8/29/2015 Steve Nutt

            Today I woke up to the sound of rain hammering the tent and the boom of lightning shaking the rocks underneath our campsite, a typical start to a day on this expedition. It sometimes feels like the rain will never stop with sunshine only to tease me into optimism and then bring my hope down with the rain. It’s been a long week as a Leader of the Week (LOW). I’ve faced many internal struggles, battling to keep my confidence and positivity as I lose my belongings, fumble with bear bag knots in the pouring rain, and lead all of my peers down a river I have never been in my life. As I sit in my evaluations thinking of all the things I did wrong, I’ve realized I have not given myself credit for the things I have done right. We made it up onto the third map of the river, knocked out a bunch of WEA lessons, and faced high water without a single (complete) canoe flip. I’m speaking up and standing out more and more each day of this expedition and I am doing it with the most hardworking, focused, and positive group of people I could ever ask for. As I sat down for a dinner of freshly caught small mouth bass, I could see rays of sunshine peak through the clouds, which lit up the forests around the Little Stony Rapids. Sitting on the highest rock overlooking this wilderness, I think about all the people who have helped me get here and who are hoping who have helped me get here and who are hoping the best for me back home. I have such an amazing opportunity presented to me and an amazing support system that makes this journey more than worthwhile know matter what happens. I hope they see how much I will have grown and what it was all worth, but I know that most of all, I will see this for myself. So to my homie Alex, my homie Pinky, Nick, Timo, Fowler, Lees, Zach, Mowgli, Will, Callum, my parents, my brother David, and all of the brothers of the Iota Omicron chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, this trip is for you.
-Steve Nutt