Written by the whole group, interpreted by Anna Saclolo, Andrea Hamilton, Alison Young, Toby Marshall and Eric Thomas.
There is a place where earth meets sky, water meets earth, and we meet the elements. It all started on a cold, dark, snowy morning at 6 A.M. on April 15th. 16 of us, droopy-eyed and excited, climbed out of our sleep and sheltered lives (cars), and started packing the van for an adventure where we would learn about ourselves, our Earth, and the love shared between people.
We were all a little weary of each other in the beginning, we being Mike Ennis, Andrea Hamilton, Anna Saclolo, Alison Young, Kim Colway, Eric Thomas, Chris Wegler, Emily Richards, Casey Wright, Dawn Hesselgrave, Phil Lynott, Matt Morseth, Toby Marshall, Scott Vetter and our fearless leaders Randy Nelson and Doug Berg, but Doug helped restore faith by saying “This group has the possibility to laugh in the rain!” Little did we know it was true.
After we got packed and as settled as 14 kids could get, we headed off for our mysterious destination; Arkansas. We spent the morning lumbering through the vast fields of southern MN and Iowa. Somewhere along the corn we stopped for lunch. The further south we went, the snow faded and the sun appeared. In Doug’s van we were enjoying the sounds of Bob Marley. Suddenly “Buffalo Soldier” blasted over the speakers in a way that none of us had heard it before. Anna described the song as being sung by a chipmunk with burrs in its tail. Meanwhile, in Randy’s van, Casey, Dawn, Andrea, Matt, and Chris were discussing the “mountainous bayou in Iowa” and Matt started chanting “Ola, Ola, Pepsi Cola!” We reached Knob Noster, Missouri sometime in early evening. It was 75 degrees and the sun was shining. We camped in a state park right outside town and the 16 of us, complaining and cramped, started to organize and set up camp. Some of us looked at each other with the knowledge and fear that this was going to be a chaotic trip. None of us had ever been gone for 2 weeks with such a large number of wild, cranky kids. We couldn’t have a tire because of the dry weather, so Doug amused us with Journal assignment #1, interview someone we don’t know very well. After our Dinty Moore dinner, we somehow pulled together and ran wildly around the forest, all ending up as a group stumbling and hopping across rocks to a little cove where we all sat and enjoyed each others company. It was here that Mike and Chris transformed into Kermit and Christina Stumbles. They were never to return.
We awoke to find our loving teachers gone and two wild woodsmen in their place. Anyone who has been on a trip knows what we are talking about. We were jotted from our dreams of sugarplums and cars and thrown into the vans to continue our trek to Arkansas. On the way we encountered a confederate flag, 138 southern Baptist churches and an “Adopt a Highway” sign endorsed by the KKK. We knew we were no longer in our Yankee territory.
As we descended through the giant hills of the Ozarks, down a windy gravel road, we came upon what was to be our home for the next three days. As the sight of the green lushness overwhelmed us, we were filled with a new joy and a sense of freedom. While we were all climbing excitedly out of the van and running barefoot through the grass, Alison and Anna were off catching the first glimpse of the turquoise path that would lead us on our journey through the Ozark mountains, ninety miles down the Buffalo National River. Our numbed society stricken, city minds were already beginning to change.
After we settled down, we started our dinner of baked beans and hot dogs. The conversation over dinner consisted of Doug bragging about his “best damn wienie roasting stick” and how this was Emily’s first experience in the art of cooking hot dogs in the great wide open. Tonight was our first night we were able to have a fire. Around the fire is where we started finding each other. As we sat on the beautiful sand bar which had become a place for bonding and being one with the earth (hee, hee!), we opened up to each other. It was here that we learned that Ennis howls at the moon, Casey has a lot of war stories and Anna chased the eye stinging smoke away by chanting “blue bunnies go to hell”. Later that night after most of the group had resorted to their tents, Alison, Scott and Anna, the fire tenders, lay down in their bags, on the sand under the trees and watched the numerous falling stars as they drifted off to sleep.
“Hey, lets go get some wood you moron!”
