Teen Treks

This morning we woke up at 6 and Paulotta made everyone chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes. Best pancakes ever!!! Then we left camp and got to biking. We were making insane time this morning as we biked. The road we took to Bangor was a hilly, winding backroad with beautiful views. Everyone was having a great time with our last day of biking. We stopped for a little snack break under a mulberry tree and then decided to keep going. We made it 30 miles to Bangor by around 11:30 in the morning! Then we ate a weird assortment of random foods we had left over from the trip including chickpeas, tortillas, artichoke hearts, sardines, oatmeal, caesar salad and pb&j’s. We went to the bike shop around the corner to look around and hung out at the baseball fields to dry out and clean all the tents from the rain and muck. We did all the usual things, playing frisbee, games, listening to music and laying in the grass. Then we headed on our way to the hotel to check in. We all showered and got clean and then organized our stuff while watching TV shows. For dinner we ordered monster sized pizzas which were HUGE. Then we finished up packing and hung out in the hotel room. 

Trekkers arrived in Shipol Airport this morning excited for the start of the Amsterdam-Paris Trek! This 16-day European journey across the Netherlands, Belgium and France starts with the next three days exploring Amsterdam. There was a minor hiccup at the start with a couple bikes not being delivered on time, but as they wait for their arrival there is plenty to see and do in Amsterdam by foot and public transit. Luckily, the Stayokay Hostel in Vodelpark is central to many great museums, canals and eclectic Amsterdam shops and sights. On Friday, the group will head south along the coast, passing giant windmills and quaint coastal towns until reaching the famous city of Den Haag. From there, the group follow the canal to the Belgian city of Bruges, known for it’s beautiful medieval architecture, then ride through the quaint Belgian countryside to the trendy city of Ghent. Finally, the group will take a train to Paris and have three days to enjoy the magical city by bike, enjoying famous museums, delicious food, lively cafe’s and much more. The trip will end with a bike ride out to the Palace of Versailles, the opulent royal chateau that served as the center of French political power for more than a hundred years. So much to look forward to in the next 16-days, perhaps the best part about the Amsterdam-Paris Trek is the incredible bike infrastructure allowing for designated bike lanes as the groups crosses three great European countries. Let the adventure begin!

Day 3

This morning we woke up at 6:30 to pack up camp and get ready for the day. We did start breakfast late, so we left a little behind schedule – we’re going to work on it! It was our first long day, and we went about 35 miles total. 

We left Provincetown and biked through some other seaside towns such as Truro and Wellfleet. We stopped at White Crest Beach for a lunch of leftovers. Unfortunately, there have been shark sightings in the area so we didn’t get to swim, but we did skip some rocks and dip our feet (the water was SO cold!)

After lunch, we got back on the road for a bit before stopping to refill our water and try some seafood. Shoutout to the ice water lady who filled all 22 of our water bottles!

We got back on the road for about 10 more miles, and then stopped at the grocery store to buy dinner and breakfast. From there, it was only a few more miles to the camp site. One of the park rangers also gave us free firewood and kindling!

We were all really tired when we got to camp, so we went swimming at the pond to cool off. After that, we worked on setting up camp and cooking dinner. My group made really yummy pizza, and we’re thinking about doing it again tomorrow!

After dinner, we put on some music, made s’mores, and put cool stuff in the fire to make it turn blue. It was a long, tiring day, but super rewarding in the end!!

Trekker Samantha

Day 4 of the Lake Ontario Trek; it was a peaceful Canadian morning in Balls Falls. The sun rose through the trees awaking the birds. Blue jays screaming at the top of their lungs at 5 AM is no way to start a long day. After a quick breakfast, and some fresh plums from a local farmstand, we hit the road. Steep hills and mighty headwinds mixed with the 90-degree heat (30 Celsius) had us exhausted at just 11 AM. Even though we were tired we kept trekking. After 3 days on our trek, we finally reached Lake Ontario! We cannonballed right in after lunch. What better way to wrap up a great swim than a big bowl of ice cream! Feeling the best we had felt all day, we happily ditched the headwind and rode next to the lake with wide smiles on our faces. As we were riding, we saw an unusual structure in the distance on a big pier. That’s where we made our first friends in Canada. So Keith, Luke, Nova, and Cassidy if you’re reading this; Hi, we had so much fun with y’all! We jumped off of the peir with our new friends before finishing off our 40+ mile trek. (70+ kilometers) We got to the campsite and enjoyed ice cold popsicles to wrap up the long and hot day.

