Discover. Adventure. Wonder. Nature.

Camp Memories

It has been an exciting week here at DAWN. Killdevil has been buzzing with excitement since Monday. Sadly, today is our last day. Patrols are starting to gather their belongings and pack up and will be enjoying a carnival later on today. It has been a week of creating new memories and lots of new friendships with girls and guiders from all over Canada. As we bring the camp to a close this evening, the girls have told us what their favourite part of the camp are. They are:

Sea Kayaking

Irish Step Dancing

Adventure Ranger Overnight Out Trip

Ziplining

Medicine Walk
Getting to spend an abundance of time with best friends

Inventing Quebectobaland

Going to the Insectarium

Fab Foresics and extracting DNA from a strawberry

Brain Boosters

Making cheese in Kitchen Chemistry

Tacos in a Bag

Bonne Bay Marine Out Trip

Swimming

Theatre

Open Mic Night

Canoeing

Kayaking

Ziplining

Creating keepsakes

Sleep

The food

We look forward to the next DAWN camp for many more memories and new friendships. A huge thank you goes out to the Steering Committee and everybody that made this camp a huge success!

Urban Adventure

After an eventful start to DAWN 2019, 33 Rangers and 7 Guiders were excited to take the Urban Adventure trip to Corner Brook.

Day 1 – We all loaded on the bus and went to the Grenfell campus of Memorial University where we participated in STEM activities for the day, including a coding workshop that the girls enjoyed. It was an amazing opportunity for us to tour the campus, ask university questions, see the observatory and learn to map and navigate the stars. We were enthralled with the story of Muin and the Bird Hunters. It was amazing to talk to real professors and stay in the dorms. We also helped in a food sensory survey tasting amaranth.

Fun Fact: They have the only observatory open to the public, and the lowest tuition rated.

Day 2 – We toured Corner Brook, visited a museum in town and learned a bit about the history of area and the Beothuk people. At City Hall we toured their amazing green roof that contained thousands of plants. We also went to the council chambers and met Mayor Parsons. We asked many questions and got all the answers and advise us girls could ask for.

Overall we are extremely thankful for this out trip. When 32, no 33 of us am back (don’t worry, all 33 of us came back) we were happy and joking with out new friends. Thank you to Liz, our Guiders, and all the Corner Brook locals who made this possible.- Ally & Eliza Vysindi 25/26

Teamwork—that’s what matters!

After months of planning, 12 Rangers completed a challenging 16 km overnight hike on July 31- August 1. Starting near Trout River, a small fishing community in Newfoundland & Labrador, 12 Rangers and 3 Guiders setoff for Green Gardens trail in GrosMorne National Park. On route to their destination, the group stopped to find two geocaches – one near the Tablelands’ red rocks made from the Earth’s mantle, and one in the town of Trout River.

The Green Gardens trail proved to be difficult on day 1, as the day was hot and Rangers had to carefully trek over exposed rock. The importance of being prepared and teamwork soon became apparent, as the group had to stop multiple times to rest, rehydrate and cook their upside down pizza lunch on the trail.

After making camp at the backcountry campsite, the group headed down to the beach as it was low tide. They climbed over exposed sea rocks and tide pools to go sea caving, and cooled off by dipping their feet at a seaside waterfall. Beautiful scenery and roaming sheep along the coastline helped to revitalize everyone!

In addition to conquering mountains, the Rangers made their own geocache for future hikers and completed the Newfoundland and Labrador Geocaching Challenge – yes there’s a badge for that!

Although the trail tested the physical and mental preparedness of both first-time and experienced overnight hikers, the Rangers finished the trek. Why? Because they knew they had a destination to reach, a personal goal to achieve, and they were doing it together.

-Erika Parrill, Adventurous Guider

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

DAWN was buzzing this morning with lots of excitement for day 3 of programming despite the light thunder shower this morning. A group of girls and guiders hopped on the bus to travel to the Tablelands which is also known to be the centre of the earth. When we got there, we began to hike up the trail, our Parks Canada guide Jay, demonstrated with 2 girls on how the Tablelands were created and taught us about how there was once glaciers where we were standing. She pointed out different types of carnivorous plants and taught us about the elements and compounds that are found in the rocks. Abby from patrol 10, learned that there is a lack of nutrients in ground to help different plants grow. Afterwards, we were able to continue to walk the rocky trail, take in the scenery until we stopped at the canyon. We stopped for a snack and hydration break while we took in the views of the wonderful little waterfall going down the canyon and the rocks from the earth’s mantle.

Looking at different shapes and patterns within the rocks

Our Guide Jay describing plate tectonics

Trout River Clean Up

Tuesday afternoon, a group of patrols went to Trout River to help clean up the ocean and the beach. The girls paired up with AHOI (Atlantic Healthy Oceans Initiative) that began in March. Their goal is to decrease the amount of garbage in the ocean and on the beaches. The girls learned that plastic doesn’t biodegrade, and marine species don’t know if it is plastic or actual food. “We want our kids to see the world the way we see it”, said Jenna. Jenna and her friends picked up over a bag of garbage and tried to give reasons as to why the garbage was on the beach. They found a silk flower, and was in the ocean because it was a “lover that didn’t love anymore, so she threw it in the ocean”

Camp is Officially Open!

Killdevil was buzzing with excitement Monday evening as we officially opened up DAWN. We kicked off the ceremonies by learning the DAWN song written by Michelle Dawson. There was a visit from Astrid the Adventurous and Runa the Resourceful where they declared the camp officially open!

Celebration and cheers were heard across the campground. Girls and guiders were able to celebrate by being able to sing and dance with the band “Rockestra.” Lots of girls and guiders really enjoyed trading different SWAPS and badges while listening to the live music. All girls and leaders had a blast celebrating the opening of DAWN and are ready for a week of making lifelong friendships, learning new skills, and trying new things.