Date: Tue, 12 May 2015 14:46:50 +0000 (UTC) From: Bob Smith Subject: Great North Woods Chapter 1 Great North Woods "Mom, Please! I don't want to go. Please! If I go, it will mess up my entire summer. I don't want to spend my summer with a bunch of little kids at a camp. I won't know anyone. It will be boring. Please, mom, don't force me to go." "I am sorry but I have already signed you up and paid for you. You're going. End of story but you will be with only twelve and thirteen year olds and you will be canoeing up north in Canada and not at some little guys' camp. I wouldn't do that to you." Chris stopped his wailing. "What kind of camp is it?" He asked. "It's called a high adventure camp. It is limited to ten boys ages twelve and thirteen although the group you're assigned to has only one thirteen year old and five twelve year olds. You will canoe in Canada on their Provincial Parks lakes for a month. The camp leader said you guys will bring all your own food as there are no stores, no people, no telephone, no toilets or running water. You won't' see a house once the trip starts. You will need to bring your own equipment including tents and whatever you guys need for camping. Camping will be very primitive. You are in the wildest country in North America. If you want more information than that there is a meeting tomorrow at the Cornerstone Church to tell us more. Interested? " Chris looked up and said "Kinda!" There was no way he would give his mom the satisfaction of agreeing with her. Amy and Chris were both in the church social hall, a week later, listening to the High Adventure leader explain the program. The program was as just as Chris's mom described it. The program included a month in the north woods of Canada and three weeks in town practicing and making a great deal of the food they would take. The boys would have to dry enough vegetables and meat to last them the entire trip. Chris looked around the room at the other boys he would be traveling with. He thought he recognized one boy from his school but the rest were strangers to him. Introductions would come later their leader, Gunner, said. After exploring the best days to meet, it was decided that the group would meet three days a week until the trip, starting next Monday. Chris was psyched and excited when he arrived at the first meeting. No parents this time just the boys and Gunner. They were outside the church with bushels of vegetable on the ground near two tables and six food driers. "First, my name is Gunner I am the trip leader. This is Baker. He is my assistant leader for the trip. "Gather around me." Gunner said to the crew. "At our last meeting, I explained about the trip and all of it was true but I need to add a few things more since the mothers are not here." "First, I allow swearing once we are up north. Around the church, let's keep it PG. Second, if you're modest this might not be a trip for you. We shit in the woods, just like a bear. We piss when we need to piss. Bathing will be in the lakes and you won't be wearing your clothes, in fact, you will be washing your clothes when you go swimming. You will dry them on the big rocks when it is sunny. Most of the time, you will be wearing your shorts and no shirt while in the canoe. On occasion, some of you might not be wearing shorts when canoeing. That's up to each individual. You will be dirty muddy and sweaty. You will smell badly if you don't swim or bath every day. There will be two men to a tent. You will not be sleeping with your clothes on. We don't have room for pajamas so some of you will sleep in your underwear and some naked. Again, that's up to you. Every few days we will switch tent mates and canoe mates. What you do in the tent is also up to you." That last statement got a smile from some of the boys. Chris looked around and one or two were lost and the statement didn't mean anything to them. "The bottom line," Gunner continued, "is that as long as both boys are in agreement, what goes on in the tent is their business, unless, of course, they include the rest of the group and then it becomes our private business. For what it is worth, I do not say anything to any parent about what goes on during the trips that is not PG. I expect that from the rest of you as well." The boy next to Chris whispered, "Is he saying we can jerk off and mess around in the tent?" "Yes, I think he just did say that." Chris said with a big ass grin. "Hi. I'm Chris." "Hi. I'm Jackson and it sounds like this trip is going to be a lot better than I thought." Gunner finished up his remarks by adding, "If anyone feels like this is not the trip for them, you can quit anytime but I think everyone of you guys will have an adventure of a lifetime if you give it a chance. See me privately if you have any questions. Now for introductions: let's start with you." as he pointed to Chris. "Let's know your name and age." "Hi, I am Chris and I'm twelve." "Hi, I am Jackson and I'm twelve." "Hi, I'm Noah and I just turned twelve a few weeks ago." "Luke here and I'm twelve as well." "I'm Jace. I just turned thirteen." "My name is Nolan. I'm twelve as well" "Well, let's see if I have this down." Gunner went around the group and announced each person name from memory. "Did I get you all right?" The boys shook their heads, "yes." "Then let's get to work." For the next hour the boys cut up all kinds of vegetables and placed them in the dryer. As they cut and chopped, they learned more about each boy. Chris was happy to hear most of the boys were just like him. They like outdoors activities, swimming and music. Needless to say there was a long discussion on the best video games on the market. Once the veggies were cut and placed in the dryer, Gunner went over some of the safety rules for the trip. The biggest one: no horseplay because there is no hospital nor doctor where they were going. If someone got seriously hurt, the satellite phone would bring in a helicopter. The second, no drinking lake or river water without filtering it or boiling it. It might look clean but it also might hold Giardia, Bacterial pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, and a bunch more. These will make you sick as a dog with diarrheal illnesses and worse. Bottom line, drink only boiled water or water passed though the filter. He ended the safety talk with a "We will be talking about safety every time we meet." The next time the group met it was for more cutting and drying vegetables. As the boys cut and chopped they talked and sized each other up. Jackson was a sixth grader in Catholic School. He was about the size and build of Chris. When Gunner and Baker were gone, he had a potty mouth. Based on his comments and responses, he was aware of what the boys might end up doing in the tent when on the trip. Chris noticed that his pants were tented a number of times as they worked. Noah was the smallest boys in the group. He also seemed to be the most innocent of the group and was totally unaware of the sexual innuendo that flowed as the boys worked. He was a lot shorter than Chris. In the sixth grade, boys ran the gauntlet of sizes. Luke was the tallest of the group even taller than Jace, the thirteen year old. He looked a lot more mature then the other guys and even had the beginnings of a mustache about his lip. With his shirt off, Chris saw some newly emerging black hairs under his arm pits. What was confusing to Chris was Luke was totally unaware of what the boys were talking about when it came to sex. It seemed that in spite of his size, it was like he was raised without any information about his body functions and what boys do when alone with a boner. Nolan was Chris's size and although they weren't friends, they both went to the same school. As they chatted, they discovered they knew a lot of the same kids in school and had the same teachers, just not in the same classes and times. Nolan was aware of the sexual comments and jesters the boys made. Lastly, there was Jace. Jace was quiet, very quiet. There were times when the boys didn't even realize he was around them. He was the same height as the majority of the boys and looked like he was at the same level in maturation. Chris did notice that when the boys took a piss, Jace was quietly looking at their equipment and when he boned the tent in his pants was large enough to sleep the entire group. Chris wanted to spend a few nights in Jace's tent to see if it was his imagination or if the boy was as large as he looked. Over the next three weeks the boys cut vegetables, sliced meat and packed the food items in water proof bags. Interspaced with the making of groceries, the boys learned how to paddle a canoe, get in the canoe once it was scuttled, and advanced camping techniques, including what animals they should be aware of while in the woods. They even cooked lunch each time they met using the same kind of food they would have on the trip. Then they were ready and off they went.