Hi. My name is Kailyn and for school in 5th grade I got to go to something called Eco Week. Eco Week is when the 5th graders go to the mountains in October and stay there for 3 days and 2 nights. We stay in cabins sharing the room with several other classmates. My room had 10 people. Some of my friends were in the same cabin as me: Anna W., Anna H., Molly, Hannah, Riley, Kiley, Izzy, Payton, Sarah, and me. Some things we did in the dorm: well, we slept there, obviously. I know we did a lot of giggling and talking (even after "lights out"). They say Anna H. snored, but I never heard it. Lights out was at 10 pm.
 |
| My roommates and I. Top row: Left to right Molly and Hannah. Next row: Me, Riley, and Sarah. Next row: Payton, Kiley and Izzy. Bottom row: Anna W. and Anna H. (The one who snored) |
When we arrived, we met in our 4 groups: Pica, Wolf, Bear, and Moose groups. I was in the Wolf group. These are the groups we stayed in to do things together. For example, one would do geocaching while another did the ropes course.
 |
| This is me after the 2 hour bus drive to the mountains. It is only October, but the leaves have already changed colors. Good news--I didn't even throw up on the twisty bus ride! |
 |
| After dropping off our stuff in the dorms, we met in the amphitheater and talked about safety and rules. |
Some of the instructions were things we should not do while hiking: For example, one "hiker" had no shoes and no backpack and said, "I don't really know where I'm going. I don't know where the trails are." Others approached the hiker and asked where her lunch and water were. She thought, "Oh, yeah, water," and started to try to get water from the stream. The other hikers reminded her that moose poop in the streams and there would be lots of germs. The inexperienced hiker replied, "No they don't. Moose poop in toilets!"
On the first day, I did the ropes course and stream ecology. See pictures below of the ropes course. In stream ecology, we learned about insects that live on rocks. I got a mayfly nymph and was able to look at the insect under a microscope. It looked like it had a jellybean for a nose, and had whiskers. After doing the two rotations, we went back to our rooms to unpack and get our sleeping bags ready, etc. Then we went to dinner and had pizza. We got a glass of water first. After we finished a glass of water, we could get chocolate milk or milk but no soda. After dinner, we went to a campfire and sang songs. After that, we went to a clear area a little ways away and looked at the stars. Some people, me included, went on a night hike. When we went back to the dorms and changed into our PJs and settled down (which took foreeeeever, and then went to sleep).
 |
| At Eco Week, there is a ropes course where you can do all sorts of fun things. This is the Giant Swing. On the wooden platform sticking out, you get harnessed in and jump off. You swing back and forth until you stop. It is 30 feet off the ground. |
 |
| This is the catwalk. You walk across, and if you are daring, you can climb to the top cat walk. Only 2 or 3 people (not me) went to the top cat walk. |
 |
| This is the Leap of Faith. You climb up a telephone pole jump off, and try to catch hold of a trapeze bar. |
 |
This is the back view of the Giant Swing, where some people are swinging (Left middle and Right middleish.)
|
 |
| This is Stream Ecology. Above is a picture of a net catching rocks and the little guys living on the rocks. |
 |
| Here is 1 of the groups looking at the animals they got. |
Day 2: We made our beds and got dressed. Then we all met in the lounge and went to the mess hall where we got a brown paper bag and packed a lunch. Then we went to breakfast and had jalapeño sausage, eggs, and french toast. Then we packed our backpacks for the hike, then went to the amphitheater. We got some instructions on hiking and broke into 4 groups for the hike (see in the pictures below). Our group had a short hike of only 5 miles, so we were the first group back. While waiting for everyone else, we played games and read books until everyone else returned. For dinner, we had pot roast and mashed potatoes. Then we went to "the old classroom." We gathered together in a big tight circle and then sat on each others' laps. It was great until one person fell, and then we all fell. Then we played "rock, paper, scissors, shoot." The goal was to become superhuman. Everyone started as an egg. Once you defeated someone, you became a chicken. If you won again, you would be a dinosaur. After dinosaur, you became a superhuman. If you lost, you dropped to the previous level. I kept bouncing between chicken and dinosaur but finally made it to superhuman. Some others just never quite made it to superhuman. Something else we did, was Mrs. Oaster "read" Mrs. Hale's mind. Mrs. Hale would think of an object while Mrs. Oaster was out of the room. Mrs. Oaster got the object right every time. We figured out that it was always after a black object--the first object after a black object was the answer. We also watched Mr. U and Mr. Kenna perform a skit. They were dressed as chefs but someone else's arms were in the sleeves. They were trying to make hot chocolate with the other persons arms. Mr. U's mustache fell into the hot chocolate. They had to sample each other's hot chocolate. Mr. Kenna didn't like they hairy taste. After that, we were able to choose a cookie (Chips Ahoy or Oreo) and sat down and watched a movie called "The Killer Mouse." It was a documentary about a grasshopper mouse, which "howls" like a wolf (sounds more like a squeak to me) and hunts like a lion. Then we went to bed again. Again, it took a looooong time to calm down.
 |
| This is the mess hall. There is a salad bar on the left. The first time we were there, my friends and I sat down, and after awhile, a hairy spider the size of my tray dropped from the ceiling and wiggled back and forth a few times before returning to its spot in the rafters. |
 |
| This is Stumpy's cabin. On the night of the campfire, they told us a ghost story. The story was: Once there was a little boy who lived with his family in the woods. He loved to go exploring and would walk around in the woods. One day, he returned and found his house on fire. He ran inside and tried to find his family to rescue them. Suddenly, a beam fell from the ceiling and landed on his foot. His foot fell off and he dragged himself out of the cabin. He had to steal things to survive. The rumor is that he lived in a cabin out in the woods (above). This year, it finally collapsed, and you can see a rug peeking out the side. Luckily, "Stumpy" wasn't in it. |
| Here are a couple of pictures of the hike. |
 |
| At Eco, there were 4 hikes. Stormy peak is 12 miles, Mummy Range is also 12 miles, B-17 bomber is 9 miles, and Cirque Meadow is 5 miles. Above is my group, the Cirque Meadow hikers. |
 |
This is a picture of Mummy Range. If you look, you can see the head, arms, feet, and snow "wrappings".
|
 |
| Above is Cirque Meadow, with a back view of Mummy. |
 |
The scenery was so pretty, I couldn't resist taking a picture.
|
 |
| This is Mr. U and Mr. Kenna doing the skit with someone else's arms in the sleeves. |
Day 3: was boring. It snowed overnight and was "very snowy" (like hardly an inch). Another school was with us, and they chickened out and called the buses to come pick us up. So, we had to leave earlier than expected. We spent the morning packing and getting ready to go. I was supposed to do geocaching and fire ecology but missed out on those.
| I had a lot of fun at Eco Week. I am so glad I was able to go. With all of the flooding, I wasn't sure if I would be able to go, but they re-opened the roads just a couple of days before our group was supposed to go. Some other groups missed out, but I'm glad we could go. |
