Our trip began with an early rise and us all meeting up at the school and us being grouped up by our grades and huddled into a set of three vans. We drove for what felt like days and stopped midway for a snack break. Our break from the road was shortlived as we soon got back into the busses and headed further through the greenery. Finally, after nearly 6 hours of driving, we had arrived and we were greeted by a spread of traditional Sri Lankan food for lunch.

 

After we all had our stomachs filled with good food we made our way along our first hike to camp. The hike was the most treacherous of the trip with it involving us crossing muddy rivers and manuevering across wet rocks and through the mud. Screams echoed along the single file line we moved as whenever someone had fallen or someone had seen a new bug. We only traveled around 3 or 4 kilometers over the course of 4 hours because the terrain was so intense. After a long day of sitting on the bus, we arrived at our camp and split into groups to share tents with.

*No Photos from first day hike*

 

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The view from our campsite (photo courtesy Lucca Brown)

 

Learning Objective – 4. Show Commitment To and Perserverence in CAS Experiences

Because this was the first hike of the trip and also the hardest it left me expecting future hikes to be harder. My main motivation for carrying on with the hike was that I wasn’t doing it on my own. The whole group was struggling through it. The banter along the way allowed me to come out of my shell more and also helped everyone deal with the difficult trek more effectively.