July 16, 2008

100% of the times I have woken up before 4:30am during the summer have occurred at Shad Valley Calgary 2008.

100% of the times I have woken up before 4:30am during the summer have led to an incredible day.

So this morning, after I rolled out of bed, ate a blurry breakfast with no contacts in and slept in multiple contorted positions on a bus for two hours (and apparently drooled in my sleep…), the 59 Shad Calgarians began their hiking adventure at Burgess Shale and Mt. Stephen. (Not after a bathroom break of course. As with all Shads, the ‘Design with Conscience’ theme for this year’s RBC cup is always bouncing around in my head, so when I went into the washroom and found that the lights worked on a motion sensor, I immediately appreciated the power-conserving potential of the design. Only when I was undertaking a certain activity best suited to holding still in complete darkness did I realize a slight oversight – just something for my fellow Shads to consider while working on their projects.)

I was in the half of the Shads heading to Mt. Stephen – the group that reached the same elevation as the other group in 3 kilometers instead of 10 kilometers. We hiked the roughly 60 degree incline fearlessly, learning from our guide along the way about the effects of the solar system’s components on Earth’s orbit and the resulting periodic climate change of Earth. After reaching the top, we were able to literally walk on, eat our lunch sitting on and explore a pile of fossils. It was truly a privilege to be granted access to the ‘Restricted Area’ abundant in fossils of varied species (especially trilobites). Very rarely does one have the chance to hold the ancient past in one’s hands.

Hiking (or sliding) down the steep incline while listening to a passionate discussion about the logical and mathematical base of physics versus the largely empirical base of chemistry was truly a Shad-specific experience. Where else would I hear complex, intelligent discussions while pushing myself to my physical limits, all while enjoying the beauty of a unique area which can teach us about the past over 500 million years ago. I even heard a staff member recommend accumulating numerous scholarships in order to make it easier to be granted more (“it gets easier after the first five or so…”) – obviously advice only found at Shad.

After looking at a stone bridge carved from rapids and Emerald Lake, we bused back to the University of Calgary where we had house meetings – let’s just say we can expect big things from Calgary Orange House!

Time to look over my Turing Machine transition state diagram one more time before bed.

Daniel Farewell
Shad Valley Calgary
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario