TRIP EVALUATION
SUMMARY
The purpose of this adventure was to open the horizons of the back packing scouts of Troop 253 and introduce them to new environments. The following pages show that these goals were met and the trip was a success.
From every back packing trip new tricks and practices are devised and new tools are encountered. All of these things are documented and shared with the rest of the troop for use, when applicable, on future outings.
The following newspaper article that appeared in the Kauai Island Times while we were hiking on the Na Pali Coast provided our scouts with the proverbial - 15 minutes of fame - that everyone is supposed to have during their lifetime. This augments the stories that our scouts will tell for a lifetime about this adventure.
The Na Pali Coast trail was difficult, beautiful, and muddy as can be seen by the dirty legs.
THE CONCEPT
While driving home from the 1994 30 Miler in the Sierras, some of the scouts decided that they should consider doing something completely different for a future miler. Many various ideas, concepts and notions were discussed over the four hour period of driving. The excitement increased as the local for a future miler started to center around the Hawaiian Islands. Meghan, Emily, and Anna quickly enlisted the assistance of Courtney, Shannon, and Larissa upon their return to Sunnyvale. The scouts were informed by me that they would receive the full support of the troop if the activity was consistent with our troop charter and if they demonstrated a true interest. Both conditions were realized in short-order. They contacted travel agencies, local, state, and national parks, air lines, and even the author of Kauai Trails, Kathy Morey (who responded to their letter with a four page list of suggestions and a copy of her book). The trip started to take shape. It was going to be a back packing trip on the island of Kauai, chosen for its remote, less populated, and less visited location as well as its well known hiking and camping venue. The scouts also made an estimate of the total cost of the trip and formulated ideas for fundraising activities which included selling script, car washes, selling fundraising candy, flea markets, garage sales, Girl Scout Cookies, and recycling aluminum cans for cash. They made it clear that they wanted to do this by them selves without assistance from the leaders. Certain guidance came unsolicited when they were presented with the Council rules for fund-raising which limited their options.
As the project continued into the school year, their weekly and sometimes semi-weekly meetings became less frequent, but their commitment continued. After nearly nine months of planning, the leaders offers of assistance became more desirable and I engaged in an advisory role. I looked at the financial plan and made some suggestions as well as mapped out a strategy for obtaining their goal. Fundraising focused primarily on garage sales and flea markets augmented by recycling and cookie sales.
THE PLAN
10/30/94
SPL Emily
We will be visiting the island of Kauai. We chose this island because it looked like a very pretty place to hike and stay. We chose this island over Hawaii and Maui because it is less populated and offers better hiking and camping.
We plan to fly to Hawaii and, when we arrive, stay over night in a condo or motel. The next day we plan to snorkel and have fun on the beach. The same day we will depart for the hiking adventure. On this trip we will swim, eat, camp, and hike. The last day on the island will include a luau and lodging at a condo or motel leaving us clean, fed, and rested for the airplane trip home.
The scouts plan to take care of the fund-raising, part of the route, and the schedule for the activities leading up to the trip and the ten days that we are in Hawaii.
Active senior scouts are allowed to go on this trip along with three leaders (two men and a woman) producing a total of fifteen members.
The trip will take place in mid July of 1996. We chose this year because it will take two years to prepare for the adventure.
All of the expenses for this trip will come from troop fund-raisers by the scouts. These fund-raisers will include cookie sales, calendar sales, flea markets, car washes, donations with prizes, and others to be determined later. All of the participating scouts and leaders will take part in the fund-raisers.
THE EXECUTION
Nine scouts and three leaders supported by six additional adults participated in the Kauai Miler. The following identifies each and their assignments:
Heber Trip Leader
Ray Assistant Leader
Laura Assistant Leader
Courtney SPL
Larissa ASPL (replaced during the trip)
Emily Journal
Meghan Supplies
Melinda Quartermistress
Shannon Food
Anna Phone Tree
Vern Ground transportation & Support team (troop leader)
Nancy Support team
Steve Ground transportation & Support team (parent & volunteer)
Barbara Support team
Natalie Ground transportation & Support team (parent & volunteer)
Judy Support team
THE FINANCIAL REPORT
Estimates of the cost of the trip were initially produced by the scouts then refined by Heber. Further refinement took place as the reservations were made and the number of scouts intending to travel stabilized. The final estimate for the trip was under by $1.21 per scout.
