Second Meeting with Rachael had been Postponed

Our second meeting with Rachael that was planned for Thursday, September 25 has been postponed due to the fact that the medicine she has been taking for her surgery has made her very sick, and because of that, very backed up with homework.  However, Jacki, who has been our primary leader in the organization and details of the trip has been in contact with Rachael about how the renting of canoes is coming, and is planning another date for the group to meet with Rachael.  At this next meeting, we plan to discern anything we may have left out and go over a final run-through of supplies as the trip is soon approaching.  We will also receive the papers suggesting items for us to pack for the trip, and we will go over the order of events for the trip, such as where and when we should pick up the canoes and the van.

Planning with Rachael

We had our second meeting focused on smoothing out the details of the upcoming trip with Rachael on September 22nd.  This was a very successful meeting as she has helped us to sort out many of the pieces of the trip of which we were unsure.  She is an outdoor recreation major and has taken many classes that give her information on and access to the types of equipment that we will be needing.  She suggested that we take five canoes, and we agreed, as this would allow each person to be paddling the entire time and not have to sit in the middle of any canoe.  This would also give us more space for any supplies we may need while canoeing.  The other supplies will be dropped off at a point were we will plan to spend the night ahead of time.  This will prevent them from possibly getting wet and will prevent us from having to carry them, but will mean that we have to make to it to the designated spot in one day of canoeing.  The canoes we will use will be rented by her for us as she has contact with that organization and the necessary credentials.  She also informed us that we will be needing one car to meet us at the end of the trip, and that the driver of that car will have to have taken a defensive driver course to be allowed to drive for UNH.  This works out well for us, though, as Steve has already taken the proper course, and has volunteered his car.  We also decided on another date to meet with Rachael, on which she will bring the forms that we need to sign in order to use the rented equipment and to participate in the trip.  She is also going to a tentative packing list for us and a list of suggested foods. 

Setting in on the Details

On September 19th, my group had another meeting with the purpose of working out some of the finer details of the trip, such as how many canoes we will need for the trip, where we will get them, how we will get them (as well as ourselves) to the river we choose to canoe, which river we will choose to canoe, what we will eat, what we should bring, and how far down the river we should leave the vehicle that will allow us to get back, just to name a few.  

 We were unable to answer all of these questions, but we did decide that with the two trip advisors that plan to accompany us, we will need at least three canoes, which will hopefully be rented along with paddles and life jackets from a university organization along with a trailer at no fee.  Then this trailer will be pulled by a ten person van that we will pay to rent and that will carry us to the river landing.  The river we will travel down will be the Merrimeeting River, a little less than an hour north of UNH.  This river is ranked an easy and safe river to canoe down and is supposed to have many marshlands along it that should provide a likely habitat in which to spot moose.  Each person was instructed to bring their own sleeping bags, that will be used inside two tents that will also be rented from the school.  For food, we determined that many pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would be easy to bring and would sustain us down the river.  Also, several members of our group volunteered to drive their cars if necessary so that we will have a car to meet us at the end of the canoe trip.  These plans still need a bit more work that we will work out with our trip advisor, Rachael.  However, the adventure is already beginning to take shape, and in my opinion, it looks hopeful!

The Ropes Course - Team Building from Both Success and Failure

On September 14th, my Amped Up class took a trip to the UNH Brown Center to learn some ropes-course skills, and more importantly, to build bonds of trust and a sense of team within our moose questing group.  

Upon our arrival to the center, we built a foundation of trust that would help to keep us safe and allow us to complete some of the later activities.  One example of this type of game involves falling to any side and resisting the urge to catch oneself by relying on the group to make the catch.  I felt that this was a beneficial exercise for our group as members who did not previously trust others to catch them learned that the group would not let them fall.    

The next activity was a challenge to move all the members from all four groups across a series of hanging wires in a mere half hour.  Each group was set to begin the challenge from a different place along the series of wires so that there would be two-way traffic across a single wire at sometime.  My group began by sending one-member to reach a hanging rope, which would allow him to develop a method of bringing one person at a time across the first two of four hanging wires.  This system worked well until our members met with members of another group going the opposite direction.  We resolved this issue by using our system in reverse to first bring the other group's members across the two wires before continuing to move our own members.  Again, this procedure worked until we met a different oncoming group that forced a buildup of people on the side of one tree.  We were able to slowly move people across this buildup and to the finish by rotating turns across one wire with the other group, but the time expired before everyone finished.  

