Kent gets ready to belay Robin. Kent had this to say about belaying Nick, "Belaying Nick was well worth the herniated disc I suffered! Hey Nick, check out ;The Little Train that Could...' from the library!"

Riki Donovan scaled the rock wall with cat like agility, making her way to the top of the climb. Kent shouted encouragement from below, "Keep it up, you Billy Goat!" It's like you have cloven hooves for feet!" Riki, psyched about conquering the climb, rapelled down to the rest of the group. Her forearms still pumped from the workout, Riki had this to say about her climbing experience, "The rock climbing was great except for when I reached for a handhold and put my hand in hyrax poop!!"

Over the weekend of October 18-20, about 30 members of the Young Life group took a camping trip to Lake Naivasha, about 100 kilometers north of Nairobi, Kenya. It was a fantastic trip, with great food, fun games, goofy skits, and rock climbing and hiking in Hell's Gate National park.

The hike through Hell's Gate was pretty mellow, but very beautiful. The group hiked through algae covered canyons, steam from natural hot springs rising off the walls above. They followed the stream in the canyon, and eventually made it to a scenic viewpoint where they had a fantastic view of the park. Hell's Gate is one of the few parks where it is safe to hike, although there are still many animals in the area.

The highlight of the trip had to have been the rock climbing. There were three climbs set up, each of varying degrees of difficulty. Yuki and Aki Asaka did exceptionally well on their first day of climbing, making it to the top of each of the three climbs with only a few problems. Nick Skibiak struggled up one climb, but triumphed eventually to the cheers of the group forty feet below. Khris Perry challenged himself constantly.

"I never did make it up this face, but it was well worth the effort!" -Khris said after his attempt at the sheer face

After making it up each of the climbs, Perry challenged himself with a sheer face of stone on one of the climbs which all the others in the group avoided. While Marshall belayed and tried to give some idea of where to find holds, Perry launched assault after assault on the wall. He almost made it several times, but never made it up the face, which we estimated at "5.9."

Each night we took to the shelter of the "Big Tent," for a club time of games, songs, and a talk with discussion. The talks were given by Marshall and Kent, and dealt with some issues that students face, and what it means to consider who God is, and what relationship God can have with us as individuals. The games, as always, were wild and exciting, providing lots of laughs. The highlight had to have been "Sumo Bun Wrestling," the ancient Japanese art, that for some reason Shotaro, Yuki, and Aki had never heard of. "Ali Baba..." was not what we'd call a highlight, but hey, we tried!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. The group managed to stay dry despite the frequent rains, and everyone had a great time. It will certainly not be the last Young Life camping trip! More Camping Pictures

The Young Life group psoses after a day of adventure in Hell's Gate National Park