Each scout agreed to and signed an agreement that stated her obligation toward the financing of the trip. The agreement states that each scout will participate in each fundraising activity or pay a penalty to the fund for missing the activity.
On the second day of the trip, the very unfortunate accident that killed the brother of Larissa caused her portion of the trip to be cut short. Certain expenses were incurred as a result of this including air fare for one of the adults to accompany her to Honolulu and insure that her flight to San Francisco was secured and numerous phone calls had to be placed to make the necessary arrangements. Some of the costs that she had pre-paid had been incurred such as her air fare and lodging. All of these things have been accounted for and Troop 253 absorbed the additional costs that were related to this catastrophe. The following chart identifies the actual expenses that were experienced on the trip with the exception of those directly related to Larissa's special circumstance.
THE COMMUNICATIONS
Constant written communications were provided by the leaders to the scouts and their parents via Kauai Milergrams providing the minutes of recent meetings and upcoming events.
Many of the last Milergrams were transmitted to the scouts and their parents electronically. This facilitated getting information into their hands quickly and provided a means to get responses distributed efficiently. This was only possible because most of the scouts, or their parents, have E-Mail accounts on the internet. The one that didn't (but does now) received the information via FAX. Well over 156 E-mail messages were transmitted among the leaders during the last year of planning for this trip. The Milergrams are included in Appendix C of this document.
THE ROUTE ITINERARY
Once the island to be hiked was selected by the scouts and the desire to have a rigorous back packing adventure was determined, the layout of routes commenced. The most beautiful and difficult hike on the island is the Na Pali Coast along the Kalalau Trail. Even though the process of making wilderness reservations took place more than a year before the trip was to take place, it proved difficult to get the reservations that we desired. It was necessary to adjust our departure date in order to get any reservations for the Kalalau Trail and we weren't able to book the entire trail at that. We were able to book the Hanakapi'ai Beach campsite and the Hanakoa Valley campsite but not the furthest Kalalau Beach campsite. Knowing that the hot weather would affect our hiking, we decided to camp at Haena State park the night before the coast hike so that we could get an early start on the trail. We also decided to stay our last night at Haena so that the car shuttle could be better scheduled to pick us up at a definite time in the morning to take us back to the condos for clean-up and then to the second part of our hike.
The second leg of the hike took place in the interior of the island very close to the end of the first hike's trail but several thousand feet above it. There is no way to get from the coast to the island's interior other than to drive all of the way around the island and then toward its center. We made reservations to camp at the Kauaikoi/Sugi campground in the Koke'e State park for three days. This would be the base camp for several day hikes around the Waimea canyon and the Alaka'i swamp. Several day hikes were outlined and planned using the Kauai Trails book by Kathy Morey as one of the guides. The itinerary was then set using "Trip #" from the book, and letter designations on an area map as reference points (e.g. Day hike Poomau Canyon lookout (trip # 47)(E)(2.25 miles) - indicating the name of the hike, trip #47 as shown in Kauai Trails book, and shown on our area map as the route marked with the letter "E"). The resulting itinerary and maps are included below and the excerpts from Kauai Trails are included in the appendix.
