Summer Camp Ardèche, France

Grand Descent: Great success!!!

And we're back!

The bus rolled in at 5.30 PM yesterday evening, with campers disembarking in a dazed stupor, coming back from one of the most incredible Grand Descent they had ever done! We had two INCREDIBLE days on the river, complete with massive rapids, capsizes, barbeques, stargazing, thunderstorms, zen plants, music, and dance!

The first morning began well, with everyone getting on the bus and out the gate right on time. As we got down to the launching beach, the weather started to turn, and before we knew it it was raining! All of a sudden we saw flashes of lightning and heard booms of thunder, and so decided to delay our departure by doing a New Zealand Haka to the weather, followed by some sun dances. All of our hard work paid off, and quite quickly the rain began to clear and it was all aboard!

The weather held, and the rest of the day flowed as smooth as the mighty river. We stopped several times for snack breaks, lunch, seal launches, and cliff jumps; we navigated through rapids; we sang songs, met other paddlers, basked in the sun, swam, sang more songs, applied sunsreen, danced, paddles, and sung some more! Every one arrived at the bivouac site at about 5.30 PM, and an hour later were eating a hot BBQ meal, with pasta, salads, and even hot grilled pineapple for desert! After dinner we broke into small groups to play rounds of Mafia, before joining again to have a full camp game of mafia, narrated by Farris. There was tenting available but most campers chose to sleep out under the stars - and some even heard wild boars coming through the campsite in the night!

The next morning we rose at 7.30, had breakfast, and got on the river for another huge day. There were just as many rapids the second day (with a few capsizes!) as well as a snack-and-story raft session, rapid swimming, buffet lunch on a beach, and of course more singing. We arrived to the takeout point, Sauze, in good time and loaded all of the boats up before cracking a cold can of pop. Very shortly we loaded up into the bus and were off, back to the camp, where a hot dinner and showers awaited us.

Exhausted after two long days, the after dinner activity was simply a movie in the common room (Moana, at the request of nearly every camper!). The night was very quiet and everyone was in bed by ten, and not wanting to wake up this morning! But all in all, the Descent was a massive success, and we are hurtling toward the end of camp at warp speed. No slowing down now!

Latest photos from Ardèche, France

 View the Photo Album