Day 12 - Grandeur Peak

3 weeks has flown by and now we are at the final day. We've stepped things up a bit by taking them on a harder hike. We spent the day in Millcreek Canyon making our way up to this peak...

This is Granduer Peak! It's a 2500 foot elevation climb in about 3 miles. The participants have not been tested by us in this type of hike, but they were definitely prepared. There was definitely some huffing and puffing and "are we there yet" comments, but they endured and reached the top. Here are some photos:

It was a beautiful hike and very rewarding by getting to the top!

We would like to put Emily in the spot light for a moment...over the past 3 weeks the participants were given points on their participation. Emily won the most points and achieved a gift certificate to REI...congratulations Emily!

We missed Sophia today. She had a rough night last night due to sickness, but we appreciated her bright smile and good humor during this program!

ON BEHALF OF THE ECHO 8 CREW WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE PARTICIPANTS FOR THEIR ENTHUSIASM & PARTICIPATION DURING THIS PROGRAM. WE'VE REALLY ENJOYED WORKING WITH THEM AND HOPE THEY WILL CONTINUE TO JOIN FUTURE PROGRAMS.

WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO GIVE A SPECIAL THANKS TO THE PARENTS. THEY HAVE BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE OF THE PROGRAM AND WE COULDN'T EXPRESS OUR APPRECIATION ENOUGH!

Day 11 - Pool Day

Well, the ECHO 8 Crew softened up today and gave the participants a day of what they wanted to do...a pool day! However, they first had to complete a couple things before we set them off swimming. First, they had to complete a first aid training, which consisted of learning how to tape a foot. Spraining an ankle is very common in "active" world, so it could be very useful to them in the future.

After the first aid training, we tested their map reading skills by sending them all over Wheeler Historic Farm on a picture scavenger hunt.

Unfortunately there are no pictures of the pool party...sorry! We were just too involved playing sharks and minnows!

Day 10 - Temple Quarry

Today was another hike day. By the time we arrived to the trail head at 10 a.m. the temperature was already at 80...boy this summer is getting hot! Well, we beat the heat by hiking Temple Quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trail follows a river all the way up and we were covered with shade 90% of the way...it's a beautiful area & cool hike!

As we enjoyed the beautiful scenery a couple people in our group got a little too excited...they were so excited about the area they got a little "tripped up"! In this event our participants got some hands on first aid training...

The reason they call this the Temple Quarry trail was the Mormon pioneers mined granite from this area to build the Salt Lake Temple. As we walked the trail remnants of the mining staggered the trail, including ruins of an old building...

Good times! We missed Bayley today...hope she feels better for tomorrow.

Day 9 - Adventure Race

We would like to present the area for our Adventure Race...Tanner Park!

Today participants were split up into two teams to compete against each other in an Adventure Race. Participants were required to use all the knowledge they had been taught throughout the past 2 weeks to get through the course. They had to read a map to get to checkpoints, and at each checkpoint were questions or riddles to answer, physically challenging instructions to complete, or basic first aid application.

We all had a good time. Participants were tired by the end of the course...it was the beet red faces and hard breathing that gave it away! Literally Jessica had to be peeled off the pavement, but what do you expect...it was a race! (The heat didn't help for comfortable conditions.)

We would like to present the winning team:

Great job Jessica, Emily, Sophia, & Naomi!

But we can't forget the other team...hey Bayley!

We would like to be sure to advise anybody that decides to go to Tanner Park to abide by the following sign with exactness...PLEASE!

Just some friendly advice!

Day 8 - Bells Canyon

What a great day! Today was a long hike day, so we decided to journey up Bells Canyon near Little Cottonwood Canyon. Bells is a challenging canyon because of how steep the hike can be, but it offers some spectacular surroundings & views:



The goal for this hike was to get to a waterfall located about 1/3 the way up the canyon. So, we picked up our feet and traveled through...

tunneling trees....

steep terrain...

to get to this...

Truly, it was a beautiful sight!

The hike didn't take as long as expected, but that doesn't mean we didn't find something else to do. We were first entertained by Truman applying his natural sun block, which as served as a great camouflage:

Then we finished off the day by defying the heat with a cool down session. This is runoff water too, and if you would like to know how cold it is, then just as the group!

We missed Sophia & Jessica, hope to see you next time!

Day 7 - Game Day

Well, we decided to give the participants a little break today by giving them a game day. We originally had a hike planned, but we love our participants and decided not to work them hard today...but they better be ready for tomorrow!

We only had time for one game. We played Fear Factor ECHO 8 style! If you are familiar with Fear Factor, then you will know that there are 3 stages. The participants played a simple frisbee game to start things off. They then played a "fill the bucket" game by the river side. The goal was to see which team could fill their bucket the fastest with water, and naturally water was flying everywhere with minor cuts and bruises in between!

The last stage was the kicker...you can't have a Fear Factor without having to eat something. So, the participants had to eat raw vegetables....oh no! It may not seem so bad, but the face expressions in some of the following pics may express differently. Who knew eating vegetables could be so terrible!

Good times!