A part of Girl Guides that I love is camping. I love the effort you have to put into it, I love sleeping under the stars, and I love the people that do it with me.

Every summer I go to camp, and last summer I paddled the Missinaibi River for 22 days. You might think it’s a bit late to be reminiscing about last summer’s adventure, but stars are timeless.

On our last night of the trip, we were far, far away from any civilization. The closest town probably has a year-round population of fewer than a dozen. We had been through physically the hardest three weeks of our lives, portaging and walking our boats through rapids that were too shallow to shoot, nervously shooting huge rapids (and tipping on one) and getting far too little sleep. Some days, we would paddle until eight o’clock when camp policy determined we had to set up site – so we’d set up our tents on grassy shores and deal with sore backs in the morning, when we’d wake up in the dark and only see the sun rising after an hour or so.

After all that, we never forgot the beauty whose presence with which we were graced.  On the last night, we all lay down on the sand (it was probably close to midnight and as black as night can get) and stared up to the stars, and someone said something like, “I know it’s cold and late, but I know I’m not going to see this for a long... long, time.”

This weekend I went camping with the Brownies for whom I’m a junior leader, and as we were stargazing at the somewhat pathetic amount of stars you can see 40 minutes outside the city, and as we were silent to the sound of the highway, I thought back to that night. It’s one of those moments that I’ve replayed a thousand times.

It’s hard to have intense camping experiences at the age of eight, but Brownie camp is a start. I really hope some of the girls that I lead fulfill nature-related dreams. I, for one, dream of tripping the Coppermine River, which is in Nunavut, and flows out into the ocean in the northern part of Canada. I think it would be absolutely amazing to trip one of the rivers that far north. Part of the Coppermine River that I’m really interested in is the midnight sun – in certain parts of the summer, there is 24-hour sunlight that far north, and I think that would be cool to see.

For some of them, this will be the closest to the middle of nowhere they ever get, but I’m sure that for others, they’ll find they can excel in nature.

Camping really is a gift, even if it’s just two nights in the lowlands. It’s a break from constant crowds, Internet access, and the omnipresent labelling of people and things. Some people would say I like camping because it’s a break from reality, but it’s quite the opposite: it’s a break into reality. 

This is going to be a short post. I went winter camping this weekend and my hands are still a bit frozen. :)

Last weekend my Ranger unit went to William A. Switzer Provincial Park (just outside of Jasper National Park where the Rocky Mountains begin) to do some winter camping, hiking, and snowshoeing. We certainly got the full winter experience!

When we first arrived on Thursday night we were completely alone in the campground. There was not a soul in sight, and it didn’t look like anyone had used the park in weeks!

There was a bit of snow on the ground, and it was packed down hard. The park looked wonderful; the snow-covered lake with mountains of pine-covered trees for a backdrop was a peaceful postcard scene. It wasn’t too cold -- just around freezing, and it looked like it was going to be a relaxing weekend. Winter had other ideas!

When we woke up Friday morning there was almost a foot of fresh snow on the ground. And since it was only two degrees, the snow was melting and wet. It soaked into your boots and snow pants, mitts and hats. Still, we soldiered on. We set up the fire to cook our meals and used tarps over the tables to provide shelter from the snow.

Then we followed a park trail for a long hike where we saw three pheasants in the heavy woods, and plenty of animal tracks. We crawled into our tents once it was dark – and fell right to sleep despite our plan to play cards and talk about the day.

On Saturday, we hiked through knee-high -- and then thigh-high -- snow!  It was tough work taking turns breaking the trail, and I felt exhausted afterwards. But I felt very proud that we were able to travel so far as a team.

Snow was piled high up our tent walls when we got up on Sunday to break camp. We loaded up our stuff and then poured our wet and cold selves into the van for the drive back home.

Sure, the weather was a challenge. But there were times you could lie in the clean fresh snow and hear only absolute complete silence. Or the clouds would suddenly clear to a brilliant blue sky and the sun would flood the endless forest of evergreens. I felt awed by the vastness of the nature around me and the hush of winter in a way I never have during summer camps.

However, I was still grateful to come home after camp and warm up under a pile of blankets after a hot shower and a home-cooked meal. :)

I loved this camp. It is so different than my usual camp experiences. And tough. But it was also one of the most memorable weekends ever in one of the most beautiful places ever.  I absolutely have to go back in summer and see the same scenes and the beautiful lakes when they are not frozen solid. And be a lot warmer!

What do you guys think? What is your best camp experience?  Or the toughest thing you had to deal with when camping –rain, wind, snow, bugs or even scary sounds outside the tent?  Please share your great camping story.

Dear Bully edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones

About Dear Bully:

You are not alone.

Discover how R.L. Stine used humour as a defense to bullies in his class. How Lauren Kate transformed the feeling of being bullied into her first novel and how Lauren Oliver celebrated ambiguity in her classmates and in herself. Today’s top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and even as the bully. This book will take you on their emotional roller-coaster ride with you sitting right next to them.

This book is suitable for young adults, ages 12 and older, and may contain mild uses of violence and/or profanity, sexual content and/or mature themes within the context of the story.

What do you think?

