After arriving at Camp Lotus on a smokey morning, we set off on the American River in three rafts: two with crew members and one with the adults. After bumping through some class II rapids, we stopped on the shore for lunch and continued through the first class III rapids. The rafting was exhilarating and exciting during the rapids, and tranquil during calm periods.
After rafting, we went to Beals Point campground and proceeded to cook, clean, and get ready for the night. While camping, we tried some weird cooking techniques, such as skewered eggs, cookies above coal, and cinnamon bread on wooden rods. The skewered eggs did not cook evenly if when we were able to skewer the eggs without them cracking, which is not a trivial task. After experimenting with cooking the cinnamon bread, we found that buttering after wrapping the stick with the bread worked well for flavor and texture along with cooking the bread on the stove. The bread was good, as well as the cookies, though they were slightly burnt on the bottom as they were too close to the coals.
We then practiced our lashing skills by building a merry-go-round out of rope and wood that held up for the initial test but fell to the side upon more testing. We learned that we need to tighten and reinforce our lashings with more windings, especially for the center tripod, as they were the point of failure. Overall, we had a lot of time to chat, bond, and learn various rafting and cooking skills.
By Liam