Mission?

The Ecoventure crew met for dinner tonight at George Patterson's house. Shenandoah University's crew threw out ideas of what our mission is for this Ecoventure.

When I think of mission, I think of what do you want to get out of this experience or what is your main goal or purpose. We said educating our community as well as ourselves of the major issues threatening our environment and making ourselves better stewards of the environment. (to an extent)

After pondering this question for the past couple hours many thoughts have run through my mind. It concerns me that so many people aren't aware or simply don't care how they treat the environment. What happened to make our society think that they aren't accountable for their actions? How did this attitude come to be and is it possible to change it? What will it take to wake people from this false reality of non-responsibility? Did mommy or daddy forget to tell you to clean up after yourself? Did parents, teachers, counselors, coaches..etc forget to tell/teach those people how to maintain accountability?

These questions concerned me and made me extremely angry. We are adults in the United States of America, we have responsibilities as United States Citizens and Citizens of the World to protect our environment that we live. Why is it that some of the simple things we could do to become a greener environment would feel like it would be like pulling teeth for some? It isn't intended to be a nuisance, it's intended to be a benefactor for the entire world. Are we that egotistical that we don't believe that we should help anyone else in the world? I would hope not. I would hope that there would be a sense of willingness and dedication to the bigger cause, our existence.

I have had my 21 years of existence and maybe it was the way I was raised , but I don't need much to get by. Don't get me wrong, I love technology but, the simplicity and easy access may be a one problem. We are thinking creatures, we need to think for ourselves and feel for ourselves. My fear is that come a survival situation, more than half would not have the survival instinct.

My mission for the Ecoventure is to develop myself as a steward to the environment, as well as myself professionally, while dedicating my heart and soul into this project. I hope to learn more about other environmental issues facing our global community and I'm looking forward to soaking up all that information. I hope my views will help open some people's eyes to what is currently taking place in our country and connect with them that it creates a social consciousness of the problem.

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Lets break in those boots!

Above: Carl M. Chapman, Dr. John Copenhaver, Kelley Mitchell and John Stevens Jr.

The Shenandoah Ecoventure students, faculty leader and outdoor coordinator packed up some gear, laced up a few boots and we headed north. We drove to Harpersferry, gathered our wits at the Appalachian Trail Headquarters and bearing and then preceded to hike on. We encountered 2 snakes, another hiker, spider webs, electric lines, rain, mud, a deer, and a sea of rocks. We had 2 falls, one of which only one witness was present. No this wasn't me, this time. Carl had a little trouble with a log and I'm not sure what happened on the second fall. Apparently there was a cliff involved, from what was disclosed. If you want more information I would have to direct you to talk to John Stevens, he was the witness. Fortunately, Carl was not seriously hurt, but I'm sure an ego was bruised on the way down.

The sea of rocks is what I couldn't forget about this trip. Imagine, if you will, a forest. This forest has trees, but these trees are few and far between. There at your feet and outstretched in front of you are rocks of all sizes. These rocks came at your feet like the ripples in waves, but these waves had pointy ends that cut your soles and weren't as forgiving as water. From where you are standing, you can't see the end of the trail nor the beginning. You just hope that there will be a white blaze upon a tree ahead of you, so not to lose your way. I couldn't tell you how long we were on this sea of rocks, but I can tell you I was watching where I set each of my feet. And if you ask the others if I almost fell, they would probably tell you yes. But, the truth is I didn't, I jumped. Your probably wondering why would I jump on a sea of rocks waiting to bruise more than my ego. Well, let me tell you my friend, you didn't see what I saw at my feet. At first glance one would mistake this creature as a long slender worm. But, no no no.. you would be mistaken if you thought this and would probably have a bite mark on your leg. Shame shame, for not being observant! This creature is more or less labeled as snake and my first reaction was jump. None of the others witnessed this snake, although it was there! I was leading and the closest person to me was paying attention to my feet not to what was in front of me. GO figure! But, lucky me didn't hurt anything nor did I get bitten. Best of both worlds, aye?

After near drowning and eaten in the sea of rocks we made it to the field of electricity. And you think I'm kidding. I kid you not! See the picture above, this is what I like to call the field of electricity because 1. we were in a field and 2. you could feel the electric currents in your feet. I felt the hairs on my legs stand up, literally when I walked through this field. My gut instinct told me rain was coming and we should probably not stay here very long. But, who says gut instincts are right? We stayed for a little longer than I would've liked soaking in the view and learning about a certain type of plant vine. This vine nearly tripped me when I first walked in to this electric field. The picture above is of our leader John Copenhaver showing John Stevens the vine, which I call the tripping vine. (I know, I should be a name maker or something!)

After electricity finished running through my feet we continued to venture on the trail to our final destination, Keys Gap. But, before making it to our destination mother nature caught up to us and started crying. I'm positive these were tears of happiness because they were just pouring down the closer we got to Keys Gap.

We piled into our vehicle and drove back to headquarters. We then proceeded to hike the remaining trail through Harpersferry to the Maryland side of the C&O Canal. This is where the second fall occurred and the deer started to follow us. Again you think I'm kidding. HA! Actual deer stalker photographed above.

I can't wait for our next hike and I feel that this is not only the beginning of many new adventures, it's an ending. (I'm feeling the eyebrows raising right about now.) I say ending because we all know with beginnings there has to be an ending, otherwise it can't be a beginning. I can't tell you what it is the end of, but I'm sure right around the end of this Shenandoah Ecoventure I could tell you.

Until we meet again!

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