By Justin Streeter
The winter activities trip consisted of good times and a lot of laughs, many of which came from the activities. Since the majority of the activities were new to us it made the trip especially interesting.
One of the easier activities started soon after we got up to Doug’s cabin on the Yellow River near Spooner, Wisconsin. Snowshoeing, that is. It was easy to get the hang of and pretty fun to do. We first used the snowshoes to find a spot to build a Quinzhee. Falling while using snowshoes is expected especially if your name is Austin.
After starting the Quinzhee it was time to try out the Cross Country skis. After this tip I am convinced Doug is talented. Most of us could barely move when we started much less get any kind of momentum. Doug seemed to skate around us as we fell and tangled our skies. Well our lesson lasted a grueling two hours and we had enough till the next day where we skied four miles of what seemed to be solid hills.
The Quinzhee structure was made and we went to the ski place. The four miles went on forever and we were very tired afterwards and it showed. Especially since Austin managed to fill the warming house with smoke from his burning gloves on the heater.
We pulled up to What the Heck bar for dinner and found that the bar lives up to its name. An old man was in the parking lot doing what he should have been doing in the men’s room. The food was good and replenishing after a day of skiing.
Snowshoeing must have been the funniest. We began our hike through the forest with a slow continuing snowball fight that would result in someone falling on his face in three feet of snow. We hiked out onto a lake that had been untouched till Mini-School got control. We used the snowshoes as pens writing MINI RULES!!! across half the lake.
After the snowshoe hike we put the finishing touches on the Quinzhee, and prepared it for the night. The Quinzhee was a good experience, but a lot of work. The draining snowshoe hike helped put us to sleep in the Quinzhee but, I still managed to wake up once an hour. I think it was due to Austin’s talking in his sleep and Wegler’s snoring.
Overall I feel the trip was a success. Our group of Maya, Austin, Joe, Chris, Doug, a little of Joanne, and I became a step closer and resulted in a comfortable little class. Doug was in a good mood although not feeling 100% and his cabin worked out perfect for the trip. Lots of fun!