“Whatever geek!” These were the words we heard as Mike and Phil went to get wood this morning while the rest of us prepared for the hike that afternoon. Our canteens were full, our tents were secured and tidied, and the food was put away and organized. Toby and Wegler had the privilege of seeing Mike and Phil baptize themselves in the river and sacrifice the first paddle to the river gods. Put in Phil’s words “Mike had this great idea to bring the canoe to me at the end of the island, so we wouldn’t have to carry the wood to the canoe (Lazy fools). So Mike starts showing off trying to paddle upstream to me all of a sudden the canoe starts to tip and Mike just jumps out. What a moron!” So when Ennis came lumbering up over the hill soaking wet we all had a good laugh.
Doug and Randy broke us in with today’s charming three mile hike through Lost Valley. The first natural impression we came upon was the Siamese Beech trees that had grown together about 20 feet in the air. We would have easily passed had we not taken the time to stop and look. The next sight we came upon was the jigsaw blocks which are massive rectangular rocks that had fallen off the bluffs above creating natural bridges across streams. We each went our own direction, exploring Cob Cave and Eden Falls, that eventually led us up a windy path to Eden Falls cave. Inside the cave an underground stream enters the cave by way of the 35 feet waterfall which spills from the top of a circular room in the rear of the cave. On the way to this room we started walking through the cold stream encountering bats, then eventually had to crawl 100 yards through water, keeping low so not to disturb bats. Once in the room, the stinging of our soggy knees receded and the roar of the waterfall hitting the floor of the cave drowned out all other sounds. Put in the words of Matt Morseth, “This is the most kick ass thing I’ve ever done.”
We awoke to the soothing sounds of Doug and Randy grumbling and shaking out sleeping bags, all the while moaning about how early it was. Doug made us a feast of pancakes and bacon for breakfast. When camp was picked up and put away we headed off to Ponca the town right outside Steel Creek, our campsite. From there we were on our way to the start of our 11 mile hike through the Ozarks to our end point Compton, Arkansas. We arrived at the head of the trail and patiently waited for Doug and Randy as they shuttled the van. When they got back we grouped up and started down the trail. Dawn, Casey, Andrea and Phil were ahead of the group and were the first to have the pleasure of seeing a snake. Casey, being the brave one, chased it away with a stick. After about three miles down we stopped for lunch at Big Bluff. Big Bluff is an immense overlook about 400 ft. above the river. We explored around the rock formations for about half an hour then ate, all the while gawking at the view which was miles and miles of spring freshness in the hills. The weather was hot and the sun was beating down on our sweaty, unshowered little bodies. We kept hiking and ventured to Granny Henderson’s cabin, which is one of the last houses to be occupied in the area. Soon after we came to the river and we met a bunch of Okies puffing on their Marlboros. In other words, it was an alternative program from Oklahoma, just like us, canoeing in the wilderness, and their administration let them SMOKE! Fresh out of water, we headed for Hemmed-in Hollow, but decided to take a 45 minute detour around a mountain, through some trees, over a stream that Alison so gracefully bailed into. Then we all decided to freak out at each other. Andrea starts her emotional scale for the rest of the trip by crying because we were lost. After we established where we were and calmed down we finally found Hemmed-in Hollow, the most serene, gorgeous place in the world. It’s a natural amphitheater 200-300 ft. up with a waterfall that you can stand under and take a natural shower. We soaked our feet and relaxed while Chris, Eric and Matt scaled the rocks to about halfway up. We all knew the last leg of the hike would be a treacherous 2.9 miles, equivalent to 2200 stairs, uphill. Some of us kids hauled with Doug and Randy, while some of us lagged, hot and dehydrated, behind. Andrea was the last one up and after Eric came and took her pack, like the gallant knight he is, she sat on a rock and thought she was going to die from sunstroke. Emily, Lynott and Alison were not too far ahead of her and Alison kept yelling words of encouragement to her. When we finally reached the top of the mountain, exhausted and thirsty, Andrea looked at everyone, sat down and bawled. This hike was not only physical but emotional and a great learning experience. After today, we all know we could do anything together. The first thing we all did when we got back to Steel Creek was throw ourselves into the cold river and wash the sweat, warmth and tears from our bodies. On the drive back we noticed a lot of small fires and by night they had turned into blaze across the night sky. We were forbidden to have a fire because of the dry weather so we amused ourselves by wandering aimlessly around our campsite. Alison and Anna heard some elk and were completely startled by them. The rest of the group night hiked and we all went to sleep, Alison, Anna, Scott, Matt, Eric, and Wegler trying to sleep in a hammock, but he gave up and slept on the sandbar with them while Toby, Andrea, Dawn, Casey, Emily, Phil, Mike and Kim went to their respective tents and we fell fast into dreams.
