Rock Climbing
May 8, 2004 by Kelli Hedding
Rock climbing at Upper Limits went very well. Everyone enjoyed themselves and many are interested in going climbing again. I believe rock climbing can be such a good analogy for daily life. I have personally learned that when you are climbing you have to push yourself beyond what you think you can do or you will regret it later. I had climbed a few weeks before this trip and gave up on a wall that seemed too tough for me. It drove me crazy for the next few weeks thinking that I had given up. Saturday when we climbed, the very first thing I did was go to the wall I had given up on and climb to the top. I was glad that I got another opportunity, but we don’t always in daily life. Make the most of every opportunity. You have to push past your fear and your fatigue. If you don’t you may miss something important God has for you.
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
Reaching for a hold.
There was something for all skill levels: from the short and simple 30’ climbs in the main room to The Cave. The Cave was a big hit, especially among the guys. The Cave consists of, well, not very many walls to climb, but there are an abundance of hand and foot holds on the ceiling to cling to if your heart so desires. Some of the girls even tried it, though they weren’t as successful as some of the guys. Some of the guys were so good they just kind of crawled across the ceiling like spiders. By dinner time everyone’s muscles were hurting and everyone was ready for dinner.
Besides the physical challenge, this latest “adventure” enabled me to get to know the other young people a little bit better. I find that physical activity like climbing and caving and simply “adventuring” with others is a great way to get to know people. Everyone is pushing through the same tight spot together or attempting the same climb or freezing their toes off in the same icy water. Everyone is in the same boat together…and maybe the water is rising?
Trip Photos
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
Learning how to tie a strong knot.
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
A lesson at our belaying class before we went to Upper Limits.
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
Being certified to belay.
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
Belaying is an important job. You’re holding the other person’s life.
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
Reaching the top of one of the 60 foot towers.
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| From 2004-05-08 Rock Climbing at Upper Limits |
Group photo afterward.
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asdPaintball Day
April 24, 2004 by Nathaniel Bluedorn
9:30 – We arrive at Dewayne Fender’s wooded lot where he has built forts and paths for playing paintball. Before we start he explains the rules of paintball and how to play safe. We have eighteen players and we divide into two groups: the Blue Team and the Red Team.
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| From 2004-04-24 Paintball Day |
Getting ready for the first game.
10:00 – Siege: Our team is set to guard one of the forts. We place players behind the walls and on the tower. The rest of the team hides in ambushes around the fort to guard where we’re vulnerable. We have a timer set for seven minutes. The other team must get everyone out of our fort before the timer goes off. The attacking team has multiple lives, so if they are hit, they can return to their base and re-enter the game.
Right from the start, we have trouble risking ourselves. Nobody wants to get shot. However, though the day we learn to take risks and charge the enemy’s position. After a fierce battle, our team wins the first game.
10:30 – Elimination: Both teams start at opposite ends of the field. Each team tries to eliminate the other team. This is simple, and we finish in less than five minutes. We advance using barricades to cover us as the next guy runs to the next barricade.
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| From 2004-04-24 Paintball Day |
A paintball battle in progress. You can see the players crouched behind the barricades.
12:00 – We break for lunch. Mrs. Fender has made a grand supply of goodies.
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| From 2004-04-24 Paintball Day |
Everyone is hungry for lunch.
1:00 – Capture the Flag: This was the longest game. Each team needs to capture the opposing team’s flag. The flags are at two forts on opposite ends of the field. If you are hit, you can go back to your team’s fort and re-enter the game.
First, we strategize and divide our team into three divisions. One division guards our flag, and two divisions take different routs toward the enemy’s fort. But once the game starts, tactics change. For the first ten minutes, there is confusion as players are hit and run back to their fort to re-enter the game. I am in the division guarding our flag. I shoot from behind a barricade that allows me to keep the enemy off for quite a while. Then my gun jams. At first, nobody notices that I’m not firing, and I try to keep it that way. But then they make a rush. Within five minutes, they take our fort and our flag and run.
