Scouts almost make 10mi

Saturday was the scout troop's planned 10mi hike toward their backpacking merit badge. It was the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trial, which is a simple dayhike along the shores of Lake Martin in Alexander City, AL. Nothing too crazy, nothing too outstanding, but still 10mi in the Alabama heat/humidy was the goal.

We met at the trailhead at 8 for the hike. The temp was reading 76* and I'm sure the humidity was close to 90%, as we kept hearing thunder!

There wasn't much available in the way of maps, so we quickly traced the map at the kiosk, then headed out. Onward!
Within the first mile, we stumbled on a series of "tunnel spiders" nesting in the downed trees. Above one was a rather large fuzzy catepillar.

Our view was mostly out over the lake checking out the boaters and swimmers that had pulled into the sloughs. They were enjoying the coolness, while we were starting to really drop some sweat on the trail. We passed by a small producing water well, but the flow was pretty low to really enjoy. We runded a corner and the kids got quite a kick out of the little island we passed.

Not far past the little tree, we came to a trail junction and stopped for a little break. The boys took turns studying the map and trying their best at some orienteering practice too. We shared water, refilled bottles, and got ready to head onward.

As we were getting ready to head on, we noticed one of the scouts was really slow to get up and had a small stagger to his step. After talking to him, he mentioned he had a pretty bad headache and was feeling woozy. He then told us his last pee was yellow. He was getting dehydrated and it wasn't that surprising. Two of the leaders and three scouts decided this would be a good place to take the "short route" back to the trailhead while the rest of us continued to pick up the last 3 miles of the trip. The bad thing is that those three kids wouldn't get the distance for their 10mi requirement, but they did reach the 5mi, so at least they got something out of it.
As we were finishing up the trail, we came across a few neat rock outcroppings, where of course, we took some photos.

From here, our trail was mostly up in elevation, until we broke over the little hill, then flattened out toward the trailhead. We crossed by some small berry trees, a few more lake overlooks, and then the parking lot. As we approached the parking lot, we came up on our other group who were enjoying lunch under the shade trees. As we walked in, we realized they had lunch prepared for all of us too. Guess they were feeling much better!
After some eating, we all topped off our water to begin the last 3mi leg, when the clouds opened, and the rain fell. We were still getting ready, right up to the point the thunder and lightening picked up. That's when we decided the 3mi weren't worth it.

So, all the scouts got the 5mi requirement, and are planning to go on yet another 10-12mi trip for next month. Should be exciting. For the water count, we drank down 4-3L camelbaks, 3-2L camelbaks, and 6-1L nalgenes.