got to see Jermeny, to see the baby, and got to talk to Becky for a few minutes before to shot the 22. Rifle.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Expedition One: Colorado (The Rockies, and more!) By Evan Harr
So, I had a lot of fun on my first expedition exploring a lot of Colorado! We did things like hiking in the backcountry of the Rocky Mountains, bugling at elk, playing/ hiking at GIANT sand dunes, and more! All of these things were really fun, but my favorite part of the whole trip was the Great San Dunes, because I went on a cool hike with Tim and Anne up to the top of a giant ridgeline, and then we ran down it. It was just Anne, Tim, and I hiking while everybody else was jumping down a giant hill. Tim taught me some science lessons, and Anne and I took some really cool pictures.
Anyways, it was a really fun expedition, and I thought the first expedition alone was way better than all the expeditions at my first Fall semester at SOAR, The Appalachian Trail. We started out at a couple cool campsites that we camped out of the van and took some cool day hikes. At the last campsite before entering the back country, we literally saw some elk like 200 feet away from our campsite, and there were roughly five of them! I was sleeping in my new OR Alpine Bivy or my new REI Quarter Dome T3 with Mitch (oh and by the way, thanks mom and dad for buying those for me!). We had a lot of laughs and fun times hiking out of our vans in the front country, but then we all packed our giant “expedition packs” with what felt like something like 50 pounds of things like food, personal/ group gear, and personal clothing.
The back country was much better than any of the back country on the Appalachian Trail. We started at a trailhead called Green Mountain Trailhead, and on our first day we hiked to a campsite called Big Meadows, and the name of the campsite is pretty self- explanatory. It had a giant meadow with a stream of running mountain water right next to where all our tents and tarps where set up. Actually, the field staff, Anne and Tim, set up their tent in the field close to where we had our evening meeting. The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, did school, and then took of to our next campsite, Timberline. It was a long hike from Big Meadows to Timberline because we got started late, and then hiked in the rain/ pitched black night. We went to bed right away as soon as we got all set up. The next day it was raining all day so we got to lie around in our tents or under the two giant group tarps and Tim and Anne were literally being a waiter/ waitress and cooking food for us in 30 degree weather/ rain ALL DAY until there was a few hours of warm weather and no rain. This let us go on awesome day hike!
Anyways, it was a really fun expedition, and I thought the first expedition alone was way better than all the expeditions at my first Fall semester at SOAR, The Appalachian Trail. We started out at a couple cool campsites that we camped out of the van and took some cool day hikes. At the last campsite before entering the back country, we literally saw some elk like 200 feet away from our campsite, and there were roughly five of them! I was sleeping in my new OR Alpine Bivy or my new REI Quarter Dome T3 with Mitch (oh and by the way, thanks mom and dad for buying those for me!). We had a lot of laughs and fun times hiking out of our vans in the front country, but then we all packed our giant “expedition packs” with what felt like something like 50 pounds of things like food, personal/ group gear, and personal clothing.
The back country was much better than any of the back country on the Appalachian Trail. We started at a trailhead called Green Mountain Trailhead, and on our first day we hiked to a campsite called Big Meadows, and the name of the campsite is pretty self- explanatory. It had a giant meadow with a stream of running mountain water right next to where all our tents and tarps where set up. Actually, the field staff, Anne and Tim, set up their tent in the field close to where we had our evening meeting. The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, did school, and then took of to our next campsite, Timberline. It was a long hike from Big Meadows to Timberline because we got started late, and then hiked in the rain/ pitched black night. We went to bed right away as soon as we got all set up. The next day it was raining all day so we got to lie around in our tents or under the two giant group tarps and Tim and Anne were literally being a waiter/ waitress and cooking food for us in 30 degree weather/ rain ALL DAY until there was a few hours of warm weather and no rain. This let us go on awesome day hike!
Tristan's first blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tristan (puma) Carroll’s first blog!!!
Hello my name it Tristan Carroll, but my trail name is Puma, Pumba, or Pumbi as Mitchel calls me. Lol… I was born two months early which was on January 29th 1996 at 2:02am. I have short black hair, hazel eyes (my eyes switch from green and blue), and I am around 5 foot 7.