Thursday 13 June 1996
6:30p Pack Inspection at Ray's home (All travel stuff left at the Waugh's)
________________________________________________________________________
Sunday 16 June 1996
6:00a Meet at Heber's home
Rides to Airport
8:55a - 11:06a UAL Flt 825 SFO to Honolulu
1:35p-2:10p Aloha Flt 4111 Honolulu to Kauai
Pick up rental cars/vans
Check into Banyan Harbor Condos
Sleep Banyan Harbor Condo
________________________________________________________________________
Monday 17
Snorkel & play on beach
Explore the community
Get supplies & Prep for hike
Sleep Banyan Harbor Condo
________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday 18
Car Shuttle
9:00a From Lihue to Haena State park
9:30a Snorkel at beach on the way
12:00 Day hike (Trip 61) (2.3 miles) visit 3 caves and spelunk:
Maniniholo Dry Cave (bring flashlights)
Waikanaloa Wet Cave
the other cave
Ke'e Beach for a swim and snorkel
Miles 2.3
Sleep Haena State park
________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday 19
Hike Backpack from Haena park to trail head (1.3 miles)
Backpack from trail head to Hanakoe (6 miles)
Set up camp
Day hike to Hanakoa Falls (1 mile round trip)
Miles 8.3
Sleep Hanakoa - Na Pali backpack
________________________________________________________________________
Thursday 20
Hike Back pack from Hanakoa camp to Hanakapiai camp (4 miles)
Set up camp
Day Hike to Hanakapiai Falls (4 miles round trip)
Miles 8
Sleep Hanakapiai - Na Pali backpack
________________________________________________________________________
Friday 21
Back pack out to Ke'e beach (2 miles)
Back pack to Haena beach park camp (1.3 miles)
Set up camp
Play on beach
Miles 3.3
Sleep Tent camp Haena County park
________________________________________________________________________
Saturday 22
9am
Car Shuttle From Haena to Kokee State park Lodge
Day hike (side trip on the drive in) Waipo'o falls (I)(1 mile)
Backpack from lodge to Sugi Camp (3 miles)
Set up camp
Day hike Poomau Canyon lookout (trip # 47)(E)(2.25 miles)
Miles 6.25
Sleep Sugi Camp
________________________________________________________________________
Sunday 23 1996
Day hike Alaka'i trail loop (trip #44)(D)(3.6 miles)
West on Mohihi road (0.5 miles)
Ditch trail to lookout (H1)(2 miles round trip)
East on Mohihi road (0.5 miles)
Miles 6.6
Sleep Sugi Camp
________________________________________________________________________
Monday 24
Day hike West on Mohihi road (1.5 miles)
Puu Kaohelo - Berry Flat (Trip #43)(F)(3.5 miles)
East on Mohihi road (1.5 miles)
Miles 6.5
Sleep Sugi Camp
________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday 25
Backpack to lodge on Camp 10 road (3 miles)
Leave packs at the lodge and
Day hike Nu'alolo trail semi loop (trip #39)(A)(9.5 miles)
Miles 12.5
Car Shuttle Pick up hikers on Hwy 550 1.5 miles North of the Lodge
Pick up backpacks at the lodge
Return to the condos at Lihue
Sleep Banyan Harbor Condo
________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday 26
Play at beach
Lei school presented by Senior scouts from Kauai
Luau arranged by Banyan Harbor recreation desk
Sleep Banyan Harbor Condo
________________________________________________________________________
Thursday 27
9:50a-10:20a Aloha Flt 4246 Lihue to Honolulu
11:00a -8:00p Honolulu and Pearl Harbor Touring
Next available bus to Pearl Harbor - bus # 20 Pearlridge
Tour Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor to Waikiki - bus #20 Waikiki or bus # 47 Waikiki
Before 8:00p Waikiki to Airport 45 minutes bus #19 Airport Hickham or bus #20 Airport-
Pearlridge
Fees - Submarine Memorial $8.oo each
USS Arizona free
Bus Adults one way $1.00 Students $0.50 total Adult $3
Scouts $1.50
10:05p-5:42a UAL Flt 184 Honolulu to SFO
________________________________________________________________________
Friday 28
6:00a-7:00a Pre-arranged ride to homes from SFO
________________________________________________________________________
Total Miles 53.75
Backpack 20.85
Day hike 32.9
Car Shuttles 3
Koke'e trail information
The following trips are referenced to the marked KOKE'E TRAILS map:
A Nu'alolo trail
9.25 miles
5 hours
Semi loop
Trip #39
Requires car shuttle or trip B (below)
