Backpacking Day 2...

...we awoke at dawn...I brought Scout's camera...so the picture quality is BAD...sorry...

...everyone gathers with their packs...

...the sun climbs over the gorge...

...dividing up the communal gear...Scout is in the purple patrol...our Scoutmaster is blue...and I'm orange...I won't see them for the rest of the day...but we'll gather tonight at a communal campground...

...we head off into the wilderness with a set of coordinates and a gps...

...our first stop is a frontier outpost...

...very well done!...

...then hiking through the woods to find our next gps point...at each stop they give you a new set of coordinates...

...fire building was next...we had a race to see who could burn through the string first...we built a teepee style fire and won...of course...

...this is a very sad photo of my rehydrated lunch - the ramen noodle mixture and it was delicious...the Scout's had a very sad lunch indeed and my patrol was quite envious of my delicious hot bowl of soup and noodles...they had a Snickers bar - 2 Nutrigrain bars - and a bag of trail mix...designed to provide plenty of calories and be eaten out of hand while hiking...but we had almost a half hour before our next event so we stopped and ate...and as I was carrying our patrol's stove and fuel...I lit it up and had a nice hot lunch...I wouldn't have been able to eat the provided lunch anyway...and we had four boys in our patrol...so we divided my four items among them...

...our next gps point took us down into the gorge...to this old broken down bridge...

...the little creek (called a river though) that winds through the gorge...

...it really was a gorgeous fall day...

...looking back up the trail...it's really steep...I don't think the picture quite captures that though...

...I hope that even with the bad photos you get an idea of how lovely it was here...

...our next gps point was panning for gold...

...it was nice to get a rest from carrying our 20+ lb. packs...see how well my crocheted straps work...and yes!...I do have TWO PADS...HA!

...after some instruction the scouts got to try their hands at panning...

...the boys actually found a little bit of what the instructor called 'flour gold'...which he slurped up with a little gadget and put into a little test tube thingy for them to take with them...

...Panning for gold was a lot of fun...for about a half an hour...then it began to seem like an awful lot of work to me...

...then we hit the trail again...

...our next gps point was only .6 miles away...

...but the trails to get there took us up out of the gorge back past our original campsite and then down into the gorge again and all the way back up to the ridge on the other side...a total of about 3 miles...we later heard that some patrols hiked straight down the side of the canyon and back up (as a bird flies so to speak)...but that seems like awfully hard hiking to me...I'm glad we stayed on the trail...

...back up on the ridge the scouts built a catapult with only sticks and string...a good practice of their lashings and knots...it was a 'human-powered' catapult...but it worked...and they launched several golf balls into the field with it...

...then we got our final gps points of the day...just 1.7 miles to the campsite...and when we got there the purple patrol was already there and Scout was already preparing supper...

...Scout enjoying our hearty 'One Pan Dandy'...

...it really was delicious...and we had vegan hot cocoa with it...quite yummy and filling...and now we're ready to crawl into our tents...but first we had campfire and skits...Scout's patrol did the 'Firing Squad' skit...

three scouts line up before a firing squad...and as the commander shouts 'ready...aim...' one of the scouts shouts 'tornado'...and while the firing squad guys look around for the tornado that scout escapes...so they line up again...and the commander shouts 'ready...aim...' and the second scout shouts 'earthquake'...and while the firing squad guys get ready for an earthquake that scout escapes...then they line up again and the commander shouts 'ready...aim...' again and the last scout shouts 'Fire'!...hilarious I know...

...anywhoo...I did take pictures...but they were no good...and Scout and I crawled into our tent and watched the shadows from the campfire as he told me all about his day...it was lovely!...