I would be remiss to leave Ketchikan behind, without telling our crazy story of Wilderness Camp. It was our first summer to be in Alaska when we were asked if we would be counselors for a week of camp. We said, "Sure that sounds like fun." That was the understatement of the year! Getting to the camp was quite the ordeal in itself. First of all, we had three little children. How do two people take care of a cabin of kids plus our own little ones? Jewel's Sunday School teacher said she would take care of Jewel and the camp nurse's daughter, Eva. So we thought we could handle two kids between us. We only took along what we could hike in with. With a baby to carry on our backs and all of her belongings, my hubby and I took very little with us. Micah carried his own backpack with just a little murmuring. He loved this new adventure he was headed into. Anyone going to camp had to be at the dock at an appointed time. If someone was late, too bad. We had to travel at high tide because we were going to cross where a rapids normally was. If we would have been late then we would have to wait until the next day. We made it through the very choppy area and ended up on a smooth river. We took the river to a dock. From the dock we hiked, about 3 miles, through a virgin forest that was absolutely beautiful. This is a wonderful way to tire kids out so they sleep the first night of camp :0) When we got to the camp, it was inundated with tree frogs! They were everywhere much to the delight of all of the little boys and big boys. You had to check everything you used or wore to see if there were frogs in it. Before we sat down we checked to make sure there were no frogs on the seat - some were put there on purpose!! The cabin I was in had 10 girls and another counselor. The other counselor really did not want to be there but got talked into it by several people. Bless her heart one of the first nights she crawled into her sleeping bag, she had a mouse come running up her leg. She screamed and screamed and screamed. She said she was walking home - that was rather impossible, knowing it would be a long walk and swim for the middle of the night. Also there was a bear that checked out our camp each night. She reluctantly stayed the rest of the week. Someone thought it would be fun to take the boys fishing. Taking 10 little boys with fishing poles and hooks was a crazy idea. Lines and hooks were flying everywhere. I did not go to the shore to watch. One boy ended up with a fish hook in the skin beside his eye. The nurse had to take it out with nothing to deaden the skin. Needless to say, he screamed and made the other kids rather nervous about visiting the nurse with any problem the rest of the week. The week went smoothly for how remote it was and for how many things could have gone wrong. Frogs and mice and bears do make for an interesting week. My baby decided to try to walk that week and loved to try catching some of the frogs but I did not see her try to eat any!! The last day to be at camp was busy. We had to carry everything out plus now we had tired kids to hike with. We had to be at the dock at the appointed time because we had to cross the rapids with the tide going out. If we were too late we would have to hike back in with all of the stuff to spend another night ~ sigh! We made it and had a very choppy trip. It was a relief to know we all made it safely back to Ketchikan. Would I do it again - sure!!