1. What do you think the purpose of these authors was in sharing their bully related stories? What did you gain from it?
2. The authors shared perspectives from all sides of bullying, from the victim, the bully and even the bystander and friend. What role(s) have you played? If you were to write a letter for the book what would you be saying?
3. Kiersten White makes this comment about bystanders to bullying: “… being a bully is easy, and being a victim is all too common.  But standing on your safe middle ground and deciding to reach out where you can make a difference?  That is a rare and difficult choice”.  Do you agree with her?  Have you ever been a bystander to bullying?  What action did you take, or do you wish you could have taken to stop the bullying?
4. Even though the reported occurrence of bullying is astonishingly high it doesn’t mean you don’t have the power to change it. Participating in Girl Guides of Canada programming such as Girl Empower and Girls United can help equip you and your friends with the knowledge and skills need to build healthier happier relationships. If your Unit hasn’t already participated in either of these two programs, talk to your Unit and Guider about participating in the program and start being the change you want to be.

 Looking for more GGC Book Club book choices for July? We select four great new books offered by Harper Collins Canada each month for each of the age categories below. If it’s on our book club list, then it has already received GGC’s approval based on specific criteria. Each book is also age-rated:

Sparks and Brownies (5-8 year olds)

Brownies and Guides (9-12 year olds), and

books for adults

            I recently got the spring issue of Canadian Guider, and as I was flipping through I saw a picture of a girl in a canoe who looked rather familiar. Looking at the text beside the picture, I discovered that it was indeed my friend Alex, who I met two summers ago at a Girl Guide camp in Manitoba. The article was all about her experience with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, an award that many Girl Guides work on. She has completed the final level of the award, gold.

            As someone who is also working on my gold Duke of Ed, I know how great of an achievement this is! Gold requires developing a skill for a year or more, committing to regular physical activity for 25 weeks, completing almost 100 hours of community service, and going on an adventurous journey for a minimum of three nights (check out the site for the exact numbers and qualifications, and for the qualifications for bronze and silver too!). Alex completed her adventurous journey on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park, and I’ll be doing a backpacking journey this summer for mine.

            Practice journeys are a very important part of the journey – for gold, you have to complete two prior to your final journey. They don’t have to be as long, so my group and I went on an overnight backpacking trip over the Easter weekend. It was a crazy two days, during which we definitely discovered their importance. The first day, aside from stopping in the end of a laneway for lunch and climbing down a ladder and through a cave with a 35lb backpack on, was fairly normal. We learned that we need to practice our tying-food-in-a-tree skills a bit more, and that packing up wet tents is no fun.

            The next day was where things started to get...interesting. We were a bit tired and sore, but still moving. The park where we camped had “modern washroom facilities,” so we set out to find those. Slowly and very muddily we made our way up to the bathrooms, which was out of our way to get back on the trail, but I would argue that it was very worth it. Now, I’m not completely sure why, but the trail we were hiking entered the park in three spots. One spot was the way we entered, and we completely discounted the second, so we started going to the third. We missed our turn and made a 3.2km loop in the park before finally getting out. Knowing we weren’t going to make our lunch target, having walked over 5km that morning not on the trail we wanted to be hiking, we stopped, pulled out our pop-up stove, and made soup. We must’ve been quite a sight sitting in the middle of this trail heating up soup, but we didn’t see anyone the whole time we were there.

            On our map that there was a road not too far away from where we were sitting. After hiking towards it for an hour, we still hadn’t found it. That probably should’ve been a good sign that something was off, but no, we kept going, and finally, finally we made it to a road. The very same road on which you will find the entrance to the park we camped in and hiked around in all morning. We’d been going in a circle

            So congratulations Alex! You made it through two practice journeys, hopefully with more success than ours, and through a week long expedition! Plus that whole list of other things. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is certainly a lot of work, but the experiences you gain from working on it and completing it are fantastic. Are you involved? Thinking of getting involved? You only have to be 14 to start working on bronze, and you have until you’re 25 to finish. It’s an internationally known award, and the gold level is typically presented by a member of the royal family. Let me know in the comments if you’re working on your Duke of Ed, and what your experience has been!

Last weekend, my rangers group and I went on a three-day biking trip.
Before the trip, we had to get prepared in many ways, including training in the local gym as well as learning how to fix
bikes if there was a problem. We brought as few items, clothes and equipment as we possibly could so that our packs would be lighter. My friend and I went out to buy special bicycling shorts in preparation for the long trip ahead. The shorts were quite interesting with a lot of padding and resembling a diaper. However, the salesperson convinced us that it was vital as it would prevent us from uncomfortable bruises later on. 
On the first day, we went on the ferry to Vancouver Island where we stayed at a Girl Guide campsite. The site was quite cold and march-like with many birds and even a few deer. Entering the cabin, there were numerous bunk beds which were made of cloth. They were similar to three layered hammocks. Overall, the cabin resembled a room out of a scary movie as all the windows were boarded up and there were spider webs on the ceiling. It was especially unnerving to find a small shed under the front porch.
The second day was when we started the trip. We woke up at 7:00 a.m. and started biking down the Galloping Goose Trail. Because it had just rained the night before, the first part of the trail was quite unpleasant. Worms had slithered out from the dirt and were lying en-mass all over the trail. It was obvious that their were earlier bikers from the remnants of half-smooshed worms. However, the scenery was quite beautiful as we passed the ocean, numerous farms, and a few chickens on the roadside.
Although the idea of biking six hours a day seemed daunting at first, it was actually really relaxing and an experience that I really enjoyed. Towards the end, it was quite tiring, but when we reached the goal, we felt as if we really accomplished something.