I shared with the Crew Leader how impressed I was by Lewis and Clark's
thoughtfulness in packing along gifts on their Voyage of Discovery. On our
trips, we pack along a few extra outdoor toys, or comforts. Just small
things that someone might appreciate along the trail. This trip we
included such things as:
Power Bars
Gatorade Packets
Gu - a high energy substance
Carabineers
Whistle
Matches/Match case
Socks/Sock liners
Moleskin
On last years Isle Royal, I took care of this, but like most things in scouting, unless you get the tradition into the hands of the scouts, it won't last long. On our April Trip and again here, I handed the package and the tradition over to the crew leader for them to award along the trail or at evening ceremonies as they felt appropriate. I would just remind the leader through out the day when I noticed some extra effort that some scout took that might be deserving of recognition that evening.
As we hit the trail Day 1 the sky was overcast with intermittent rain. We had a lot of prep work to do to get ready and get on the trail.
On the trail up to Harney Peak, I recall having to walk faithfully submitting to Gods will that that mountain be shrouded in clouds though I had seen its grandeur on a clear days before. However, the good Lord did not disappoint, as we neared the summit the winds blew the clouds from the sky and the boys where delighted with the views of the green forested valleys broken by protruding granite spires.
Some adults took advantage of the wind and sunshine to dry out wet gear, lightening their load for the rest of the trip.
As we went down the mountain to the north clouds blew back in and gave us some hail and a few showers, the temperature seemed to drop quite a bit. It made for an invigorating walk. The slippery trail was a little more challenging. I'm not sure if I was the only one to slip and fall down in that, no harm done.
The walk down a hill with heavy packs on the first day of a trek can be hard on tenderfeet. I had to specifically inquire about the condition of peoples feet. We started dispensing what would be the first of quite a bit of Mole Skin. Our newest Venture Scout, Rebecca, had questionable socks and footwear. She became the early recipient of the extra sock liners we had packed. She much appreciated it.
You'll find this method employed over and over again in scouting. Leaders can coach and instruct all they want, but until a kid gets out there and tries it, struggles a bit until they are ready to learn. Then they learn the lesson well.
As we neared the cut off point for our first camp, there was a bit of confusion and uncertainty about our destination and intention. We had to rally behind our crew leader, Ben and again step out in faith into the unknown and trust that we would find a campsite. This was our first experience backcountry camping and had no idea what to expect.
Shortly we came upon a most ideal campsite, untrampled and the ground was thick and soft with a bed of pine needles, plenty of level, open spots for tents.
We got our flag line rigged and had our opening flag ceremony then people got busy setting up tents, fetching water, preparing dinner. The scouts plan their own meals and selected a Bear Creek soup. The Adults/Venture patrol like to raise the bar a little and see what can be done for dinner. It was also good fun and fellowship to put together a delicious meal. We boiled a couple of pots of Penne pasta, then took turns searing individual servings of that pasta in a frying pan with Olive Oil, Garlic, Sun Dried Tomatos, Baby Spinach, Mushrooms Balsamic Vinegar and Cilantro("just a touch"). Really, as fine a meal as I could imagine in the back country.
We had a little trouble with one of the new stoves leaking fuel, just for a little excitement. We later got this fixed, we've just got to be sure we get that top on tight.
Sleeping that night was a delight under a bright moon lit night (compared to the thunderstorms of the first night). Two mosquitos where spotted, much to our surprise.
We like have light, easy breakfasts, pack up and hit the trail. We did have our usual Morning Flag Ceremony, again raised just to half staff in memory of Ronald Reagan. We ate, packed up and hit the trail.
Along the centennial trail we found our first mountain stream with cold running water. We filled our bottles and enjoyed a long cold drink.
Weighins are a very educational part of the program. Until you weigh in, everyones pack feels heavy. We generally weigh in in the morning just before hitting the trail. This gives us a chance to distribute weight a bit if we must.
On the second day, we encouraged older scouts to review packing more closely with the younger scouts who had heavier packs. With Peter and Mrs. Feltault meeting us at Rushmore, we had a chance to ditch extra weight that people discovered they didn't really need. That explains the drop in weight on the third weigh in
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 2 noon after ditching gear | Day 2 after extra water pickup. | |
| Nathan | 25.3 | 29 | 30 | 29 |
| Eric | 24.4 | 27.4 | 25 | 30 |
| Nate H | 34 | 31.2 | 29 | |
| Brady | 34 | 35 | 30 | 35 |
| Colin | 35.1 | 36.2 | 28 | 25 |
| Nick | 40.1 | 40 | 38 | 34 |
| Zach W | 39.3 | 40.1 | 29 | 30 |
| Nate W | 35.3 | 32 | 26 | 31 |
| Ben B | 38 | 38 | ||
| Mr. Feltault | 55 | 50 | 46 | 51 |
| Mr. Cook | 55 | 36 | ||
| Mr. Hofman | 45 | |||
Games along the trail are also important. We like to pack along a few prizes/awards. One game we like is Gear Grab, where the first person to produce a stated item from there pack wins the prize. This encourages guys to get organized and know where there stuff is.