My hobbies are rock climbing, bouldering, white water rafting, and scuba diving. In my spare time I like to go to the beach, go on YouTube and watch viral videos, and hang out with my cousin Greg. Greg has to be my best friend ever, call me lame but we always hang out . We usually just play Mortal Kombat, watch funny YouTube videos or share music. Yup me and my cousin Greg are close considering my mom and I live in the same house as them. Their basement is an apartment so my mom and I rent it from my Aunt Dawn who is my mom’s sister.
You are wondering what I would like to do for a living. Well that is a simple question for me. I want to be a wilderness paramedic in Alaska. I also want to go in to the Air Force and go into aeromedical evacuation.
MIles Gibson blog1
Miles Gibson
Blog September-24-2011 Colorado rocky mountains National park
My favorite experience in Colorado on the 1st expedition was probably going to the sand dunes in the Rocky Mountains. One day I would like to go back and share it with my family and friends, because I know that they would love it as much if not more than I did.
The reason I liked it so much is because it gave me this wonderful and indescribable feeling of openness and carefree beauty that just came with the feeling of just being there. It was gorgeous and everyone got along…for the most part.
I loved the dunes because of the vast never ending natural beauty of it and yet at the same time it is so large yet at the same time so touchable. The feeling of being there makes you feel like you won’t die or get hurt ever again…it’s beautiful and I wish that everyone who gave a crap could go and see them too.
End
Nicolas Jackson A Note from the Editor
Due to technical difficulties, one of our most promising and aspiring writers and students, Nicolas Jackson was not able to post his blog this week. Nicolas is a writer of immense talent, who writes with such detail that you could imagine yourself walking in his shoes on his many adventures at SOAR.
We hope to have his equipment up and running by the 2nd base phase, so look forward to 2 posts from this up and coming author in just 2 short weeks.
Mike
Academic Director
Teacher
Editor
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Mitchell Harrison Blog
This Expedition we went to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado for two weeks. We went out in the backcountry for five days and we got to go sliding down on sand dunes and we got to use cardboard to slide down the sand. It was hard to walk up the sand dunes because the sand was falling down all the time when you were walking up it. I got to dig a big hole in the sand and it was super cool to build a hole in the sand. One of the days we went to the visitor center to learn about the area that we were staying in. We got to go flying into Denver Colorado Airport and we got snacks and drinks on the plane and I got some coffee. It was so good to have coffee the first time in my life. One of the nights we had dinner at this campsite that we were staying at. One of the days we did some homework and we went rock climbing and after we were done with the rock climbing we drove to Sand Dunes National park. One of the days when we were packing up the van we went to a pizza for lunch one day on the expedition. When we were in Colorado we had some good days of weather and some bad days too. Tim almost ran off with the gas pump in the gas tank of the black van it was so funny to see. I very had a good time on this expedition because we were going to the Rocky Mountains. Evan and I were sleeping in tents for two weeks out on expedition in Colorado because it was sweet to sleep in tents in the backcountry again. The last day on expedition we were staying in a crappy campground. We had to get woken up very early to get to the Denver Colorado Air Port to fly back to base. I had a great time in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains with my new team on this expedition.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
andy blog # 2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >......
What I would like to see in Yellowstone National Park is Old Faithful in action.
Here is a link to a site of what I would like to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWrklFuYnb0
i would also maybe a byson in action and rutting.
That’s all for now. Andy is peace out.
Here is a link to a site of what I would like to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWrklFuYnb0
i would also maybe a byson in action and rutting.
That’s all for now. Andy is peace out.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Nikolai
Nikolai
9/21/11
Hi my name is Nikolai. We are doing a semester. I am 14 and I am from Russia. I was adopted when I was 2 so I live with my parents. I live in North Carolina in a small town called Walkerton. I was homeschooled. I was sent a private school for six years. After that I was homeschooled so now I am at an Academy school which happens to be really cool. Its name is Soar. I have been here for three times. This is my fourth time here. My Favorite truck is a super duty Ford truck .My favorite bike is a crouch rocket.
''andrew jonathan saunders's fun times on first expedition!!!
My favorite thing to do in expedition was seeing elk, and also being 25 feet away from a huge bull.
Another thing that I like to do on my expeditions is, hiking and being in the wilderness for at least three days a time.
One more thing I like to do in expedition is on the next one I will get to shoot guns and see Old Faithful in action.
Here is a picture of one or 2 of the things I saw and would like to see.
Those are two pictures of what I would like to be doing on this expedition and the next one too. One more thing I am looking forward to is being with my team and then laying low for a while.
P.S. Soar was probably the best choice I ever made.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)