August 7th (Beaubien)

Our hikes continue to get a little bit longer each day, and our trip to Beaubien campground today will be 5-6 miles.  We started our day at 6 AM, shooting to leave by 7:30AM, we left at about 8:00 AM. We’re still working out the kinks on getting up and out as fast as we’d like.  It was an easy downhill hike to get to Crater Lake.  We took of our packs near the lake and walked right into the middle of a demonstration on tree climbing. Crater Lake is a staff camp with all things logging. Our sister troop from Philly was getting a demonstration ; we were just stopping by to see the camp and look at the lake.  Being that I was carrying the trash I got a chance to dump it off so I didn’t have to carry it the whole day.

Crater Lake has a beautiful campfire spot looking out at the Tooth of Time.

We started a fairly stiff uphill climb, moving up the beginning parts of Trail Peak. We had to stop several times because of scouts being tired.  We made it to the top and rested in a field filled with cow patties. The smell made several people gag. We had the option of climbing up Trail Peak on our way to Beaubien but the crew decided not to. We walked the trail down to a gorgeous, long meadow  (we would end up hiking alonside this meadow for the rest of the day).

One cow seemed a little angry. We saw some bones on the side of the road and were so interested that we stopped for lunch.  Within 5 minutes it started to lightning/thunder and here we were in the middle of a meadow.  We moved to higher ground to finish our lunch, and then the rain started. We put on our rain gear and tried to wait out the rain/lightning.  The cows in the field were also heading for cover, and one of them walked right in front of us.

After about 45 minutes or so we decided to keep hiking in the rain/drizzle.  The lightning had moved behind us (Trail Peak).  We saw more cattle and some horses grazing free. We came to the Beaubien stable and then walked up to the welcome porch. It had been a tough hike because we were all fairly weighed down because of the rain.  We were told that our horseback riding would begin around 8AM. We were also told that we could get articles of clothing branded and that there were hot showers fueled by wood-fired heated water (I didn’t know there were showers on this backpacking trip!).

Our hostess brought us to our campsite, we set up camp, and then Ray, Matthew, Ryan, Adam took turns in the shower. Some kids from Seattle with purple hair were stoking it for us (one of them actually knew somebody from Shrewsbury named James Searle). We met a couple of advisers from Dover, MA. When we came back from the showers we found that MikeB’s and JohnG’s tent frame had somehow ended up stuck in a tree.  I helped them get it down by chucking a tree limb at it several times.

At 5:15 we started dinner, and it was still raining a bit, but not too hard.  Right in the middle of dinner, though, it started POURING. We just sat there getting soaked, waiting for the water to boil so we could eat. Not Fun.  The spaghetti dinner was disgusting.  Carter and MattG’s tent had a puddle forming around it, so they had to move it to higher ground. After dinner we couldn’t re-light the stoves because the matches and lighter wouldn’t work in the rain, so MikeB and JohnG had to wash the dishes with cold water (in the rain). The mood was grim.

Mike, Ray, and I decided to go to advisor’s coffee at 7PM.  Matthew asked me if I could bring back some cookies. Carter asked his Dad the same thing, then Ryan and Spencer joined in and all four asked the same thing.  They said they planned to stalk me to make sure I grabbed some cookies for them, but I figured they would just go to bed because things were so miserable. But off we went. I grabbed cookies for them and drank coffee. As a matter of fact I spilled the cookies and had to pick some of them off the floor.  I didn’t realize but they actually WERE stalking me and saw me spill the cookies.

During coffee the group from Philly marched in at 7PM!!!  After the logging demo at Crater Lake they tried to climb Trail Peak and the lightning and thunder stopped them cold in their tracks. They were also all fairly miserable.

We walked back to camp to see if anybody was awake to go to the campfire, when I realized my cup was filled with coffee grounds, so I headed to the showers to wash it out in the laundry room. As I got closer I heard somebody talking about Dr. Who and turned the corner to find Matthew, Carter, Ryan and Spencer avoiding the rain by hanging out in the changing area. Carter thought I was bluffing when I said I had snagged some cookies so I opened the raincoat and distributed a delicious handful of cookies to each of them.

I told them about the Philly hikers, and a guy from Houston was washing his laundry heard me and said “Hey we were on Trail Peak and lightning struck 20 feet away from us”.  So I gave him some cookies. Everybody’s mood began to brighten.  We all walked back to camp and then attended the Beaubien campfire at 8PM. It was an awesome show, even though it was underneath the pavilion instead of under the stars.  Warren and his team sang the Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, Allman Brothers, etc. They had an acoustic bass, 2 guitars, a flute, and a fiddle. There was a joke contest, too.  Great fun, well done.

It was still sprinkling when we went to bed. Luckily Matthew and I had picked a good spot for our tent; it was completely dry inside.