Mikaela enjoys outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and horseback riding with her family and friends. Every summer, her family camps for a week at Elsie Lake where they enjoy activities on the water and in the outdoors. Mikaela also enjoys overnight camping trips in the fall and winter, including a trip where she saw a wolf on the beach. She has loved horses since childhood and hopes to own her own farm and horses someday. Mikaela's family tries to go on a long hike each month, including an overnight trip up Mt. Arrowsmith and an upcoming 38km hike along the Cape Scott trail.

1. Mikaela Garrow
Planning 10ALL ABOUT ME

2. MY HOBBIES
One of my favourite things to do with my family and friends,
is to go camping. Every summer, my family and I go camping with a bunch
of friends to Elsie Lake. A lake in the middle of nowhere. We usually
spend a week out there. We bring all our quads, kayaks, canoes, boats etc.
So there are many things we can do and we don’t get bored.
In the fall, sometimes we go on a big hunting trip up
Vancouver Island with our friends and spend a night camping in the bush.
Yes, some may say we are crazy for camping in the middle of winter but I
think it is quite an experience. It does get quite cold, but that doesn’t
bother us.
This past year, we took a trip up to Winter Harbour to visit
some friends for a few nights. Then we spent two nights camping on Grant
Bay beach. It is so beautiful. It’s very quiet and peaceful. Not many people
travel that far to camp out on a beach. There is one thing you have to
worry about, wolves. There are many timber wolves in this area. One
morning, there was a lone wold at the far end of the beach trying to get
someone's dog. That was my first time ever seeing a wolf. It was scary but
quite the experience. They are wonderful creatures.

3. HORSEBACK RIDING
Ever since I was a little girl, my favourite animal has always
been horses. And they still are today. My first time riding was when I was
about 6 years old on my aunties horses. My dad’s sisters each had their own
horse. Mocha, was is an Appaloosa and Bradley who is a quarter horse. I
remember when my grandma used to baby sit me, I would always bug her
asking if we could go for a walk down to the pasture way out back so I
could go see the horses. I never wanted to leave their side.
This past summer, my friend and I volunteered at my family
friends Hobby Farm. We had the experience to work with all sorts of
animals, such as baby bunnies to goats and horses. Sometimes after we were
done work, Chris, the farm owner, would let us take his horses our for a ride
in the field to give them some exercise. It was so nice to go riding in the
summer, when it was nice and cool in the evening, watching the sunset. I
wish I had more time to go riding sometimes after school.
In the future, I hope to get my own farm and have my own
horses to ride and take care of.

4. HIKING
Every month, my family and I try to get out for a long hike somewhere
up the mountain. We like to hike new trails and visit new lakes and mountains. Last
year, we went on an over night hiking trip up Mt Arrowsmith to an A-frame cabin.
We made it up just in time to watch the sunset, looking over Vancouver Island. It
took us quite a few hours to get to the top because we had 25-40lb packs to carry and
wanted to take it nice and slow. It was a hard hike, even with no packs to carry. But
the view was totally worth it. My family is very passionate about hiking.
This coming summer, we are going a hike to Cape Scott. The Cape Scott
trail is a 38km long hike on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. We will be carrying
3 days worth of food and clothes. It will take us a whole day to possibly reach halfway
up the trail. The trail isn’t straight up, climbing a mountain like Mt. Arrowsmith. It’s a
very long nice boardwalk to the end of the trail but some spots are a woodchip trail
with mud. So we have to be prepared.
I love going on these types trips because you get to spend lots of time
with your family and friends, have lots of fun, be silly and crazy, and to “unplug”
from your cell phones and everything back home. Because most places we go, doesn’t
have cell service. Which sometimes, is a good thing.