The following journal entries are from 14-year-old Jack Sears, who attended AMC's Teen Wilderness Adventures in 2009. Sears backpacked, rock climbed and whitewater kayaked with a group of strangers turned friends during the 12-day excursion through the White Mountains. Visit AMC's Teen Wilderness Adventures page for a listing of this year's events.

Day 5: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009
Today the group left our car camping spot for rock climbing to start our next leg — backpacking. We first had to travel to Pinkham Notch to pick up more food and gear. We hiked for about 15 minutes, went 200 yards into the woods, and camped there. This experience was different and much more uncomfortable for most of us than our last camping. There were plants everywhere and bugs buzzing around. Most of the group did not enjoy this, and for the most part neither did I, but I realized that we had stepped into the bugs’ environment, and that they were not annoying us, but we were annoying them, and because of that I felt less annoyed by them.

Day 6: Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Today I woke up early and helped make pancakes. After a good breakfast we started off on our longest day of hiking. Today we faced many adversities, none more challenging than the sinking bridge. This "bridge" had gone underwater from all of the rain, had moss growing on it, and looked nearly impossible to cross. When I got towards the end of the bridge I was a lot less wet than I expected, but when I was told that there was a rock to step on that I could not see, I got wet to the waist from falling in the water. Today reminded me of how much I love backpacking; it makes you feel more in contact with nature than anything else. The end of the day was also very refreshing as we finished our hike with a view over a lake with water in our boots. The rest of the day we swam, cooked, and talked.

Day 7: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009
The flies at this lake are very noisy. Today we were woken by them. Once again we had pancakes. Not long after we started hiking we hit our first summit of the trip, The Horn. There, we had lunch and did riddles. Next we started our solo hikes. Each of us split up for 10 minutes. During the solo hike we passed over The Bulge and finished on the summit of Mount Cabot, where we camped. Tonight I decided to sleep outside even though we had a cabin to sleep in. I don't know what made me do this, but it was the most comfortable I have been all trip. Today was great; I love the feeling of being alone in the silence of the woods as well as summitting peaks. When you are alone in the woods, you hear things you wouldn't in a group, and you feel more relaxed. There is more to this that I don't know how to explain, but I do think that everyone should be able to feel this.

Day 8: Monday, Aug. 17, 2009
Today I woke up in fog after the best night of sleep my entire life. We then ate quickly and had a short hike down to the van that took us to Pinkham. We then had an afternoon off, so we went to a swimming hole near Pinkham and jumped off of some rocks into the water. Although we did not get to kayak today, it was OK because I think that everyone needed some rest.