The First Training Hike

Last Saturday our Troop went to Camp Cooper, which is over the river and through the woods, so to speak. Okay, so it's really mostly West of town.  Last week it rained nearly every day so we were expecting a rainy day on Saturday, especially considering that the Scout Camp is in a special rain forest zone.  But the Scouting Gods must have been thinking kind thoughts for us, because while it was a bit on the chilly side, there was no rain.  In fact, there was even some sunshine which is a miracle around here in the middle of winter.

The reason for the outing was to take a 10 mile hike.  See, we're planning a BIG hike in March to the Redwoods.  During the 10 mile hike we were practicing catching our breath and fainting from exhaustion :)

At Camp Cooper there is a lake called Hurl Lake (no I am not joking it is actually called Hurl Lake!!!!)
we had a lot of fun with the name of the lake (hey we're boys!) There is also a waterfall the name of which I don't remember but I do remember what we called it - Hurl falls!  Looking down from the top  of the falls it did make you want to "Hurl". But after we hiked down a few hundred feet having the spray from the falls in your face was like a cool spring shower.  Aaahhhh that felt good!  Any way..........  it was a good hike besides that my ankles got soaked during the first half and that the first half was straight up and down.  Besides that it was on a game trail so there was a lot over hang.   My top half on the other hand was nice and dry because I had on my "Gordini" wicking tee shirt (which does its job great! I loved it) I also had on my "Columbia Omni-Dry" hiking shirt - both of which did an incredible job of wicking away the sweat and keeping me dry and comfortable.  I'd post a photo but apparently my computer has eaten them.  Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, keep on Scouting!

Scout Boy