Day 1: I would say the the first day of the hike was probably the most difficult, not only because we hiked directly up hill the whole time with extremely heavy backpacks, but also because I never enjoyed hiking, so I thought ‘Oh no, a whole three days of intensive hiking’. The first few minutes were definitely the hardest because you’re standing at the bottom of this massive hill, and you look up and groan, knowing you’ll be hiking up it for hours. But as we got further and further up the hill, I think it’s safe to say that everyone seemed to be amazed at how beautiful everything was. The beauty of the hike was outstanding, and made it a whole lot more enjoyable. Even on the first day I got to know the people in my grade a lot better. It was such a good feeling when we got to Garibaldi lake together, and it was so gorgeous.

Day 2: On this day, we hiked all the way to the top of Panorama Ridge. This was absolutely my, and lots of other people’s, favourite day for hiking. It was the most powerful experience, standing at the top of that extremely tall mountain, looking down at where we came from. I believe we were all so proud of what we had accomplished. Hiking there and back to our campsite was fourteen kilometers in total. This hike wasn’t even tiring, because we all were so amazed by the scenery, and we were all so focused on getting there (not to mention we also only had day packs on).

Day 3: We were all so surprised that the time had flew by so quickly. Hiking back down the nine kilometers was a lot faster and less tiring than hiking up; we didn’t even take that many breaks. On this hike we didn’t talk so much, I think because we were all reasonably tired, and we had already seen the scenery on the hike up. Once we got to the parking lot, it was nice having the grade nines carry our bags to the vans for us.

Before we started the hike, the teachers kept on telling us that it would be mentally and physically challenging, but I never really understood the mental part until we actually hiked. It was really hard work and then you think, ‘oh my god, I’m hiking up this massive hill’ and you hit a point where you desperately want to go home, but you just have to tell yourself to go on. It is very hard, but it’s definitely worth it.

After the hike I felt like we really bonded more together as a class. I think that when we all go through the exact same difficult challenges together, we rely on each other in a way, and I think that’s mainly what bonds us.

My advice for anyone going on the hike, would just be to have an open mind about the expedition, and to think of it in a positive way. Because when you let yourself enjoy it, you really can learn to love it, and you would be surprised at how much you actually will.

This hike was an amazing experience, and I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to go on it!

Robyn, Grade 8