OP Journal 2

Outdoor Pursuits Journal #2

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A) Log

In our third Outdoor Pursuits session we experienced some very nice weather. Though we experienced another typical overcast day, it was still a fair temperature for the canoeing we discovered we would be doing today. As Laura told us, the tide goes in and out throughout the day, and we unfortunately had to fight it both coming and going on our trip. Our session was held out on the Menai Strait, both coming and going. Then we also did some abseiling in a little lagoon and learned some camping techniques on a small, wooded island along the strait. The focus of today was perseverance which included teamwork, personal appraisal and journeying. It was important for us to really communicate with and depend on our partners as well as discover what was needed of us as an individual and to understand ourselves to get the task done.
On the canoe trip out to the island where we would later be abseiling and learning how to set up camp, we faced a bit of a struggle with the tide. Then once we got to the island we faced everything from a seaweed and rock covered beach; to a wooded area with fairly small trees, hills and a rocky floor; to a wet, muddy and sandy beach that led up into another wooded area for our abseiling. Finally, on the way back from our journey, we yet again faced the tide in our canoes and made it safely home to the Conway Centre.
B) Journal
On this third excursion for Outdoor Pursuits we found ourselves really learning the definitions of cooperation and self-understanding. It was fiercely emphasized that we must learn alone how to canoe in the ways Laura instructed so that we can work with our partners to get to where we wanted to go; if we did not learn how to do our part, we would be stuck spinning around on the water in circles or be taken away by the tide. Today we got kitted up with our (now) usual gear of helmets, waterproofs, wellies and harnesses. This time we were told to grab a wetsuit top to maintain warmth in case we were to tip over into the water, a waterproof bag for our extra clothes and lunches, a life vest and a paddle to use to steer the canoe. For our “camping” experience we were also told to grab a camping stove, three tents/tarps, rope, hammocks, a big water container, a water kettle, plastic cups and put them in big blue barrels to carry.
After gathering all of our supplies, we made our way down to the dock area to begin our canoeing journey. Laura instructed us to all pick out a canoe and work in groups of 4 to carry each one down and then choose a partner to have while actually in the boat. We learned that canoes derived from the Native American Indians who used to hollow out tree trunks and also that canoes used to be made of wood or sort of plexi-glass but now are formed from a light, durable plastic. We were also told that each of the canoes we would be taking had a life preserver in each of the two ends and ropes on the ends to tie it up for when we make stops. Before making our way down the loading dock we had to grab two ropes to tie in our supplies to ensure their safety.
Once we all carried down, climbed into our canoes and made our way out onto the water, Laura had us gather together to show us the different techniques of paddling. We learned that the front person in the boat is the power – he or she will be the one doing most of the paddling – and the back person in the boat is the one who will steer. She showed us that if you turn your paddle one way in the water, or vice versa, it will move the boat in that direction as if it was a rudder on a boat. She also showed us how to turn around and stop. Once we had these skills mastered we switched positions so that each person in the canoe would have a go at both of the spots. After we made sure we were all prepared for our real journey, we made our way out from near the docks and paddled into the depths of the Menai Strait. Laura told us that the farther out we went, the more difficult it would be; as the water gets deeper the tides get stronger, so we were instructed to stay close to the shore.
After paddling for a while we found our way to a little beach covered in seaweed and rocks where Laura had us pull onto. We drug our canoes onto the beach to ensure that they would stay ashore and gathered around Laura, waiting for our next instruction. For a fun fact, she told us that the interesting looking wooden structure up in the wooded area beyond the beach was a bird house. Laura pulled out a laminated instruction sheet with pictures of beach creatures on it that we were to find. She told us to look at the sheet and just explore by picking up and looking under the rocks or to push aside the seaweed to see if any creatures lived there. We found a type of fish that was brown and slippery that Laura told us could just live on the beach under the seaweed without much water! We also discovered a small crab, some sand worms, different types of seaweed with seed-like things on them and something we learned was called a limpet. What some of us students thought was a fossilized shell, the limpet is a snail-like creature that attaches itself to a rock and has a sort of vacuum seal on its shell so that it sticks to the rock and feeds off it; this also acts as protection from birds and other preying animals. Laura got out her knife and pried the limpet off the rock and started rubbing its “belly” with her finger. She told us that she did not know if this act was ticklish or sexual to the limpet, but what happens is that little horns come out from the small, gooey, yellow creature. Before making our way back to the canoe we all giggled at this and had a try at tickling the limpet as well.
