On June 14, 2014, I was honored and humbled to receive the first-ever Duke of Edinburgh Young Americans' Challenge Bronze Award in the State of Iowa at the Miss Iowa Finals Competition.
I joined thousands of young people worldwide between the ages of 14 and 25 completing this journey. As a Duke of Edinburgh participant, I was encouraged to examine myself, my interests, abilities and ambitions, and to set my own challenges in four different tenants of the Award. These challenges required persistence and determination. I am thrilled to have set the path for this award in Iowa and have continued to blaze the way forward as I complete my Silver Award journey and continue to promote the Duke of Edinburgh Program.
"To experience the world through endless secondhand information isn't enough." - Travis Rice
From the DofE Handbook page 24:
The aim of the Adventurous Journey is to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery. As part of a small team, you should plan, train for and undertake a journey with a clearly-defined purpose in an unfamiliar environment. This will require determination, physical effort, perseverance and cooperation to complete. The Journey can be an exploration or expedition.
Journey with your eyes open.
I am proud to share my recent Silver Adventurous Journey to the Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas, NV from August 15-19. Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV is considered a mecca for rock-climbing in the U.S.
While on this journey, I worked on my landscape and action photography skills, hiked every day with a 25 lbs. pack on my back, camped with minimal impact on nature and continued my rock-climbing experience, using the skills I learned from my Bronze Award Adventurous Journey while advancing my rock-climbing skills.
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| My Silver Adventurous Journey Team: an Industrial Engineer, a HS Math Teacher, a Computer Engineer and me! |
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| Hiking through the foothills to get to the canyon walls |
Mid-August is not the ideal time to plan a rock-climbing trip in Nevada, but with my Team's work and school schedules to consider, it was necessary. Fortunately, we missed the monsoon season by 5 days. We took additional precautions with the heat and weather, making sure we kept well-hydrated and planned our hiking and climbing for early in the morning and late afternoon/early evening hours to maximize the coolest part of the day, a mere 95 degrees. We climbed the East face in the shade since the rock was the coolest to the touch. The 3 p.m. temperature while we were in Nevada was typically 100-110 degrees, so this was when we rested.
Day One:
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| This starting ledge is already 200 feet up and was only 5-6 feet wide. |
I am planking a 300 ft. deep crevice at the summit. Unfortunately, I dropped a carabiner down this crevice.
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| Sam's turn to climb. |
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| Sam enjoying the summit with some shade and water. |
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| Owen's turn. |
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| Tyler's turn. |
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| Selfie at the Summit! |
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| Perfecting my knot-tying skills, a climber's figure 8 knot! |
Day Two:
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| See my leg at the end of the rope? |
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| Yes, that is me. |
Day Three:
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| Introducing hiking and beginning rock-climbing to my nephews on our last evening at Red Rock Canyon. |
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| I did not forget to support CMN DB Blizzard day! |
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Getting well-rested, hydrated and cooled off before flying home.
Meet my nephews, Danny and Sam. |
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Flying home after a successful Adventurous Journey.
Two and a half months of planning and training.
Five days of travel with photography, hiking and rock-climbing.
Working with a budget of $400/person, includes round-trip airfare.
My Silver Adventurous Journey experience = Priceless.
Next stop: My Gold Duke of Edinburgh journey continues with a 19-day mission trip in India! |
