Highland Trail, Algonquin Park - May 3-7, 1999- After arriving at the park at around 11:30, we hiked in and ate lunch on a beautiful cliff over-looking a lake. We stopped once at a bridge, and later to observe a moose. The sun beat down from the blue sky. The first evening we camped on a point. The swimming and fishing were both great. We had a small campfire, and a cake which B.J. had transported all the way in. We fell asleep to the calls of the loons and the lulling sound of the peepers. On Tuesday morning we left in different groups. Even early on, the heat and sun were incredible. We stopped for lunch beside a lake, and by two o'clock, were at our second camp. Some camped in the sheltered area, while others ventured out to the point. Wednesday morning the sun was even hotter than before. Tim had an unfortunate accident and ripped his fingernail off. Josh led an amazing campfire that evening, full of songs, stories, skits, poetry and reflections. The next day a slight cloud cover kept the early morning cooler, but it soon warmed up, and some had to stop to make Popsicles from a huge ice block beside the trail, mixed with iced tea powder. We were informed of a fire ban, so in the evening we sat around an empty fire pit, as one hiking group sang us an awesome song they had made up for the class: "Best Foot Forward." Thunderheads and violent winds threatened to spoil the wonderful weather, but didn't. Friday morning we took many breaks to make sure that we didn't arrive too early. Everyone seemed eager to get back. Despite the wonderful time we had had, the blisters and lack of sleep were wearing most down, and it was time to go home. Thanks to Carl Hoelke and Amy Mark for accompanying us on this trip.

Lake Placid - May 24-28 1999 - What an amazing trip! After around five hours in the car, lots of crazy comments and bad music, we arrived in Lake Placid. The campsite was a big grassy field, with a road running through it and bushes and trees to all sides. After quickly setting up camp, we set off to climb Mount Cascade. The hike was not too long, but partway up it began to rain. We were all wet but enjoyed the white all around us at the top, which shrouded our views. We returned to the campsite to discover that a couple of tents were filled with water. It must have been awful to be the group that didn't have a tarp to cook under with all that rain.

We were divided up into groups for the next three days' activities. The first day's biking group had to wait for ages for the bikes to arrive, but they turned out to be pretty awesome bikes. They proceeded to bike around the Olympic ski trails and stopped to sit in the bobsleds before trekking home, which involved some awesome down-hills, and a wild portage route. The next two groups both left from the campsite and biked around in the Keene area. Some people took accidental detours off their routes making them excessively long. The area was mountainous, so everyone got a good work out.

The first hiking group climbed Algonquin. They were caught in a blizzard at the top, and were so frozen they had to descend almost immediately. They took the long route, though, and arrived at home late, tired and grumpy. The second day's group climbed Mount Marcy, the highest peak in the Adirondacks. The weather was clearing up, but it still showered a little bit. After a false peak, the group finally reached the summit. It was an arduous climb, but the view was amazing. Because of the shortened day, Thursday's group climbed Giant, a slightly shorter climb, but had some fine views.

Because of the rain, the first two groups had to do their rock climbing inside the building on a chimney. They learned a lot of interesting things that one does not generally learn on the rocks, including rescues and history. Thursday's group actually got to climb outside, with a spectacular view off the cliff.

Thursday night we were out on the town. After much indecisiveness, the majority of us ate at a restaurant called Jimmy's. Following dinner most people went to the movies, as the stores were closing, but some decided to roam the town, and eat ice cream. That night there was a campfire, which ran until all hours of the night. Friday morning we packed up and left. The ride home was quieter than the ride there, and everyone arrived home safe but sad it was over.

Temagami - June 6-13 1999 - Bright and early on the morning of our departure, people arrived and loaded huge quantities of gear into the waiting vehicles. Though we were slightly delayed by a late arrival, we set off and after a long drive on the highway and very dusty road, we found ourselves at the drop off. After a quick lunch we put in and paddled across Ferguson Bay. On the other side we found ourselves confronted by our first portage. The day's journey cut across a number of lakes and worked it's way into a moderate head-wind. The day ended late and we had some ill people on board. Everyone was pleased when the paddling stopped at the east end of Diamond Lake. Many swam, and everyone dined on the amazing food, water melon included. The second day was not quite as long of a day. We were up at the crack of dawn once again, and set off down up toward the Lady Evelyn River. It was a very sunny day, and the heat started to get to us. There were a fair number of portages, and we were happy to discover that on the middle of the last one was our campsite. The location was at the base of Center Falls. Though there were not a lot of campsites, people made due and found some pretty neat places. We swam in a little pool at the bottom of the falls.

The third day we didn't cover a whole lot of distance, but we did a lot of lining and portaging and even ran a little fast water. The day was speckled with poison ivy and dangerous bugs. That evening we got an amazing campsite at the top of the impressive Bridal Veil Falls. A couple of daredevils wandered out into the middle of the falls and were lucky they weren't killed. All the campsites were very close together in this area. We swam in the base of the river and explored the area with much energy. We had to work as a group to get the canoes down along side the falls. The morning of the fourth day we set off and were soon confronted with a number of crazy portages, including Fat Man's and the 4+ km portage. Fat Man's was teamwork in a word; no group could have made it alone. The 4 km portage was hard, but everyone felt the burn of accomplishment at the end, despite the muddy state of affairs. That evening we arrived at our proposed campsite only to discover that someone else was there. We did a few more kilometers, and camped on the following portage. There was a beautiful little lake for us to swim in.

The next morning, we portaged, crossed to a nearby point and portaged again, and were done with portaging for the day. We crossed Wakimika Lake, and surfed the swifts on either end. We stopped to observe and contribute to the barrier built by the Native Peoples to protect the Old Growth Forests from logging. In the afternoon we arrived the campsite on Obabika Lake and pitched camp. We swam in the brisk, choppy water. The next day we left our belongings at the campsite but took our canoes and day packs up to the a little lake. The lake was a Native spiritual ground located in an area of the Old Growth Forest. We explored the area, the conjuring rock, the caves, the plants and minerals. The guys and girls split up and went to different ends of the lake to go skinny dipping. We got back together for lunch and spent half the lunch break diving for a pair of lost sunglasses. The afternoon was our free time to reflect for a couple of hours, by ourselves. After hiking up to see some of the old red pines, we returned to our campsite. In the evening we discussed our reflections around the campfire. The next morning we left fairly early in an attempt to beat the wind. We made amazing time and were incredulous to find ourselves at camp before noon. That afternoon we swam many times, and sat around and socialized. It was one of the hottest days we had. Everyone was beginning to realize that this was the last full day and we would soon be headed home. TAMARACK was almost over. That evening B.J. lead a final campfire. Everyone shared a reading and each food group prepared a skit. The bugs tried to eat us all alive, but they were unsuccessful; we're all still here. In the morning most people were awakened either to the taking down of, or the collapsing of their tents. There was a long distance to cover on the final day, but we made good time and beat our rides. We got a total of maybe a minute of rain the whole time we were out there, though on the car rides both there and back we observed major rains and thunder.