B Hwy 550 return to lodge
1.5 miles
On the two lane narrow road with no shoulder and fast moving cars
C Lodge - Sugi Grove camp
3 miles
On the road (too slippery to drive when wet)
Requires a stream crossing that may be difficult during the rain
D Alaka'i trail
3 2/3 miles
Loop
Trip # 44
E Poomau Canyon lookout
2.25 miles
Round Trip
Trip #47
F Puu Kaohelo - Berry Flat
3.5 miles
1.75 hours
Loop
Trip # 43
G Monihi Waialae
8.5 miles
4.5 hours
H1 Ditch Trail
2.0 miles
Round Trip
Not described in the book
Strenuous
I Waipo'o Falls
2 miles
Round Trip
On the car shuttle way into Koke'e Lodge
******Insert the Kauai overall route map by Ray here **********
******insert The Kalalau Trail Photo Copy Here*********
**** Insert the KOKI'E TRAILS map photo copy here********
THE FOOD
The scouts reviewed menus from previous milers and determined what was desired and what was less palatable. We had one vegetarian on the trip and the rest of the teenagers with picky palates, but a reasonable selection of dehydrated main dinner courses were selected. Unfortunately, several circumstances caused the meals that were desired by the scouts to be omitted and replaced by less desirable meals by adults. We had several scouts and adults involved in the meal selection throughout the two years of planning and the tastes of each were different. One of the adult teams got pregnant (wife only) and another was unable to continue for other reasons. Laura, our adult female leader, got stuck with the final menu tasks but she hadn't been involved with miler food before. We also cut costs on the food budget by using freeze dried food purchased in bulk for last years two milers, thus substituting desired food for available food. All of this lead to a selection that was not received by the scouts as well as they would have liked. As noted in Ray's Kauai Chronicles, the best dinner meals were toward the end of the second portion of the hike where there was a small variety from which the scouts could choose.
This outing differed from others by the "fast food" that we consumed as indicated in the menu below. Again this proved to be an interesting task given the various desires of the scouts.
Food that was prepared by the scouts in the condo turned out to be the most satisfactory.
As usual, we carried more food that we consumed, however this is somewhat by design. Should we find ourselves in a situation that prevented us from leaving the wilderness on schedule, such as a forest fire blocking our exit, we would have enough food to comfortably last a day or two longer.
The menu below is the final menu for the trip. The dry food, fruit, and jerky was packed in Sunnyvale and placed in our backpack to be shipped as luggage. Much of the bulky and the perishable food that was to be consumed in the condo (and some on the trail) was listed on a separate form and used as a shopping list at a local store on Kauai. We were able to keep to the menu with the exception of the drinks. It was hot in Kauai and a large number of sodas and fruit drinks were consumed.
Trail
Meals
16-Jun 17-Jun 18-Jun 19-Jun 20-Jun 21-Jun
Breakfast ? Pancakes, Bagels, Dry Oatmeal/Crm Granola w/
syrup, fruit, Cereal, of Wht, Dried
fruit, eggs, fruit, Dried strawberrie
milk, OJ toast, powdered Bananas, s, drinks,
milk, OJ milk, OJ powdered eggs
milk , OJ
Location: At home Condo Condo Car Trail Trail
camping
food
Lunch Airplane Bag Bag Lunch granola, granola, granola,
Food Lunch(cold on Trail dried dried dried
cuts, P&J, fruits, fruits, fruits,
cookies, carbo-bars, carbo-bars, carbo-bars,
fruit, jerky, jerky, PB, jerky,
bread PB, cheese, PB,
cheese, pilot cheese,
pilot biscuits, pilot
biscuits, bread, biscuits,
bread, nuts, bread,
nuts, salami, nuts,
salami, drinks salami,
drinks drinks
Location: On Road Condo Car camping Trail Trail Trail
food
Dinner Fast Food Hamburgers, Spaghetti Leonardo Shell Applesauce,
/ Pizza Tacos with vegi Fettechini, noodle 4 sierra
in sauce, soup (10 surprise, chicken 4
bread, Packets), soup (10 Beef
drinks mixed packets) Teriyaki,
(fruit vegis, pasta, 2 Wild
cocoa, drinks, dried Rice Pilaf
tang) cookies tomatoes, for
basil., Vegans,
garlic
powder,
mixed
