Camping

Yeah so last weekend I went camping. Again. And as most people know, it was below freezing that night. Yes I was very cold, and I even remembered my pillow and sleeping bag.
We went camping at Camp Patton, a scout camp that is way out of the way. It was a stake wide campout that the stake president asked us to do. We figured, hey, if the Stake president asked us to do it, we should. And we were blessed. It only got down to the teen's, instead of the possible below zero temperatures.
So anyway, we got there at about 6 pm or something. We found a spot to camp, and set up our tents. We ended up picking the spot that had the smallest firepit, so we ended up making a fire in our wheel barrow, and cooking in that. At about 8:30 or so, we ended up having a flag retirement ceremony. By that time it had gotten down to almost freezing and we were probably out there for an hour. It was a nice ceremony, but took forever because they had to cut each stripe off instead of just folding it up and burning it. It was still nice, even though I could no longer feel my hands.
After the ceremony, we went back to camp, ate dinner and tried to stay warm. Then at about 10:00 some boys from another ward came over and we played capture the flag til twelve. It was crazy because the whole time we played, I felt perfectly fine, but when we finally stopped, it was very cold. after the game, we climbed into our tents and spent the rest of the night trying to stay warm. I was perfectly fine, except for my feet, which had a pair of normal socks, my soccer socks, and a pair of wool socks on, and my head, which started hurting half way through.
We ate breakfast, which was french toast, at about 8, and then at 8:30, everyone came together to start the days activities. They had set up a problem-solving and orienteering activity for us to do. We sang happy birthday to Dave and Patrick, and then started our activity. We got grouped with the albany ward, and got the problem solving task first. Our first problem was tying a overhand knot. Sound simple right? That's what we thought. The director had all eight of us hold seven ropes between us, and we had to tie the knot in the middle rope between the fourth and fifth middle guy, without letting go of our ropes. It took us a little bit to figure it out. Everyone kept trying to throw in their ideas at once. i let them get their ideas out and try it, but none of them worked. So I decided to take charge. I had them start back, and then step by step, I had them go through. it was all about visualizing everyone as part of the rope, and then visualizing how to tie the rope. We were able to get it tied, and then we had to untie it the same way. It was easy to untie it because we just went in reverse.
After that challenge, we had another problem where we had to get everyone across a gap. We also had to get a magnesium stick across with us. The rules were that, in order to walk across, you have to be carrying the stick. Once you walk across once, you cannot walk back. It sounds complicated but it wasn't that hard. We figured out that people were going to have to be carried across. The problem was that two people had to be carried at once, and we were a group of extremes. It was either big, heavy guys, or really small, light guys. It was hard but we were able to get across.
After that challenge, we did a orienteering course, that I failed miserably on. Lets hope you never get lost in the woods with me as your guide. We will end up dead. The only way we made it through the course was because we followed the people in front of us. At the end of the course, we got asked how we could compare how we did to the liahona. I didn't want to answer because that would mean that the liahona gave bad directions and got you lost, which of course it didn't.
So after the courses, a guy asked us to help find wood so that we could build a fire for the next troops to use it. That was fun. We went into the woods and started grabbing branches and logs to buile it up with. Thats when I found this enormous vine. the vine stretched all the way to the top of a tree, and was strong enough to hold my weight. i would of climbed it but, everytime I moved it slid a little bit. I wanted to pull the vine down so badly, but if I did it would fall and I would have no where to run. After that we went up and everyone came back together so we could bury the ashes from the flag. That was a neat experience. It really made me feel important. They even let us keep rings from the flag, which are supposed to bring good luck. i got two so I should have extra good luck. After that we went and broke down camp and came together so that we could end the camp out. We prayed and some other stuff, then most everybody left. Except for us and the Valdosta ward.
We, the tifton ward and Valdosta ward, ended up palying Ultimate Frisbee for two hours. That was the best game ever. It was also a brutal game. I got elbowed in the head, slid many times, and got lots of scrapes. But my worst, and most amzing fall, was my diving slide. I was defending a man and the disk was thrown to him. I ran at him, trying to block the frisbee, but missed. I ended up falling to the ground, and sliding on my knees. Then, while still sliding I ended up rolling onto my back, and sliding a good ten feet, only to be stopped by a tree hitting my side. I hit the tree so hard, it rolled me onto the tree and I almost broke it. I was able to come out of the slide with no cuts or bruises, but it was still awesome. After the game, we finished the last of our packing and left. But the ecxitement didn't end there. Just down the road, around some extremely scary curves, there laying on the side of the freshly paved road, was a whole carcass of a deer. It was awesome. We got out and looked at it. There was still skin on it. Then fifty feet away, on the other side of the road, we found a part of its backbone. It was sick. After that everything was pretty uneventful, just Brigham wanting to take some old Mcdonald's signs and me half falling asleep.
It was freezing cold, but still a fun camp out. I wouldn't do it over again if given the chance, however.