We next paddled our way against the tide to another small island that sat across from a beautiful little town so that we could learn some camping skills. We tied our canoes together on the rocky beach and made our way up the sand and rocks into a hilly, secluded, wooded area. Here we found three wooden platforms which Laura told us people can set up shelters upon or use to rest their supplies as we did. After putting down our supplies Laura said we needed to break up into teams to build shelters. There were three shelters in all, and each was different and had its good and bad points. The shelter that my group made in particular may have not been the best or kept out wind or animals, but our goal was to get the tarp up into the air – which we did. Laura then came around to judge each of the shelters and told us what was good about them (ours made good protection from the rain) and led us over to the fire. Once there, she gave us a brief tutorial about how to start a fire by using a flint stick, feathering pieces of wood, cutting off chips of wood and cotton balls. She also showed us how to work the camping stove, which I believe is called a Trangia stove. This included learning about the methane to light the stove, the damper, the pots and pans involved, the handle that clamped on and off of the pots and pans and the little methane holder. We then were instructed to have a go at creating our own fires and eat lunch.
After lunch we tore down our shelters and packed all of our supplies back up so that we could move on to our abseiling site. We trekked back down to the beach, got into our canoes and made our way into a small lagoon just around the corner and tied up our boats. We stepped out carefully onto the slippery, muddy beach and followed Laura around a path that led up to the top of the cliff that we would be abseiling from. Once there we put on the harnesses and helmets we had. We then, one by one, took turns edging out onto the platform that Laura was on, got hooked up to the rope/wire/carabineer contraption and lowered ourselves down the face of the cliff. Laura told us that even though it is scary – we had to sit down in our harnesses as if it were a chair and push out with our feet to begin our descend down the cliff, otherwise we would find ourselves slipping down or colliding with the rocky wall. I have been camping and canoeing before and learned the skills Laura taught us today in the past, but I have never done anything like abseiling. This was quite challenging for me because I truly was scared when I had to sit back in my harness and give full faith in this one rope and a couple metal carabineers with just a simple figure of eight knot to hold me up as I made my way down. However, I faced my fear of heights and falling, only faltered when the rocks became slippery with mossy slime at the bottom and found that I really enjoy this sport. I think that doing this on top of doing the ropes course and climbing the mountain has really showed me that I just need confidence in myself to overcome my fear of heights.
After we each got one turn at abseiling down the cliff we all got back into our canoes, leaving the canoe, the cliff and the island behind. On our return, Laura pointed out a white-leafed tree; she said that this one tree is white because all of the birds in the area use it as a bathroom. I thought this was really interesting! I had no idea that birds could be so smart as to know that if they use every tree as a toilet they’d be killing their environment. I guess it just goes to show that every form of life can surprise you if you just take a moment to enjoy and understand them. After learning this fact, we paddled hard against the tide and finally reached Conway Centre’s dock once again. We pulled the canoes back on shore, unloaded our kit and made our way back to our warm flats in Bangor all before 5.