vegis,
cheese
cakes
Location: On Road Condo Car camping Trail Trail Trail
food
22-Jun 23-Jun 24-Jun 25-Jun 26-Jun 27-Jun
Breakfast Oatmeal, Grapenuts, Oatmeal, Granola, French Eggs & Has
Dried fruit, dried Drinks toast, browns,
apples or powdered apples/apric fruit & bacon,
cranberries milk, OJ ots, drinks Juice
, powdered cranberries,
milk, Tang powdered
milk, Tang
Location: Trail Car camping Trail Trail Condo Condo
food
Lunch Fast food granola, granola, granola, Bag IT BAG IT
dried dried dried
fruits, fruits, fruits,
carbo-bars, carbo-bars, carbo-bars,
jerky, PB, jerky, PB, jerky,
cheese, cheese, PB,
pilot pilot cheese,
biscuits, biscuits, pilot
bread, bread, biscuits,
nuts, nuts, bread,
salami, salami, nuts,
drinks drinks salami,
drinks
Location: On Road Trail Trail Trail Condo On Road
Dinner Car Sweet and Vegetarian Condo: LUAU Plane/Fast
camping Sour Pork, Spaghetti Fish, Food
food : Soup, mixed for All , rice,
Hamburgers, vegetables, Soup, dried corn,
cookies, 2 tomatoes, salad,
shish-kabob Spaghetti basil drinks,
s, rice, for Vegans garlic pasta, ice
salad, powder, cream
applesauce, mixed
dessert vegetables,
cheese cake
Location: Trail Trail Trail Condo Condo On Road
THE EQUIPMENT
Over the years, Troop 253 has developed a well thought out Miler Equipment List. This list was used as the foundation of the Kauai Miler trip and modified to accommodate the special needs of a tropical hike. Below is the modified list that was used for pack inspection and on the trip. We added an additional pair of wool socks and sock liners to help Ensure dry feet in the very wet climate. Special emphasis was placed on a durable rain poncho again because of the wet climate. Swamp shoes (old canvas shoes) were included based upon recommendations from various books. These were to be used in the Alakei Swamp instead of hiking boots with the understanding that the swamp would completely soak the footwear and permanently stain it. This turned out to be an unnecessary element due to the recently installed board walk that extended throughout the swamp. An emphasis was placed on cotton underwear to reduce the possibility of yeast or fungal infections. A day pack was included to be used on our numerous day hikes in central Kauai and a Dive mask for snorkeling on the coast. We also added a water-proof container to keep special items dry.
The patrol equipment was also adjusted by adding a tent (replacing our normal shelter) and a Spider stick (old ski pole) to knock down spider webs that were reported to cross the trail. We didn't encounter any spider webs but the poles were used as walking sticks on the slippery trails by some of the scouts.
Almost all of the equipment that was taken on the trip was used, exceptions noted above, and we didn't need or want any equipment that we didn't have with us.
It was necessary to have a pack inspection prior to each of the two segments of the trip due to the special requirements of each. Also, due to the loss of one of our hiking members, it was necessary to re distribute some patrol equipment and food. This did cause some confusion and the inadvertent misplacing of some food but that didn't cause any problems on the trail.
THE PREP HIKES AND PREP CAMP
Preparation for any of the Troop 253 Milers includes Prep Hikes and a Prep Camp. The Prep Hikes serve multiple purposes. They ensure that the scouts and leaders are in adequate physical condition, the hiking equipment (boots, socks, pack etc.) fit properly and are in good condition, and they provide time for the scouts and leaders to get to know each other in a trail environment. Prep hikes started during the school year because of the early summer trip date, as a result they were scheduled for Thursday nights from 6 to 10 PM in order to avoid conflicts with our regularly scheduled Wednesday Troop meetings. Each of the Prep Hikes took the same route from Saratoga Springs to Preseks Ridge through a winery providing a 6 mile, round trip, hike with 1200 feet vertical and 25 pounds plus in the packs. The hikes started on May 2, 1996 and the last hike was June 6, 1996. The Prep Hike accountant kept track of the miles for each participant as shown below.