We awoke nervous, because today was our first day in the canoe. We packed all our gear into the vans and passed time running around and hanging out on the sandbar while our teachers shuttled to our next campsite, Erbie. Then we all got together before we all got in our canoes. Doug gave us a thrilling if not tantalizing speech on the J and C stroke. Some of us were pretty confused. A lot of us had never been canoeing on a river. Emily and Mike were the first and most frequent to capsize, and Ennis got a lot of heat from Doug for donating paddles to a tree. We pulled up to a discerning rapid and only the lucky few made it through without a spilling. Emily, Matt, Mike, and Chris met a snake in the river and when Andrea heard about it she kept thinking that every stick was a snake. That’s when Toby started calling them the “Arkansas poisonous biting sticks.” The scenery on the river was awesome and we were sharing the river with natives of Arkansas. It was a day of laughing and learning about the river. We arrived at Erbie early evening. Our spirits were as high and bright as the sun. We ate dinner and sent Doug and Randy on their way. Our job was to waterproof our personal gear and organize the food while they were shuttling the van. In the mean time the 14 of us were lounging around camp, bitching and moaning about everything everyone was doing wrong. Irritation was flowing through each of us. We just weren’t getting anything accomplished. Then the dark looming horizon rolled in and covered up our sweet sunshine. We all scrambled to get everything done. Rain was on its way. We all forgot that we hated each other and helped get the group gear organized then flew into our tents as the rain began. Anna, Alison and Scott refused to be forced into a tent. Because of the rain the three of them ventured off and got wood. They met up with a ranger while they were trying to get a fire going. He warned them of the impending severe storms and tornadoes and bid us a good night, meanwhile Doug and Randy were having troubles with the van. When they arrived back at camp the rain was gone. Doug complimented us on our ability to pull together. From here on we were more sensitive to each other’s needs and feelings. We were beginning to care about each other. We were all forced to sleep in tents that night because of the rain.
This beautiful morning we got wild and had an exciting breakfast of oatmeal. Bergie and Uncle Randy took off to shuttle the vans to Buffalo Point. Buffalo Point was the final destination in the Ozarks. We spent the day, packing, water proofing, relaxing, and watching a rescue team simulate a rescue. Doug and Randy arrived back at camp and we were on the river within an hour, with very little hassle. We had an enjoyable five mile float to our next stop, Ozark. This was a day to soak in the Arkansas forest and landscape that was unfamiliar to our Minnesota eyes. It was a content time as we got acquainted with our home for the night. Doug entertained us with a story about turtles, and assigned us two journal writings:
- Find something never seen before. Describe it or draw it in great detail.
- How have you become more in touch with nature? The evening was filled with singing, playing, and dancing, with some of the locals.
The day started earlier than usual. It was 30 miles to the next site, Mt. Hersey. We were the only people on the river this quiet morning. As the day progressed our A.D.D. kicked in and our voices carried through the hills. Mt. Hersey wasn’t what we had expected of it, so we ventured on down the river 100 yards to a gravel bar where we unloaded. Everyone was tired from the long haul that day. The weather had been grand. After dinner and a story around the fire we retired to our sacks. Alison, Anna, Casey, Dawn, Toby and Scott confusingly scrambled into the tents when the rain awoke them around ten p.m. The next morning we awoke ornery and wet. It had rained all night and was still going. We canoed all morning in the rain, the river was rising and the rapids going stronger. We stopped at Woolum for lunch and pulled our canoes up on shore. We walked up over a small hill and went to the bathroom, put on warm clothes and ate. As we were coming down over the hill, Eric told Doug he had met pine trees smarter then Phil. When Doug looked up laughing, he startled some of us by yelling and we realized the water had risen so fast, three of our boats were floating away down river. Some of us ran after them and Scott, Dawn and Casey jumped in to get one of them back. It was mass confusion. Doug and Randy had to speed down the river in their canoe to grab one it was so far down. When we all calmed down and got our canoes back we were on our way. We were kind of lagging because of the cold and Doug kept yelling at us to stay together. Casey, Dawn, Scott and Ennis were leading the way with Eric, Kim, Phil and Emily close behind, with Alison, Anna, Andrea, Toby, Matt and Chris bringing up the rear. Because the river was so flooded no one had any indication where to go, so we were left guessing. The rain created two channels in the river and they were divided by raging current, flooded sandbars and treetops. Kim, Eric, Phil and Emily were maneuvering through the trees and Alison and Anna pulled off some tricky turn to avoid going in the river which had reached flood stage by now. Seconds later something took a turn for the