Since I have gone canoeing before and learned about camping, today was not as challenging as the high ropes course or the mountain climbing, but I am still very proud of myself. I really learned how to communicate and work with the partner I had and to have trust in myself by using personal appraisal to get through something I thought would be very difficult. Overall, it was a great day, and I had a lot of fun doing some of the things that have always made me love the great outdoors.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A) Log
On this fourth excursion, we made our way very far from the Conway Centre for the first time. We found ourselves rock climbing in Holyhead, Wales, up on Holyhead Mountain. Though still a tad overcast, the temperature was only a bit chillier than it was last week – roughly 10 degrees Celsius – and there was not really much breeze, making today a great day to go out climbing; however, once we made it atop the mountain for abseiling the breeze picked up and the temperature dropped at least 5 to 10 degrees. Today’s focus was teamwork which included group support, trust, communication and climbing grades as well as a comparison of both indoor and outdoor climbing. We faced terrain of mainly the rocky sort – as we were climbing mountains – but there was a bit of grass, mud and various bushes and other vegetation we walked through/around. We began our session inside on the climbing wall, meaning we had a nice cushioned floor if we were to fall; but once we went outside and faced Holyhead Mountain, we had to walk along a muddy and rocky path lined with thorny, flowered bushes and other foot-tangling vegetation and then climb the rock solid mountain with a semi grassy and jagged rock floor below. Though we had practiced inside at the Conway Centre on the rock wall, we were not entirely prepared to face the solid rock mountain and fend for ourselves to find grips for our hands and feet. The only hindrances of the day were trying to find these grips, getting through the drop in temperature waiting for our turn to abseil atop the mountain and, for some, sneaking past the thorn bushes along the path without getting stuck.
B) Journal
In today’s session, we took a mini bus ride to Holyhead, landing us up in the hills overlooking lush farmland and the sea in the distance. Yellow thorn bushes lined the hills as we made sure we had everything we needed for the day and made our way up a gravel path. After a 10 minute trek up a slight windy gradient, we found ourselves facing the great Holyhead Mountain. Even from a distance we could tell today would be much different than anything we have done before. Luckily, before we left, Laura had given us a brief tutorial and let us do a practice run on the indoor climbing wall at the Conway Centre so that we at least had an idea as to what to expect out on the mountain.
Today, we came equipped with our helmets, carabineers and harnesses as we have had most days; the harnesses were the same ones as we had last week when we went abseiling. Rather than them being a full body (as in a harness for both the legs and over the shoulders) these harnesses were a support for the midsection and legs and had a little carrying handle at the front in which we were to clip our carabineers and tie ropes to. We were introduced to climbing shoes – very thin, rubbery shoes that squeeze your toes together and allow you to feel every little thing under your feet that make for easy gripping. We were also introduced to belay plates, which are small metal devices with thick metal on one side that had two holes in it to feed the rope through for belaying and abseiling, as well as a hook on the other side to line up with and attach to the rope and clip to your carabineer and harness for safety.
Laura, along with a new instructor called Kevin, instructed us how to belay, or how to feed the rope through to our partner, tightening or giving slack to the rope, which included using the 4-step hand-over-hand method. To do this you have to have one hand on the rope above the belay plate pulling downward while the other hand is below the belay plate (on what is called the dead rope). Then you pull the top hand down and the bottom hand up so they meet each other and the rope is pulled through the belay plate. Then you must pull the rope down so it locks on the belay plate, then you have to move your top hand down to just below the belay plate and then replace it with your right hand and then start the process all over again. This was a bit tricky to remember at first, but after a few tries on the practice wall we all got it fairly quickly. We met in the small classroom to learn how to tie double figure of eight knots which are made by tying one figure of eight knot then retracing it the rope to make another and also a safety knot which is made by looping the rope around itself twice and then laced through and tightened. Once we took turns belaying and climbing and mastering these knots, we gathered up our supplies and made our way to the bus and headed out to Holyhead.
Once we made it to Holyhead Mountain all we had to do was make a short trek up through a grassy and muddy path lined with rather large rocks (luckily no more thorn bushes!) and met the bottom of the rock we would be climbing. Laura and Kevin told us to stay here while they scrambled up the mountain (what we said made them look like Spiderman) to get everything set up. Laura later told us that when you want to do climbing as we were doing, you have to stick meal pieces (typically called nuts or bolts, depending on the brand) that are attached to carabineers into the rock so that they stay stuck and will not move as you climb. Once you have this main carabineer in place, you attach it to at least two or three other carabineers for safety – you never just have one because if it comes lose from the rock you will inevitably fall, which is never a good demise. Each carabineer is tied to ropes that all meet up with the main one which has a rope of its own that feeds down the face of the mountain for us to climb. After this was finished for us, Kevin and Laura threw three of these ropes down and had us break up into partners of about our same size, tie our ropes to our harnesses and the belay plates as they instructed and begin our climb.
