Scout Dayhike 7.11-7.12 2008

So, last month our troop attempted 10mi, but fell short by 3mi due to some nasty rain and a few scouts that just weren't ready. That's fine - they made it up this month, and some!

We arrived at the Sipsey Wilderness on Friday around 8:30pm. It's almost customary for us to setup camp in the dark, and only having 6 people, it wasn't bad. Afterwards, we looked over the maps, answered some questions, and then hit the bed for a big day coming.

Sat we awoke and began breaking down camp for our hike. The adults were first at breaking down camp, so we started breakfast while the kids finished packing. Breakfast was oatmeal & bacon, with a side of coffee (all over a pepsi stove)..mmmm.

We hit the trail around 8am, and within 2mi we were at our first waterfall. Unfortunately, it was dry. This put a little concern in the adults regarding water supply, but we pushed on figuring we could turn around if necessary.

The kids were our navigators. They figured most of it out, but at one junction they made a mistake and we all paid for it. They misread the map and bypassed the shortcut trail, adding nearly 1.5hrs and another 2mi to the distance. It was ok, b/c it was a loop, but they figured it when we came back on the split and things looked familiar. Here we explained what happened.

We came upon this guy sunning himself at one of the many campsites. Luckily one of the scouts spotted him pretty quickly.

While on our little detour hike, we crossed paths with some berry bushes and everyone enjoyed a little snack before making it to our second waterfal of the trip.

Anybody know what this is called on a tree? We thought it was rather interesting so, of course, we took photos.

 little after our lunch break, close to 2pm, we came up on the big tree, which was the ultimate goal and the halfway point. Roughly a 500yr old Tulip Poplar. It took 6 of us to circle it.

Since it was entering the afternoon, we went on a little quicker pace getting back and we helped the kids a little more with the directions. We hadn't planned for a second night and we only had 6hrs of daylight left. To make it worse, thunder was approaching.

Because of the storms, I stashed the camera, and we trodded along. Just as we started heading back, we found a good set of rapids along the river to refill everyone's water. So, 20mins later, everyone had a chance to rest, recharge, and drink. We pushed on.

After crossing back by our first set of waterfalls, the kids new we were close and "put the boot down" to get back to the TH. We were back just before 6pm.

We took a final group picture after the hike. We figured w/ the detour, the blowdowns, and side hikes, these guys picked up nearly 14miles.

Water count: 2-3L bladders, 2-2L bladders, & 9-1L nalgenes.

The kids have already decided they want to come back and get their 2night/3day requirement in the same place.