I remember at 14 and 15

I remember going on the fourth year hike at Young Women’s camp when I was 14. It was a two day hike, carry everything on your back hike. It rained at one point during the first day. But the hike was gorgeous and a lot of fun. And it really felt like an accomplishment when we finished. One of the men who was on the hike with us to help us out usually went out with boy scouts. He said it was a completely different experience hiking with us because we stopped to help each other and when we stopped for the night we all immediately set up our tents without anyone telling us to. Apparently boy scouts wait until the last possible moment when they’re dead tired and it’s pitch black to set up their tents.

I remember being a youth camp leader at 15. We went up a day early and got to go on an extra long horse back ride (normal was about an hour or so, this was all afternoon). I’m prone to nose bleeds (have been my whole life) and got one while we were out. It wasn’t bad. They pulled out some toilet paper, we stuffed it up my nostril, and I kept going. The guy in charge of the horses said I looked like a poster person for horseback riding. I walked bow-legged for the rest of the day.

That year the stake also let the young women submit designs for the camp shirt. The theme was “Put a Song in Your Heart.” I have no idea how many designs actually got submitted or if mine was the only one, but they picked mine. It’s real cool to have your design on a shirt like that.