Heber Valley Girls Camp 09

Last year we put our name on the waiting list for Heber Valley Girls Camp, we had heard that this place was amazing and so we thought that we would try and get in. A few months later we found out that we had been invited. We were so excited but wasn't sure that it was going to work out, when you decide to go here it's a pretty big commitment. All leaders and girls must stay the full 5 days (no coming and going) ...anyway to make a long story short everything ended up working out and we were able to accept the invitation. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this place is. The Girls just kept saying "there is no way you can describe this place to someone" That is the honest truth and it was seriously one the most spiritual experiences of my life. This is the first thing you see upon entering.

These are the cabins that we stayed in. Each Cabin will sleep 16. We put the girls in one and the leaders took the other, we did this thinking that the leaders would be able to get some sleep.. I seemed to notice that the Girls lights weren't usually the last ones out!! We had a great time staying up and visiting.
Our whole Gang!!

We had no idea when we got there what a treat was in store for us. We stayed in the Marjory Paye Hinkley campground which was personally dedicated by President Hinkley. For months our Young Women have been learning about the life of Sister Hinkley. We were thrilled to have President and Sister Hinkleys daughter, Kathy Walker, come and talk to us and share some great stories about her parents.

The fearless leaders.... Jan you're the best, Thanks again for everything!!

These pics aren't in very good order but this is me all geared up for the Challenge course.

An after-hike foot soak (we hiked 4 hours at about 8500 feet elevation)

Here are a few pics of the Challenge Course. we had to climb up a telephone pole, shimmy across a little wire, using nothing but ropes that were hanging above our heads till we made it to a platform, then we got to zip line down!!

Every single one of our Young Women were able to do this. It was incredible to hear them cheer each other on.

OK for real it was WAY higher than it looks in this picture.
We had 11 girls and they were all GREAT. They all stuck together the whole time, never excluding anyone. we had so many compliments on their behavior.

We were able to canoe and Paddle Boat on the Legacy Lake. While we were out there we had 2 minutes of silence and thought about this scripture and all of our many blessings.

Jan and Becca at the Heber Overlook on our hike. It was beautiful!
Legacy Lake

This was a long, hard hike and there wasn't one complaint!!

MUCH better than a tent! Plus we had showers and super nice bathrooms.

I feel so bleesed to have had this experience. We were told that you will find Heber Valley under "temples" on the Church's website because they refer to it as "the Temple on the Mountain" I believe this because there is a spirit there that is undeniable. The whole place has been dedicated and they say that you can literally watch a wild animal become tame as it steps over that dedicated line, we had deer walk right through our camp. President Hinkley had a big part in this place coming to be, his Daughter said that the first time she came up to see it she went back and said to him that she couldn't even imagine the cost that went into it (the road alone was 60 million dollars) his response was "The Young Women of this church are worth every dime."