Sisters students hit the trail

Summer is a time for camps: church camps, sports camps, band camps, even yearbook camp.

But for a few students from Sisters High School, summer camp looked a little different this year. Earlier this month, eight students and one teacher packed up bags at Sisters Community Church and headed out into the Three Sisters Wilderness Area for seven days in the backcountry.

The trip grew to fruition as a joint venture between Sisters Community Church and the Sisters Young Life group due largely to the vision of the trip guides, Kelly and Eli Pyke.

Kelly drew on her experience as a guide for Young Life's Wilderness Ranch to prepare the logistics of taking a group of teenagers backpacking for a week. Her husband Eli complemented the leadership team with his own experience as a wilderness guide and kayak instructor. Rounding out the group of leaders was Colin Price, a volunteer for Sisters Young Life and English teacher at the high school.

The goal of the trip was deceptively simple: eliminate distractions to allow students to grow and be challenged spiritually. In their mission statement for the trip, the Pykes stated that they believed the wilderness "will bring you out of the distractions of the routine, normal, everyday life and put you in a position to stare straight into the face of Christ."

Eight students left behind modern conveniences such as cell phones, Internet, showers and toilet paper in exchange for walking miles with a pack weighing 45-60 pounds, unpredictable weather and one of the worst mosquito hatches in years.

Sophomore Lauren Rudinsky claimed, "I didn't know it would be this hard. The first day we had this huge pack; we were getting used to it, and I was like, 'I don't think I can do this.'"

In spite of the difficulties, the group covered 40 miles in seven days, emerging from Park Meadow a tight-knit group who had grown in understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Junior Kelsey May said, "You definitely take away a memory of the beauty and the silence and how easy it is to be close to God if you just stand there and listen."

For footage from the trip, see the video produced by Eli Pyke's company, Zion Pictures, on YouTube (search for YL Wilderness).