Byron planned more for this camp out than any I can think of. He wanted to make sure he had the correct equipment along with the boys so they could have an enjoyable experience. Tanner went for 4 days while Byron went for 3 and Johnathan for 2. Tanner left earlier with David Wilcox, Matt Hamblin and quite a few boys. Then the next day John Whitehead and Byron met up with the boys. Johnathan left with the 11 year old scouts and ended up meeting up also. They had a pack check and they weighed in pretty light compared to others. Byron weighed every thing in the packs to see what could be done away with or made lighter some how. It was quite the process that Johnathan & Tanner enjoyed doing with Byron. We spent many hours at sporting goods stores trying to get everything for this camp out and of course a lot of money.
Tanner left on Wednesday around 3 p.m. with a group of boys, David Wilcox and Matt Hamblin. They ended up getting lost when driving up there so the hike started much later than planned. They ended up hiking most of the way in the dark. Luckily Tanner had his head lamp so he could see where he was walking. They got to the lake and pitched their tents. It was a pretty crazy experience. Tanner said he got quite a bit of scratches that night from running into bushes and other plants. They hiked just about 4 miles in. By the time they finally arrived, they just set up their tents wherever they could find a spot. They ended up having to move their camp site the next day since they were too close to the water.
Byron left on Thursday after work with John Whitehead to meet up with the boys from the previous day. The boys had fun fishing and swimming in the lakes. They also had fun making rafts. They hiked from lake to lake so they could fish. I guess their were a huge amount of mosquito's. Byron being the prepared scout that he is had his mosquito net and wore it proudly :).
Friday Johnathan left and ended up joining them also on Saturday. He had fun fishing. Some of his friends didn't bring fishing lures so they borrowed Johnathan's. He ended up losing quite a few in the water. One time the line was caught up in the top of a tree and Johnathan tried and tried to get it free. He was having a heck of a time with fishing to say the least. He never caught a fish, but had fun trying.
They all came home beat and very dirty. They learned a lot from this first backpacking experience. They ended up eating a lot less than they had packed so will probably pack lighter next time with food. They also purified water the whole time and were so glad they had Byron's filter as it was the best one they had up there - it got used by many boys and leaders. They also realized that the small containers of mosquito repellent didn't really work at all. The boys came back with so many bites.
What a fun experience and memory for the boys. They all loved it.
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