We had a nice break at Rushmore that day.
As we walked south from Rushmore, our concern was somewhat on water as the site where we planned to stay had no accessible water. We found a nice stream and all filled up later that afternoon at a convenient spot. We had brought along extra water bags so that we would have some for dinner and be able to fill our personal drinking bottles for the morning until we would again reach another stream around noon.
Late that afternoon again, we turned off the beaten path and headed into the wilderness. Again we where not disappointed by the site we found, a beautiful hill top clearing with views of Rushmore to the north.
Again we had the usual schedule: Flag Ceremony, this time the boys rigged the flag line and did a fine job. Followed by setup, dinner and playing in camp.
Given the low mosquito population, the fair weather and the weight of the their packs on the first day. Several elected to jettison either unneeded tent body's, using just the fly, or skipping the tent altogether. Ben had a large orange fly to himself the previous night, tonight he had four other younger scouts under there with him. Mr. Cook ditched his tent and crashed under my fly.
We also close the day with a flag lowering and a chat about the days events. We do a little "Rose, Thorn, Bud" ritual where people get to share their thoughts for the day. The Crew leader shares any special messages, plans for the day ahead.
We rise at 7:00 and form up for a Flag Ceremony at 7:15. After that, our we had a quick, breakfast and broke camp.
Today's, more detailed lesson was in the order of the walk. We focused on minimal impact on the trail out by walking single file, with the challenge of not even breaking branches underfoot also to not send the wildlife running miles ahead.
We spaced out again and had a chance to reiterate the importance of communication signals on the trail. I was behind one scout who lost sight of the next scout in front. In more dense woods, off trail, thats not hard to do. The basic rules are:
One Tweet, is a status check, reply with one tweet
Two Tweets mean Stop
Three sound an alarm, come and help.
If you don't see the person in front, give a tweet, they should respond. If you get it, proceed in that direction.
Occasionally the leader should look back and give a tweet. They should be able to hear the ripple of tweets going to the end of the line then back again. All is well.
I like to pick up a couple of extra little whistles before a trip. Invariably some scout will not have one. I happily shared my extra shinny new aluminum whistle with one scout that smiled, gave the universal "Cool" which you can take to mean many things, in this case, I took that to mean "Thank You, Mr. Feltault" He happily joined in the game.
I also look for and appreciate scouts willing to be challenged. Their rewards are great. As we got out of the woods, I invited any interested scout to join the Ben the Crew Leader and I on figuring out just where we where. At this point Nate rose to the challenge. together we went reviewed more map reading skills. Not far back we had seen Harney Peak, Nate went back and took a bearing on that, which gave us one straight line on a map of where we where. We found where that line interstected a trail by a stream and we where found! We took a minute to correlate other visible features of the terrain and the map then where ready to go again.
Not far up the trail, we found a convenient place to fill up with water, we knew we had a long climb ahead of us.
We stopped for lunch at the intersection of the trail we where on, Grizzly Bear Creek, and the Harney Peak trail. We where down to our most durable food, the dried beef and cheese had held up well.
After lunch we got a chance to revisit Cathedral Spires. That was a strikingly different than our cloud shrouded visit on the way up on the first day. Now you could see the whole formation. Rather than looking down into "The Abyss" you could see the bottom and just how far down it was, and how high up we where!
We did have to have a meeting here to discuss some expectations we had for the leaders of this group, but if we had to have a lecture, at least this was a great place to do it. This was also our last real opportunity to talk on the trail, once we left cathedral spires, everyone's attention would be elsewhere and on the trip home.
As we got back to the trail head, we split up. The crew went back to camp to build a fire. My family and I went in to town to pick up tonights steak dinner.
We had an enjoyable evening with all the scouts pitching in to prepare a great dinner of Steak, rosemary potatoes, and baked potatoes and salad. It was great to sit back, relax, and hear the boys retell the stories of the trip.
In the evening at the closing campfire we gave special recognitions, thanks and patches from the gift shop.