To compare this climb with the indoor climb, it was definitely not as simple. First of all, the cliff was not laid out with easily graspable, rubber handles for our hands and feet. Instead it had a mainly flat, smooth surface with ridges facing downward rather than upward in the way we needed them to. To overcome this, what we had to do was find (usually very) small holes or places to rest our feet and use lots of upper body strength to pull ourselves up. I personally found that leaning into the rock made climbing much easier and to just keep moving and trusting the thin ridges I was resting my feet on rather than stopping and trying to figure things out (which usually resulted in losing grip). This was quite difficult for many people to get because, as I mentioned, it made it harder if you were to hesitate before your next move rather than just trusting what you are holding on to and keep going upward. Though I really enjoyed learning to climb – and absolutely loved the view! – I found my new love for abseiling. Rather than abseiling alone as we did last week, for this first part of today’s session, when we would come back down from our climb we would have to trust the rope – and our partners (and the person behind them holding the dead rope for extra safety) – lean back with all of our weight, push out from the mountain and start making our way down as they belayed the rope for us. In doing this, I found that I was not afraid of the heights as I was with the ropes course. I felt I had had a moment of enlightenment or something as I joyfully dangled there rather than gripping to the rope, fearing for my life. Overall, though some people needed a bit of help at the beginning of their climb, as the start was very flat and had little gripping spots and involved us hoisting ourselves over a huge drop off cliff, and had a few slip ups, everyone picked up this sport rather quickly and seemed to enjoy it quite thoroughly.
Once we each took our turns on all of the three rope climbs that were set up, we made our way up the rocky path to the top of where we had been climbing. Here we got to see how our ropes were set up with the nuts/bolts/carabineer contraption that Laura and Kevin had created for us. After a quick switching around of rope placement, we all had to have another go at abseiling – though this week it was much, much higher (almost three times as high) than in the week past. This was very fun for everyone, but we were all a bit hesitant at the very beginning as we had to make our way to the edge of the cliff and peer down the 90 something foot drop and then lean back and begin our descent, which unfortunately began with a weird drop off that we all slipped on. I loved doing this! I felt like I flew right down the mountain in my turn, and once at the bottom I cheered everyone else on as they made their way down. Everyone did a really great job abseiling down this great height with only a few slip ups at the top and bottom with the two odd drop offs and made sure to encourage whoever the person was that was on the rope at the time; I feel that this encouragement showed great group support. Once we finished this fun activity, we packed up everything, made our way back down the 10 minute rocky trail – while unfortunately getting attacked by those tricky thorn bushes again – climbed in the mini bus and made our way back to the Conway Centre. On arrival we unloaded our kit by placing it back in the stores all in under 5 minutes and made it back to the school at 5:00 PM on the dot.
Overall, I believe I did a great job working with my partner to communicate what was going on. We both gave one another hints as we watched each other make our climb; we always checked to make sure we were belaying in a way they wanted us to (not too fast or too slow); and once they made it to the top, we made sure they were ready to come down and allowed them to stop and go when they wanted. This communication allowed for us to learn to trust one another, which is something I really believe is important in doing a sport such as this. I also learned something about the differences in climbing grades, which are the differences in difficulties and risk of the type of climb you are doing. For us, to compare, the climbing grade of the indoor wall was much easier than the grade of the mountain. This is because while inside, as mentioned before, the grips are bigger and easier to find, and the floor is cushioned, while on the mountain the grips are very hard to find and you really have to trust yourself and the person below to hold you up as you move along. All in all, today was a very challenging, but fun and educational day. I learned to face my fear of heights and learned to love a new activity.