Bump! Bump! Bump! Thirty teenagers loaded onto a bus at 5:30 a.m. What could be worse? As I made my way through the aisle down to my designated spot by my friends I thought about the adventure that awaited all of us today. My teachers Mrs. Sagal and Mr. Lew were elated to be taking us to Devil’s Lake on a day that promised good weather. 

Settling into our seats, Jordyn and I got out our breakfast—bagels with cream cheese and Starbucks Strawberry Acai Lemonades. Our bus ride took over an hour, following I-94 almost the entirety of the trip. I never thought it would end as it finally set in that I was visiting the beautiful Wisconsin State Park for the very first time.

“Did you bring your camera?” Hayley asked from two seats up. 

“Yes, of course I did!” I yelled back. My digital camera was my best friend this summer, especially taking this class. Hundreds of memories were documented in its SD card waiting to be transferred to my phone and shared. Across all of our days in Adventure Gym I had brought my camera using it so much I had to carry the charger with me so I couldn’t risk it possibly dying. 

At last, our bus steered into the park entrance warranting exciting whispers from all over the bus. Our driver smoothly parked the bus next to one of the many gorgeous beaches Devil’s Lake holds. 

“Ok everyone, gather only what you need for your first activity and leave the rest here,” said Mrs. Sagal. 

My group, which consisted of all my friends, got off the bus and quickly decided before the other group that we wanted to rock climb first. For the past two classes we learned at Adventure Rock and our own ropes course how to properly belay another person safely—we were ready. 

“Let’s do this!” Kyle yelled when he gathered all his gear: hearness, helmet, and shoes. The company that was assisting us during the rock climbing had sent three professional climbers to watch over us and ensure our safety because this wasn’t an artificial course anymore, we were using real rock cliffs. 

First up, I was belaying my friend Jess as she attempted to climb one of the hardest sections that we had set up at. 

“Belay on!” I said to Jess, signaling that she had the all clear and I was ready to pick up the slack that was continuously falling when she climbed further up. When the climbers had all reached the top and it was time to come down, I heard one of the instructors suggest that we should go cliff jumping. It was getting pretty hot out.

Changing from our tank tops and shorts into colorful swimsuits, my friends and I had to carefully climb back down the hill to get to the rocky areas that we could jump off into the water. One instructor that chose to come with us guided us about half a mile down the wooden train tracks and found a perfect spot for jumping into Devil’s Lake. Finally, thank God!

The bright blue water reflected the sun. The lake was practically asking me to jump in and embrace the cool relief it was offering. A couple yards from us, fisherman were casting their lines, hoping for a fish to bite. 

“Go ahead, don’t worry about us!” the two fishermen shouted, letting us all know we weren’t interrupting them. With that the splashes ensued and joyful screams found their way out of our throats, finding the water was a lot colder than we had expected. Still, we sulked and begged for more time when our instructor let us know we needed to get back to the other group who had stayed behind to continue rock climbing. 

Shortly after reuniting with our group, we walked back to the bus to begin our second activity, kayaking. This time, Mrs. Sagal would be leading our group and taking us on a tour of the lake while learning techniques to improve our kayaking skills. 

Getting out into the water, our little group of ten raced along the shore into the deeper, darker water. The wind had picked up and was rustling in the trees and sweeping my hair across my face. 

Before we could exit the water for lunch, each kayaking pair competed in a relay race to see who had mastered the skills we had just learned out in the water. My group consisted of four members—Kyle, Hayley, Jordyn, and me. 

When the whistle blew the three of us pushed Kyle’s kayak forward as forcefully as we possibly could. The task was easy in theory, just paddle out into the water about twenty feet then turn around a buoy and head back to the shore to switch off with the next group member and repeat the process. Sadly, our group lost by about five feet. My run hadn’t gone as planned, and I took the turn wider than expected, causing my kayak to lose momentum when I had to correct my turn.

After the relay race results, my stomach growled, needing to be fed immediately. Thankfully, lunch time was just around the corner. Our bus driver had found a nice shady spot to set up his hammock between two huge oak trees and was reading his book when he saw us heading back up towards the bus to retrieve our lunches from the cooler. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent laying out on the beach, rock jumping, and swimming around at the beach—even Mrs. Sagal and Mr. Lew joined us. The smell of sunscreen mixed with tanning lotion wafted off my skin when I checked my tan lines every 20 minutes, and had to reapply. At least I won’t burn. 

By now my digital camera was full of hundreds of pictures of myself, my friends, and instructors. The experiences forever frozen in time. I appreciated that it never died, I didn’t have time for that. As the day went on I relished the opportunity of going to Devil’s Lake. After all, not every summer gym class was this fun.  

5:45 p.m. Our day ended far too fast. Trudging along my friends and I whined and groaned walking up the rubber stairs of the bus and collapsing into our seats. Until now, I had forgotten how long the bus ride really was and decided I’d at least try to take a nap. It’s worth a try. Settling in and wrapping my towel around me, I could feel my brand new tan developing and my skin still had a hint of heat when I touched it. 

Bump! Bump! Bump! The journey home began.