Upon reflecting on this outcome, I found areas of coordinated teamwork and areas where further planning would have enabled us to be more successful in bringing all of our members across the wires.  The system of transportation we used was very efficient, and our choice to help out the first group we encountered proved beneficial to both groups.  However, if every group could have planned with each other before the clock began, we may have been able to devise a system for everyone to be successful.  This was the ultimate downfall in not meeting the challenge, but even our failure proved very educational.  We realized that planning is of the utmost importance in being successful, and we discovered who would act as our physical leaders as well as who would act as our planners, organizers and support.  This information would be very useful to us down the road and on the river.

The final part of our day entailed the completion of the ropes-course.  This consisted of three challenges involving teamwork, strength, balance and caution.  The first was to climb a series of wood planks called the giant's ladder.  The second was to cross a log high in the air at the same time as another person, and the third was to perform a leap of faith and touch a hanging ball at the peak of the jump.  These activities further built our sense of team as the members in the air had to communicate well and work together to succeed, and the members on the ground could only help them by shouting advice and encouragement.  As it turned out, humor also played a critical role in the completion of this course by keeping the spirits and enthusiasm levels high throughout the group, contrary to the mood induced by the falling rain.

Initial Planning

Once the initial excitement of choosing a moose search as our venture wore off, we realized that careful and particular planning would be necessary in the successful completion of this trip.

 That is why we called a group meeting on September eleventh to discuss some of the more detailed aspects of our upcoming trip.  At this meeting, we all contributed our thoughts concerning which methods of finding and safely encountering moose would work best.  

There was a general consensus that we should travel north to find moose, but disparity as to how far north.  Some members of the group felt that an hour away would be sufficient, whereas some thought that our chances of seeing moose would only increase as we traveled farther north and so it might be a good idea to go into northern Maine.  However, since traveling far north would be more demanding in time and money, we agreed that a nearby forest-and-wetland-area would our first choice.  

We also discussed whether we wanted to conduct the search by foot or by canoe.  This was an easy decision, though, as October is part of the mating season for moose, and it would be safer to encounter one in water than on land.  

Another topic covered was that of where and how to look for moose.  Some research that one member of the group had done revealed that moose are often found in wetlands and along rivers.  In addition, my dad had told me stories of seeing moose raise their heads out of the water for breath before going back under to chew on the vegetation at the bottom of the river.  This information strengthened our earlier decision to search by canoe.  One group member also suggested that we look into methods used by hunters to attract moose, such as a moose call and moose scent.  Depending on the price and availability, we may purchase these items. 

A Search for Moose is Chosen

Just over two weeks ago, Dr. Seaman formed my Amped Up Kinesology class into groups and presented us with the opportunity to organize and participate in an adventure.  We were excited about this chance to do something adventurous, but we unsure of what we were going to do.  We decided to first come up with a definition of adventure agreed upon by all members of the group to aid us in making a choice.  Together, we determined that adventure is an experience that goes out of the norm and pushes the adventurer beyond his comfort zone.  This means that adventure is entirely subjective, as something that may be adventure for one person may not be for another.  We also decided that adventure must have the elements of danger and aspiration involved.  This way, there could the accomplished and reflective feeling of success for adventurer upon reaching his goal.  Based on this definition, my adventure group brainstormed a variety of activities that we could do with our 360 dollar budget.  After some short debate, we selected an overnight canoe trip in search of moose as our adventure.  This selection went out of the norm for all of us and pushed us beyond our comfort zones as no one had ever done an overnight canoe trip or anything especially similar to one.  The quest also included danger as moose can be aggressive during mating season, but gave us determination that we would be strong enough for the venture and succeed in our search.  With this goal of finding moose in mind, excitement rose, and we began to plan and prepare for our trip.