Last night rained all night and everything and everyone got so wet. At 6 AM, Hannah and Ben woke us up with pancakes cooking in the drizzly fog. They were delicious. We rolled out by 7:30 and then made it into Bar Harbor for a little break at the piano. This group has amazing musicians. Tanner impressed the whole park of people with his playing. Then we kept going and stopped at the grocery store in Ellsworth for lunch outside. We explored a weird store next door. Then we biked and got to the campsite area earlier around 4. Down the road there is a fishery that had amazingly clear water to swim in and look at all the fish. We snacked and swam and then headed down the road to the campsite. On the way, we picked blueberries to put in our pancakes tomorrow morning! Now we are making pizzas over the campfire, playing tetherball and exploring the area. 

Our camp woke up at 8:00 and had  bagels and cereal for breakfast . Then we got on our bikes and explored the visually stunning and hilly Dunes Edge Trail. We stopped at Herring Cove Beach to swim and then biked to Race Point Beach to have lunch. On our way the the grocery store we stumbled across a baby turtle crossing the bike path. We made sure it made it safely to the other side and  continued on our journey. We went into town to explore, we flew kites, checked out book stores , the library, galleries, and cooled of with some ice cream. After our adventures our team came back to our tents and made chicken cheese quesadillas and nachos for dinner.  Later we played cards and enjoyed s’mores.

Today we began with a boat ride. Not just any boat ride, a fishing trip. We booked an 8 am fishing trip. It was some of our first times fishing and we caught five keepers and plenty of others. The boat ride was three hours. Six of us decided to take the public bus back with our bikes to the campground. Then we spent a couple hours hanging out at the campground. As a group we made a sick fort in the campground forest and four fairy houses. Honestly so much fun. It was a relaxing day in Acadia so we cooked the fish we caught this morning for dinner and chilled. Some of us went on an after-dinner passeggiata in the drizzle to the rock beach. Today was overall an amazing rest day but plenty to do. And we are ready for more biking tmrw!

Day Three: Going to Canada.

Waking up at 7:20 is HARD. Though oatmeal with banana, and orange juice for breakfast totally made up for it. We left pretty much immediately, leaving at 9:10, and headed straight for the border. At this point it started raining, and we got kind of wet while waiting at the check point, but it was super worth it when we got to see the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. It was a much better view, and we took pictures with tons of strangers (a French guy, and an old couple, etc). After that we headed off to the butterfly conservatory. Olivia was apparently really excited, because she got going really fast, but we were all able to keep up. The rain was really coming down now, and our shoes got completely water logged. At the conservatory only one butterfly landed on us (we named him Horton). We set off to get lunch. It was pretty decent, we had sandwiches. After that it was mostly biking. And then we met JESUS… The turtle. He was on his back, so we put him on his feet again. We stopped at a museum, where we played lacrosse, went swimming, and headed to the camp ground. Setting up and eating dinner took until dark, so we started a fire. The fireflies started showing up bit, which was cool, a great way to end the day.

Day one! 

This morning, after meeting the group and distributing group gear, we got on the ferry to Provincetown. It was really windy and a lot of fun. When we reached Provincetown we did a ‘get to know you circle’, assigned jobs for the day and talked about the rules of the road. Then we biked up to Pilgrim Monument (aka Rapunzel’s tower). After climbing the TONS of stairs to the top, we climbed back down and took an inclined elevator down to the town to buy groceries. We ate lunch which included amazing mango juice in the shade next to the monument. We were all really hot so we cooled off in the ocean which involved a seaweed fight. After that we explored all of the little shops in Provincetown before heading to our campsite where we cooked dinner and set up tents. We ended the day with a group discussion about how everyone felt it went. I’m so excited for tomorrow!

-Written by Trekker Lily

Today we woke up at 2:35 am and left briskly at 2:45 in the dark merky morning. Why? Because we were going to follow the teen trekkers tradition of hiking up Cadillac Mountain to see the entire progeration of the sun rising. On the hike up we said hi to a cute porcupine also on an evening trot. Once we reached the top we piled beside each other in sardine formation until the sun rose. We listened to Simon and Garfunkel and watched the features of the mountain and ocean lighten. After going this we took a long reprieve in our tents and had a breakfast of oatmeal and cereal. We went down to the rocky coast of Acadia and scaled the cliff sides. In crevasse we found sea urchins and seaweeds of many textures. We then went to a sandier beach and had a relaxing lunch. After lunch the group split.  Some went to bike the carriage roads of Acadia, going up to the top of Cadillac mountain while others road a bus to Bar Harbor to shop and walk. We ended the day with a presentation at the campsite on Loons and their mating rituals and s’mores around the campfire.