Scout Camp

Well, I guess its the season for outdoor adventures and boy, howdy, did we have a doozy last week! Nate, Justin and I headed for the old classic Camp Fife early Monday morning with a total of 16 scouters! We were headed for an LDS Aaronic Priesthood Encampment. The fun started just a few miles up the road when one of Justin's friends lost his breakfast all over one of the vans (and on some of the other scouts, like Justin!). We got that cleaned up and got back on the road. I could only stay until Tuesday morning because I had to work Tuesday night. We got to camp in good time. We were worried about getting unloaded because they were cramming 1300 + scouts in a camp made to hold only 300! They did a pretty good job with setting everything up.

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Nate, Austin (another priest in our ward), and I got through the tour and orientation then we strapped on our backpacks for what was supposed to be a 8.5-9.5 mile hike for an overnight priest adventure. It was a nice hike that was fairly steep to begin with as he headed out from Halfway Flats Campground. I was a little worried about the youth who were, in many cases without direct adult supervision, just working their way up the trail. Nate, Austin and I kept within eyesight of each other. We trudged up the trail with some beautiful vistas along the way. We were making good time (we thought) but then the trail seemed to be a little long.

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We were getting ready to cross a rock slide area when we stopped and pulled out the GPS. It already showed 12.5 miles! We were told we'd come to a road that had a sign to follow down to a meadow but we couldn't find anything. We came across other hikers including President Libbert from the Pasco Stake and we decided to head on the same trail as it climbed fairly steeply and thought we might find some cell phone service (don't know what good that would have done!). Well, we got to the top of the rock slide and heard a yell. They had found the sign! Another mile down the road and we found the camp. We figure we covered at least 14 miles. There were roads into the site so they trucked in our food and porta potties. At least we got there in daylight as there were still about 100 priests and their leaders still unaccounted for as darkness fell. We had a good dinner, then had the awesome opportunity to hear from Bishop McPheters, also known as the Agent Bishop. At 67, he was one of the oldest to hike in with a pack on his back. He had some wonderful, spiritual and exciting stories of being a 4-time bishop and F.B.I. agent. Afterwards, in the dark, we pow-wowed to figure out what to do about the missing scouts and leaders. Some other stake leaders had gone out looking but it was difficult to make contact. Finally, we agreed it would be better to wait out those searchers instead of getting others lost.

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We all offered to help if needed and headed for our tents.

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Needless to say we slept well that night. From the ruckus, one group of scouts got into camp around midnight, and the rest about 2 a.m! We got up the next morning and got our tents, bags and stuff packed up. I got some grub and hit the trail to try and get home for a little sleep. The priests stuck around for some miscellaneous fun like hatchet throwing and some balancing games.

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It was a wonderful hike out as the sky was clear and the previously cloud obscured Mount Rainier was in full view when I crested a ridge on the way out. It was a nice hike as I didn't see anyone except for 2 horsemen. I warned them about he 200+ scouts they would likely soon encounter! I enjoyed the beauty of the Cascades and ran across some sort of grouse protecting her chick.

I got back to the car and then drove to Camp Fife to see if the scout who was sick needed a ride home. Turns out he was gone already but I did see a bunch of backpacks and several priests who I recognized from the hike. I wondered what was going on! Turns out the leaders gave people the option of getting driven back to camp or hiking out without their backpacks. I guess I was one of the lucky ones to get the whole 28-mile experience with a full pack on my back! I've heard of marathoners getting black and blue toes and now, I know how they feel as both my middle toes got hammered in the hike.

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Nate and Austin had a good time hiking back out. Nate had a good time the rest of the week at scout camp. He got to repel down a 100 foot cliff and go scuba diving, among other fun things. Justin, unfortunately, fell victim to the sickness that also hit 3 or 4 other scouts in our troop and he came home early but carved a really cool hiking staff.