worse. Everyone heard Andrea screaming. No one could see Toby and the Red Devil was laying on its side. Everyone realized they had tipped and the canoe was pinned up on some trees. Eric and Phil yelled to each other, landed the canoe, threw out the girls and gear then paddled over to help. Chris and Matt were behind Andrea and Toby so they landed on a sandbar to give some assistance because they were closest. So the 4 guys were trudging through the cold angry river to save Andrea and Toby. It was almost impossible to get your footing, keep it and walk against the current, so they had to hold tree branches when they could. When Eric and Phil made it to where we were, Matt was pulling Toby out and wrestling the cooler out of the river and on to dry land. Andrea was screaming for help, clinging frantically to the top of the tree. All that was going through her head is that she was going to die. When cool, calm, Chris came to get her in the water all she could do was bawl and say “I’m sorry” over and over again. She finally got her footing and Chris stood there as she flipped out in the middle of the Buffalo River. He told her to take his hand and led her to shore. The guys hung on like flood victims on rescue 911 but there wasn’t going to be a helicopter, just a few scared, wet, kids, with a canoe pinned against a tree with a cracked gunnel and a Duluth Pack in it full of gear. Everyone was exhausted, freezing cold and had been in that raging current way too long. As they (Eric, Phil, Matt and Chris) stood there they realized their mission wasn’t over. They had to get the canoe off of the tree before it snapped in half. So as they struggled and used every last bit of energy to remove the 1000 lbs force canoe from away from that tree, Phil grabbed the Duluth pack and started floating down river with it. Eric screamed at him to let go because he’ll kill himself, but Phil just said “It’s Andrea’s stuff, she’ll kill me”, so Chris, Matt, and Eric screamed and fought to get that canoe out of the tree and stay alive. Alison was yelling at Andrea and Doug yelled at Andrea to tell them what’s going on. All she could do was cry. Toby gave her a big hug, then came the other guys with the Red Devil. What an adventure. The group pulled over to make sure everyone was all right. We were all cold but all o.k. We got clothes for Eric (who was unusually cold) after he changed and walked around for a while he was fine. It scared us though. Doug gave us the option to camp right where we were for the night and make up the extra miles the next day. None of us wanted to stay there we all wanted to push on – so we did. Dawn helped calm Andrea and everyone was a little freaked. As we were leaving the landing, Andrea was sitting in her canoe crying and Toby was in the back singing Elvis, “I’m all shook up, uh huh”. This made everyone laugh because Toby was making light of the situation.
Five minutes after departing we all looked up and noticed that it wasn’t raining anymore and the sun was coming out. The Gods love us! Our moods were great. We spent the rest of the afternoon smiling and laughing. We arrived at Tyler’s Bend early evening. We spent the evening drying gear and taking care of ourselves. Some wussies even showered. We all slept outside together that night. The next 2 days we were stuck at Tyler Bend. We knew we weren’t going anywhere the first day because the river had risen far too high. When we woke up it was completely clear and blue and sunny. Doug and Randy seemed kind of antsy because they had 14 kids and no agenda. We all did our personal stuff that morning. Then we sat down and had a totally intense emotional discussion about the book we were assigned to read “Where the Red Fern Grows”. It made some of us really think about how we live and what we take for granted. As we were talking, an older man named James sat down and befriended us. He was there for the rest of our stay at Tyler Bend. We walked up to the Tyler Bend Visitors Center and looked at all the displays on the nature, animals and natives of the land. We then watched two informational movies on the river’s history and what it took to keep the river flowing because some people wanted it to be dammed. We met a wonderful lady, Roxanna, who is a park ranger and some of us hung out with her during our stay. After lunch everyone except Eric and Andrea, who were feeling ill, went on a nature hike with James and Roxanna and learned about muscle wood and how baby diapers can be made out of moss and many other facts about the plant life in the area. We cleaned up the pavilion and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next morning we were hopeful about getting back on the river and had we left ten minutes before, we would’ve gone, but Roxanna told us not to otherwise we would get arrested because the water was still up fifteen feet and the natural river was closed for canoeing. After much vacillating through our options, we were forced to stay put. During the day we met some kids, read, played, tanned and relaxed. Doug and Randy shuttled the vans to Tyler Bend because we were forced to end our trip 30 miles early. Knowing the trip had ended early there were a lot of mixed emotions within us. We hadn’t been able to finish what we started. But we realized that wasn’t true. Physically we didn’t get there, but emotionally we did. We were proud of ourselves and each other.
