The 6th grade of Durham Academy got to travel to Camp Hanes for an overnight trip. We had so much fun. On a Thursday morning, we loaded our luggage onto a bus. The night before, I had packed a duffel bag full of the things we needed for Camp Hanes. I also needed to bring a sleeping bag and a small backpack. I handed my duffel to Mr. Wilson, the Dean of Students. This trip was almost canceled because of Hurricane Ian, we didn’t want a hundred people stuck in the mountains. I stepped onto the bus with my friends and took seats in the back. The bus was full of kids from different advisories and it was very loud and stuffy. Luckily, a teacher put on a movie and the bus quieted down.

Once we got there, we were assigned cabins. I was in Cabin 8 with my friends. We unloaded our stuff into our cabins and set up our bunk beds. After that, we had a lunch of fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. The food was super good! Then, we did activities such as hiking, archery, and rock climbing. Those were the only things my group did. We were supposed to go canoeing the next day, but it was raining so we didn’t. The hike up the mountain was super fun, but tiring. The view at the top was worth it though! We got to sit on a rock ledge and enjoy the view. Archery was fun, my personal favorite! I wasn’t really good at it though. I only got three arrows on the target out of the ten that I got to shoot. Rock climbing was really scary when I got to the top, but it was still super fun! After that, we had dinner and had the campfire. The campfire was where the counselors did skits and we sang songs. Next, we went to our cabins for bed. What a tiring day!

I had so much fun at Camp Hanes and I was super proud of myself for not freaking out when doing rock climbing. I am also proud of myself for completing the hard hike. I would also like to show thanks to all the wonderful counselors who organized activities. Even though we did not do some of the things we were supposed to do, we still had a great time!