The Prep Camp provides the scouts and leaders an opportunity to check out the Miler equipment, learn how to deal with Miler food, sanitary supplies, personal hygiene, and other skills that have to do with being in the wilderness. This year the Prep Camp was held in conjunction with a regularly scheduled Troop weekend outing at Henry Coe State Park.
THE PACK INSPECTION
The last Thursday before departure for the trip, June 13, a pack inspection was held to verify that each of the scout's and leader's packs had all of the required equipment and only 6 ounces of additional personal items. We then added to each pack all of the food and troop supplied equipment. The packs were then weighed, balanced among the scouts and leaders, and wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent damage during transportation as luggage. The packs were quite heavy due to the fact that they had every thing that the hikers were going to wear on the trail, including boots, and all of the food for two segments of the trip, as well as some unique items that were not going to be carried while back packing, such as swim fins. One carry-on bag was allowed for everything else that the hikers wanted to have in Hawaii including their condo clothes and travel clothes.
The inspection was held in Ray's garage and the packs were impounded there to insure that nothing was removed or added prior to departure and that there would be no delays looking for a sleeping bag, boots, or some other important item at the last moment.
The inspection went very well and all of the missing items were provided by the end of Friday.
Shannon provided an interesting story as she arrived to the inspection about a half hour late. She informed us that her sister, Meghan, packed for college the night before and decided that she needed to take a backpack with her. Using the Troop checklist, she determined that some of the essential items were missing so she resupplied her pack with the most available items - the ones in Shannon's pack which was ready for pack inspection. Shannon had the last laugh however, she got a trip to REI with dad and purchased all new items to replace the ones pilfered by sister.
MEMORIES
Journal of Kauai trip '96 by the scouts
QUOTES
"Rain drops keep falling on my head but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red."
~mle - 6/18 (ed. note: mle is Emily's signature)
"Hey how's it going."
~Melinda - 6/18
"Baywatch!"
~Courtney - 6/18
"I'm sorry, I can't think of anything to write."
~Anna - 6/18
"The fishes are pretty."
~Shannon - 6/18
"I'm madder than a wet hen."
~mle - 6/18
TUESDAY 18
Today was great. Everyone except Mr. Waugh went to the Ke'e beach and spent over a hour snorkeling the reefs. It was so magical; the fish were bright and beautiful. There were more colors under there than you can possibly think of. Anyway, before that we all woke up early in the morning (after Larissa had left) to do a pack inspection and to make new cooking groups. Once that was done we were off to our favorite camping spot. Once we got there everyone set up camp, and got their bathing suits out to of to the Ke'e beach. After we snorkeled the drivers drove us back to camp and we started dinner. Spaghetti!! It was the best food that we have had while camping. Everyone ate it. Some people ate it with some sauce and some just ate noodles, but everyone was happy! Then it was time to turn in. The sleeping assignments were Emily, Courtney, and Melinda together and Shannon, Megan, and me together. Over all it was a great day.
~Anna
THURSDAY 20
Well, today we hiked out the difficult 7 miles of our 8 mile hike. All of us were very relieved to be done with that part. We had a very close encounter with Melinda falling off the trail. It was slippery and muddy so Melinda kind of slipped off. Even though she looked really funny, her rescuer, Emily, stopped laughing soon enough to pull Melinda's pack back onto the trail. I am really impressed with all of the scenery and the fact that we could finish the trail without any major injuries. It seemed like every look out point could be a postcard picture. Emily, Melinda, and I had the most perfect campsite on the most beautiful look out I had ever seen. The only problem was it was up too high so we had to walk down a muddy trail to get to the eating area, beach, and river but it was worth it because of the beautiful view.
