Challenging yet inspiring – Silver 2 days 1 night Practice Hike Trip

The participants are checking the bearing in the rain

Silver Visioneers, we are ready to go!

 To meet the requirement of The Duke of Edinburgh Award (DEA), 28 Silver Visioneers had a 2-days-1-night practice hike trip at Glen Haffy Provincial Park and Albion Hills Provincial Park last weekend. All Visioneers did the route chart themselves and drafted the proposed route for the hike. Apart from route planning, the Visioneers were required to hike in full hiking gear and solve all the unknown challenges that they will have encountered during the trip. The expedition is definitely a physically demanding yet adventurous one, as you can imagine, there are countless uncertainties in a wild environment and you have to be cautious and confident in order to overcome all the challenges.

Hiking in the rain

The supporting team

The Visioneers hiked for around 32 km with experienced counselors to meet the set requirement. They had to hike through part of the Bruce Trail for the first day and the whole Humber Valley Heritage Trail for the second day. Both routes are relatively easy to get through as they are well planned. However, still, the Visioneers had to complete their route chart in a serious manner. For instance, they were told to measure the bearings as well as calculate the estimated arrival time for each checkpoint to ensure safety for every participant. Vision Youth aspires to train their participants with basic map reading skill as well as problem solving skill through route chart planning practices. Also, as mentioned by Mr. Keith Yeung on the Orientation Day, letting Visioneers expose to the natural environment can lead them to learn to appreciate the nature in terms of its beauty and powerfulness. Therefore, to convey the idea of respecting and protecting the nature, Vision Youth has emphasized on the importance of “what you have packed in, pack out” to the Visioneers in the end of the practice hike trip.

Not only the practice hike trip would be a rigorous training, it also served as a remarkable and unforgettable experience to the Visioneers. Like they might have lost their direction while hiking, but they would eventually find their way out through group effort. Many Visioneers expressed that if they would not have reached the destination, they will never know how powerful they actually are. So to most of them, this trip forced them to get out of their comfort zone and challenged their personal limit to a large extent. However, after all, these Visioneers have gained a valuable virtue out of the experience, which is, perseverance.