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| From 2004-04-24 Paintball Day |
Taking a rest after the game.
2:00 – It begins to rain. We go into Mr. Fender’s garage and tell yarns about our exploits in the field. Novices propound clever strategies for wining, and old-timers keep silent with views of their own. Then someone gets the idea of playing a game in the rain.
4:00 – The day ends as we file back into the garage wet and exhausted. We start cleaning ourselves and our guns. The rain’s washed off most of the paint, but now we have to wash off the mud.
6:00 – We have supper and talk.
9:00 – Everybody goes over to our (the Bluedorn’s) house to spend the night.
Paintball teaches skills that you can’t learn in books. It’s a game of action and quick decisions. You must choose to risk your life, figuratively speaking, and know how to coordinate with your team members. Being an overly strategic person, I’ve learned when less thinking and more quick action is needed. I’ve enjoyed this, and I think it will help me in the future.
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asdCave Cricket
March 9, 2004 by Nathaniel Bluedorn
7:30 – We leave the Russell’s house in Cincinnati and drive to London, Kentucky. We talk to a lady at the Kentucky tourist center about where Wells Cave might be, and we figure an approximate location based on where Buck Creek crosses highway 192. We have a map to the cave that was printed in the National Speleological Society News, but it is not clear. The NSS recently bought the cave and operates it as a public nature preserve.
1:00 – We arrive at Buck Creek, and start looking for a side road with the NSS kiosk. After meandering around for half an hour, I work up the courage to knock on someone’s door. A nice old gentleman directs us to a different road that we’d passed earlier.
1:30 – We arrive at the Wells Cave Preserve parking lot and suit up our caving equipment.
2:00 – We descend into the sinkhole that is the main entrance to Wells Cave. We see a passage to the left and take that route.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
Johannah in the entrance to Wells Cave.
I’m in a bad mood because it took so long to find the cave and because . . . well, I’m just in a bad mood. So Hans and I call a truce on bad moods, and proceed further in the cave.
The map from the National Speleological Society shows Wells Cave as a maze, but doesn’t give enough detail to get from one place to another. As we descend into the cave we discover many side passages and large rooms with many exits. We are looking for a way towards the main stream passage marked on the map. In one side passage, Johannah sees a creature we’ve never encountered before: a cave cricket.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
A cave cricket colony. They have long legs, even longer antennae, and they jump.
We try every side passage and all of them pinch off, or are blocked by cave crickets.
3:00 – We return to a second entrance to reconnoiter and look at the map. We realize our fear of cave crickets is somewhat irrational. We wish we had other people with us.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
Hans and Johannah looking at the NSS map to decide where to go from here.
3:30 – We find our way to a small hole leading down into a pit. We feel air flowing up from the pit and we hear water running down below. But we decide it is unsafe to chimney down the hole since we don’t know how to do this properly.
4:00 – We decide to make friends with the cave crickets. So we make a video of us going though a passage with crickets. They’re more afraid of us than we are of them.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
Hans and I sitting next to our friend, Mr. Cave Cricket.
4:30 – We haven’t found a way to the stream on the map and we are about to call it quits. Hans notices a small crack and suggests I go down it. It keeps going, and after descending a hundred feet or so, it opens into a big room with a noisy stream rushing though the middle. We follow this to a waterfall and a canyon passage that seems to go on forever.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
Crawling down low passage.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
Johannah and Hans next to the waterfall.
6:00 – We turn back because it is late and we left our extra batteries at the opening to the small crack. (Lesson: never leave your pack behind.) Our only regret is that we explored less than a fifth of the cave. We resolve to come back some day.
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| From 2004-03-09 Wells Cave |
Group photo after Wells Cave.
Lessons
We learned that it is much more enjoyable when other people come on adventures with us, and we learned that we must overcome our fears early on if we want to get anything done.
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