Boys and Girls Club Camping Trip

By Jessica Templeton, JRA’s Ecology School Manager

This past weekend a group of eleven 6th through 9th graders and a courageous adult leader from the Hopewell Boys and Girls Club joined the James River Association for a couple of beautiful fall days of camping (many for the first time!) at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County. Saturday was a busy day spent enjoying the outdoors and learning new skills: how to set up a tent, how to fish, and how to paddle a canoe.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries donated a dozen fishing poles and supplies to the fishing experience through their tackle loaner program. The weather was a bit windy, but sunny and warm. The group introduced themselves to the volunteers leading the fishing experience, in which names were associated with an animal. This is when it was discovered that Paco is the Penguin because he is “cool”. Following introductions, the whole group met at Swift Creek to grab some bait and see what fish were out there. Turns out there wasn’t much out that day besides smiles and laughter, but with the sun beaming down and a cool wind blowing; it was just as pleasant an experience as reeling in a school of fish.

As with any good camping trip, our evening was capped with a campfire and s’mores. Despite initial hesitations from some of the campers about roasting sticks pulled from the ground, “how do you know the stick isn’t dirty?,” campers didn’t hesitate to go back for two or three more before putting out our campfire for the night.

Sunday morning our very sleepy and slightly shivering group braved a hike with the sunrise on one of Pocahontas’ many hiking trails. A few of us were lucky enough to catch a majestic looking Great Blue Heron fly across Swift Creek Lake while the lake was still misting from the cool morning air. It was a peaceful and inspiring moment. This camping program was developed to connect youth with nature and inspire feelings of comfort and confidence in the outdoors. When asked who would like to go camping again, it was less than a second before every hand went up in the air. Even though this was a first camping trip for many, it certainly looks like it won’t be their last!