During our trip to McMinnville, Oregon and after chatting with community representative, Hope Walter, we learned there was a group of exchange students traveling to the Belknap Hot Spring for their end-of-year exit process. Hope, along with the other host parents treat this trip almost like a retreat. It's a chance for the kids to get away from normal day-to-day distractions and technology and really connect and think about their year and their upcoming journey back home.
We drove up to Belknap to capture this experience on film and hear first-hand how the students were feeling about heading back home. Hope had let us know that the main event of this trip was a hike in the woods to a location known as The Blue Pool. The Blue Pool is a location of river that has carved out a large pool shaped swimming hole with impossibly blue water. We were eager to see this with our own eyes.
We rolled up in our RV to the cabins at Belknap. The scene is exactly what you might imagine. Chaotic teenagers running around, laughing, joking, making messes, and being loud. In the middle of it all was Hope. Hope's hand was steady. I immediately got the impression that this type of stressful environment was commonplace for her as she seems peacefully at home in the middle of the madness.
After a brief lunch, it was time for the group to pack up and hit the trail. We asked multiple adults and students how far the hike would be and kept getting vague answers. The day was starting to warm up as well. We were beginning to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into? A few students piled into our RV and we joined the caravan and headed towards the trail.
The hiking trail ran parallel with the beautiful McKenzie River and the majority of the hiking was done under the canopy of the redwoods. This really was beautiful country. Along the way the kids would laugh and joke and climb onto trees for photos. It was a lovely hike. However, after about an hour the canopy of the woods turned into an exposed and slightly rocky terrain. Again, we asked how much further and received more vague answers. Good thing we brought water.
Ridge after ridge and turn after turn and we finally reached our destination. The blue pool. The trail ended up being just over 2.5 miles each way and was absolutely worth the wait. The water was stunning. What had been a raging river up to this point had cleared out a large, calm, pristine pool filled with clear water with a distinct blue tint. A few brave members of our group hiked down to take a dip even though the water was ice cold. We took the opportunity to grab some drone shots. The footage was stunning and the drone glided effortlessly over the water enhancing the already intense beauty of the location. As I piloted the drone back towards my location, I lost control and the drone crashed into a mighty redwood. The drone and footage were recovered, however, the drone was never able to fly again. Was the footage worth sacrificing the drone? Watch the full episode and let us know.
The best parts of the day were when we were able to carve out time to chat with students and host parents to ask them about their experience with student exchange. Hearing about their experiences were fascinating and heart warming. You can hear these conversations in our latest episode of Out of Office, out now. Hope said it best, "This hike is very symbolic of their (the students) year. It's tough and you go through a lot of hurdles but when you're up here, at the end, the pinnacle, you enjoy it and you appreciate everything you've been through."
Intrax Out of Office, episode 3 is now live on our YouTube page.
Written by Nick Testa
