WA Coast Backpacker I

The Alpengirl Washington coast backpackers here are an awesome group of campers that have impressed Jess and I (Malia)(the Alpenguides) with their kindness, organization, maturity, and humor. Rosalind has proven to have the most intriguing “would you rather” questions that spur longer discussions that the whole group enjoys. Avery was our first Leader of the Day (LOD) and did a great job of asking getting to know you questions and organizing our first Alpenolympic Event: a relay race where teams were judged on both speed and creative way of moving from the start to finish line! Jorie did a great t-rex run and Caroline impressed everyone with cartwheeling. We also got to tour the lavender farm with our camping host and learned about different types of lavender that are better suited for cooking, bouquets, drying out, and essential oils. Kenli has matched our campsite perfectly with her enthusiasm for lavender and purple hair. Both Kiera and Kenli have decided that herbalism/lavender farming could be a future path for them. Kiera was especially interested in the chemistry behind making essential oils. We all got to pick our own bouquet of lavender and got to taste lavender-honey, lavender raspberry white chocolate, and lavender lemon sorbet ice cream. Paisley said that it was the best afternoon ever! We’re off to backpacking now and hiking along the WA coast for 6 days and all looks great going forward!