~Courtney
FRIDAY 21
Today we finally made it back to our favorite camping sight. It is so much fun there, you can just be free. Not to mention the beautiful view of the ocean. On our hike out though, we got kind of a surprise. There was a large hairy man bathing buck naked in the river! It was kind of a shock for most of us to see. We got into camp kind of late because a couple of people wanted to go on a day hike before we left. After we finally got there though, we had dinner and Emily, Melinda, and me went off on a walk down the beach. While we were on the beach we met a man named Jimmy who offered to make the three of us roses when we got back to camp. It turned out that he was looking for his friends missing flashlight so we helped him look for it while he told us interesting facts about the beach. Later he taught us things about weaving, and ended up weaving the whole troop a special present. Earlier that day, me, Melinda, and Emily met some of the young kids that were at the park. We learned mostly what Mahalo meant, and that flies are big and mosquitoes are small.
~Courtney
This morning Mr. Slusser , Mr. Waugh and Shannon went on a two mile one-way hike to Hanakapiai waterfall. The hike was muddy, but worth while. The water fall was beautiful! There was a big pool of water at the base, that Mr. Slusser took a swim in.
When we came back late, we ate lunch then headed out on the trail. The hike was hot but we made it out to the trail head. We snorkeled at Ke'e beach for a little, then set up camp at Haena State Park.
After dinner Jimmy, a weaver, taught us how to make all sorts of different things with coconut leaves. He made us all something, stars, roses, grasshopper, fish, and bird. Everyone enjoyed learning how to make them and were amazed at the talent Jimmy had.
~Shannon and Anna
SATURDAY 22
After an itchy night, Shannon woke up very itchy from so many mosquito bites, we had breakfast, packed up and went into a dry cave and the wet cave with our Therma-rests. We saw big frogs and other things. Then the vans came and saved us and brought us to the condo. We took showers, washed clothes, and re-packed. Then we ate McDonalds and set out for the drive and hike to the canyon. We drove all the way and then half of the dirt road until it got too hard for the vans to keep going so we said good-bye and made a 2 and 1/2 mile journey to the campsites and ate dinner and went to sleep.
~Shannon
Today we finally went spelunking it wasn't exactly what I expected but it was still fun. The dry cave had interesting rock formations to look at as well as a little area you could duck under to go farther back into the cave. The wet cave was another experience all together. We brought our Therma Rest along to float along the water. Some of us didn't know that the Therma Rest would sink a lot and only provide support as you paddled along. Even though the water was cold, it was still really fun to do. After a happy reunion with the condo people and their cars we set off for our next challenge, getting clean. Eventually all of us were clean, had clean clothes, and were stuffed full of McDonalds. It was then when we set off for our next camping site. After the ride was over, and the cars would go no further down the slippery, bumpy road; the hikers jumped out of the cars and packed into the next campsite. It is really beautiful here, and so far there haven't been any bugs!! So now we have our base camp and have only day hikes to go.
~Courtney
SUNDAY 23
Today was a very interesting day. Overall everyone was very happy all day. In the morning everyone woke up early to have breakfast. Of course the leaders woke up 5 hours earlier than the scouts and talked very loudly amongst themselves, that annoyed the dickens out of each and every scout. But that is how they wake us up. We had breakfast and planned our first day. That hike included every scout, and every leader. We went a while and I lead until we stopped. We stopped because we were all tired and needed a snack. Emily and Melinda climbed a tree and rested up there. Soon Mr. Slusser went to see what the trail was like a little bit ahead. Soon we heard him call for Mr. Ray so he went to see what Mr. Slusser wanted. It turned out that there was a beehive on the trail and Mr. Slusser wanted a second opinion on to go or not. It also turned out that a bee had stung Mr. Slusser's head. So Laura got to pull the stinger out with hardly any pain at all. Then we turned around and went back.
~Anna
We went on a day hike to the swamp in the morning. It was pretty cool. Except we didn't really find the swamp, too bad. We found a dog and named him Splunk and he went with us on the hike. He is a hunting dog. He is pretty cool. When we went to the ranger station we had to leave Splunk there. In the night Splunk got into the trash and he woke Courtney up. On Tuesday we went to the ranger station, then most of us went on a 6 mile day hike then we all went on a "1 mile" hike to the "waterfalls". It was not real fun. On Wed. we went to a luau. It was pretty cool except the show was too long. I had a little nap because it was too late.
~ Melinda
THE END