Iruma River 8/17

From the start we were facing a light rain, which made us consider going on a hike rather than visiting the river, as the water level might have been too high. Luckily for us, the weather cleared up by the time we arrived, and Iruma River wasn't affected by the heavy rain so we were able to enjoy our day with a good mix of sunshine and clouds.

After setting up and having a quick snack we gathered our swimming gear and headed to the rock jumping location. Together with the scouts we went over safety protocol at the river, did our check for debris, and got into swimming. For some of the Scouts it was their first time swimming in a river and jumping in off of the rocks, but with a little bit of encouragement everyone was jumping with ease. We spent the rest of the morning playing in the water, searching for fish, floating down the rapids, and jumping & diving. With lunchtime rolling around we headed back to our campsite and got ready to set up the fire.

Because it had rained the night before, the wood that was on the beach was quite wet. I had prepared ahead of time with an easy-light charcoal starter. The Scouts still wanted to see how the flint and steel worked, so using my pre-packed tinder bundle of twine we started the fire. We sat and ate lunch as the fire burned itself into a good temperature for roasting sausages and s’mores. Once it was ready, we gathered by the fireside together to enjoy our marshmallows, sausages, and biscuits as a delicious end to lunch.

After eating our lunch we spent some time in the shallow parts of the river catching fish, making outdoor baths by stacking rocks, and playing a multitude of games the scouts come up with on their own.

After we had rested we took some of the Scouts that wanted to jump and dive, back to the rocks. The others who wanted to continue building their outdoor baths and playing various role-play games stayed back in the shallows.

After half an hour or so it was nearing time to return so we gathered up our things and headed back to the car. The older scouts helped to push the wagon up the hill and we bundled into the car just in time.

Almost as soon as we pulled out the clouds opened up and we were hit with very heavy rainfall which made for an exciting ride and interesting conversation of various topics.

Thank you for coming, we had such a great day.