Girls Trip!!
A group picture, including our youthers, staff members, volunteers, and guides before our trip!
Elevate Youth kicked off our fall programming in a unique way this year – a girl’s hiking trip to the White Mountains!
After school on Friday, September 16th, Sophie, Hailey, and 10 youthers from around Boston piled into our van to head up to New Hampshire. Girls from the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester, the James W. Hennigan School, and Thomas J Kenny School listened to their favorite music, giggled, and stargazed out the windows for the long 4.5 hour drive.
When we arrived in New Hampshire, we were greeted by Kelsey, Jaimee, Jessica, and Danielle, four volunteers from the northeastern chapter of SheJumps who stayed with us all weekend long. SheJumps is a nation-wide non-profit organization with a mission to increase the participation of women and girls in outdoor activities. They partner with nature to create safe, educational outdoor experiences for girls and women that nurture growth and transformation. In addition to the volunteers bringing their leadership and passion for the outdoors, these volunteers greeted the hungry girls with pizza!
Energy was high when we popped out of the van and gradually came down as we neared bedtime. We sat down together to create a Full Value Contract on the chalkboard, meaning we agreed to guidelines of how we wanted to live together for the rest of the weekend. After this, there were showers, Uno, handstands, and laughing (especially when I told a very convincing, very real bedtime story of something that definitely, totally, actually happened to me).
Our 10 girls, 2 staff members, and 4 volunteers stayed overnight at the Shapleigh Bunkhouse at the AMC Highlands Center in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) protects the mountains, forests, waters, and trails loved by visitors in the northeast, and we had the joy of staying in their beautiful accommodations.
When we arrived Friday night, it was dark outside, and many of our youthers didn’t realize they were in the mountains. Walking out the door of our cabin we were greeted by huge hills surrounding us, clouds creating gradients of sun on the mountains and green trees tinged with red. There were gasps of, “we’re going up THERE?” on our way to our buffet breakfast. We enjoyed cinnamon rolls, fruit, bacon, eggs, and so much more before laying up for the day’s journey.
“Sophie, I want to live here!” “It’s pretty, just look!”
We met our hiking guides, Sarah and Jordyn, back at the lodge where they explained the importance of preparedness, passed out lunches, and ushered us downstairs to the famous L.L. Bean Gear room. Here, our girls borrowed fleece jackets, water bottles, backpacks, and raincoats. After an amazing educational session about maps and a conversation about the principles of Leave No Trace, we were on to the main event: hiking Mount Willard!
The trail from the AMC Highlands Center to Mount Willard and back is a total 3.2 miles through Crawford Notch. Our trek included shallow stream crossings, some moderate uphill hiking, old carriage roads, and an overlook of the Centennial Pool before reaching the incredible summit. Our hiking guides were fantastic resources for our girls as they shared facts about the plants and rocks we passed by. We continued our conversation about Leave No Trace through our hike as well. As we reached the peak of the mountain, we heard choruses of “wow!” and “this was SO worth it!” As our reward, we ate lunch together overlooking our fantastic video of the glacier-carved mountains, and even saw a train come through the valley.
Our downhill descent was a much quicker trip. At the Centennial Pool, our guides explained how water is purified for drinking, and many of the girls enjoyed gathering their own fresh drinking water. We also took a break to play an Elevate Youth fan-favorite game: camouflage!
After some reflection, returning gear, and a lovely buffet-style dinner, we met with our guides once more to sit around a campfire. We told stories, sang songs, and ate 3 s’mores each before returning to the bunkhouse. There was Uno, showers, friendship bracelets, Apples to Apples, tumbling, and a lot of laughing before settling into bed and listening to another one of my totally real, definitely true bedtime stories.
On Sunday morning, we packed up, enjoyed breakfast, and checked out the incredible playground before heading back to Boston. We ate lunch on the road provided by the AMC Center as well.
Elevate Youth programming is made possible by our fantastic partners, volunteers, and donors. We are so grateful for SheJumps, Appalachian Mountain Club, and L.L. Bean for organizing this trip and helping get these girls outside. If you want to learn about how you can support future programming, check out our volunteering, mentoring, or donation opportunities today.
Caoimhe and Naraya with some mushrooms they found!