By Georgia Udall
One Stone hosts several outdoor trips for students. These are some of the most personal and intense ways that our community gets to bond. This spring, five unique trips are being offered, and we are hyped! Like most people, I am looking forward to spending time with phenomenal people in Idaho’s spectacular beauty. Some of the exciting options for our spring trips include an backpacking trip to beautiful, scorching Hell’s Canyon, a wet and wild river trip down the Payette, and a stargazing-filled camping experience at Bruneau Sand Dunes.
On these trips, students get the opportunity to bond, enjoy what Idaho has to offer, and get a little dirty. For some, these trips will be a first in terms of camping, backpacking, or simply being immersed fully in nature. There is no doubt about it—spring will bring adventure and excitement to One Stone.
But these won’t be our first trips this year. In September, we kicked off the year with a school-wide trip to Paradise Point in Mccall. It was both exhilarating and exhausting— a whirlwind of good times and new faces. Every single person was crammed into one of two buses and taken up a windy road to a beautiful lakeside camp with cabins and activities galore. The trip was filled with time in the lake, team-building exercises (a ropes course, and games, among others) and art activities. We were kept busy throughout the day in rotations of these activities and more. Dinner was eaten as a group, and students happily chatted away about their days in large groups. Our community ended the night by gathering in groups to share small-scale versions of our life stories. Teenagers and adults alike shared vulnerable parts of our lives, many of whom were complete strangers at that point. As the sun went down, emotions were high as peers listened to each other’s toughest hardships and greatest joys.
After a night slept peacefully under the stars, we got to choose a morning recreation. Many kids swam or played in the lake again, while others took a hike, and a small group of us did a refreshing Nidra yoga session in hammocks by the water. After packing up, we again loaded onto the buses for the ride home.
We were all worn out after this adventure. For us new students especially, it was quite the whirlwind to be thrown into the mix of previous One Stone students when we barely knew them. Through this trip, the whole community got to know each other, starting off the school year on a strong note.
As the spring trips draw near, there is a lot of anticipation for what we all know will be a blast. It seems that the great outdoors hold a special power over people and the way they bond, so we are all bound to come back from these trips closer and better friends.