That afternoon and night, we had so much free time we weren’t sure what to do. The incident that sticks out the most was “Sweetie” (Dawn) slowly turning “Pumpkin” (Casey) into pumpkinhead, meathead, then a word I cannot print. We had our last fire, shall we say bonfire, that night. We laughed a lot and talked about the trip. Slowly we drifted into sleep.
We got up in the morning, packed, and drove into Gilbert, Arkansas, to the Riverside Café for breakfast which was delicious and served by a sassy Arkansas waitress. After breakfast we all did some wandering around the “town” (43 people). Toby made friends with the dogs that peed on Alison and Andrea fell in love with a cute deadhead boy. We got into the van to leave Arkansas behind. Most of us were sad, but in a wonderful, sunshiney way. We made it back to Knob Noster, set camp, then zoomed off for a Royals / Orioles baseball game in Kansas City. lt was a good time but way too long. There we learned that “Royals kick butt” and permed ten year old girls are evil. It was later when we got back to camp and most of us went to sleep right away.
We ate breakfast in a small diner in Knob Noster that morning, then drove home to Minnesota. We got to school, unpacked, got some pictures taken of us sunburned and happy, then went home and back to the normality of it all. We went away, loving each other, and knowing life was never going to be the same.
We all came home better from the experience. We learned what life is really about. We are human beings, we were made to live in harmony with the earth, the trees and the water, these things and companionship are things important, not money, fast cars and big houses. The 16 of us were completely free. We had no boundaries to stop us from growing.
We lived every one of these 14 days to the fullest. Now our challenge is to take what we’ve learned and apply it to our lives here. None of us can go back to the way things were before. We can’t let our dreams die.
Love,
Mike Ennis “Ennis to Society and Kermit”
Andrea Hamilton “Red !*#$~, Red Devil, Red Wonder”
Anna “Whatever” Saclolo
Alison “Forever” Young
Kim “Lightning Bolts” Colway
Chris Wegler “Christina Stumbles”
Emily Richards “Weather Wench”
Casey “Pumpkin” Wright
Dawn “Sweetie” Hesselgrave
Eric “The Bike Man” Thomas
Phil “Why Not, Lyna, Phillis” Lynott
Matt “We wear short shorts” Morseth
Toby “Music Man” Marshall
Scott “Scotty” Vetter
Doug “Bergie” Berg
“Uncle” Randy Nelson
Trip Quotes:
“Kill it! Kill it!!!”
Stumbles on everything that moved.
“I love rock and roll, put another dime in the juke box baby.”
Anna every five minutes.
“Hey guys, let’s skip rocks.”
The boys at every stop.
“Phil wins the prize for the lousiest rock tower!!”
Doug on Phil’s attempt to build a rock tower.
“Andrea, you have the most interesting talent, you can go from ecstatic to severely depressed in less than five seconds.”
Doug on Andrea.
“Here we come, we are the b!@#$%ds!!”
Anna and Alison on the river.
“Kim, your bangs look like lightning bolts.”
Andrea giving Kim her nickname.
“Whatever and Forever”
Doug affectionately referring to Anna and Alison.
“Lynott!! Get up before I kick your butt!!”
Doug telling Phil that it is time to roost.
Trip Song
Change- written by Shannon Hoon
I don’t feel the sun coming out today, it’s staying in, gonna find a better way. As I sit here in this misery I don’t think I’ll ever know lord seen the sun from here. And oh as I fade away, they’ll all look at me and say and they’ll say, “Hey look at him, I’ll never live that way.” and that’s o.k. they’re just afraid to change.
When you feel life ain’t worth living you got to stand up and take a look away, look way up to the sky. And when your deepest thoughts are broken, keep on dreaming boy, ’cause when you stop dreaming it’s time to die.
And as we all play parts of tomorrow some ways will work and other ways will play. But I know we can’t all stay here forever, so I will write my words on the face of today. And then I’ll paint it.
And oh, as I fade away, they all look at me and say “Hey look at him, and where he is these days.” When life is hard you have to change.