Author: Rob Duncan

As Gavin and I prepare for our long trip through the woods, there are many resources that we have been studying. I believe in being informed, so for the past two years, I have read books, read web pages, and watched videos nonstop. For any readers who might be interested in learning more about the Appalachian trail, I thought I would share some of my favorite resources. Specifically, this post will be about some of the many books I’ve read and enjoyed.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
This is the first book I read about the Appalachian Trail and it rekindled my interest in completing a thru-hike. As a youngster, I took several short trips on the trail, and even then, I thought it would be loads of fun to hike the whole trail from start to finish. In fact, in cleaning up my laundry room a few weeks ago in case the hurricane caused flooding, I found my high school book bag. It had several patches from some early scouting events, but front and center was an Appalachian Trail Maine to Georgia patch. If you haven’t read Bryson’s book, I highly recommend it. At a rather advanced age (and weight), Bryson decides he wants to hike the whole trail. In searching for someone to hike with him, he accepts, as a last resort, a high school classmate whom some would say “had let himself go.” The story itself details the many trials and tribulations faced by the pair as they set out on their first ever hike. It is incredibly funny, and it provides some information about what one might expect in completing a thru-hike. A Walk in the Woods was also turned into a movie, but I would highly recommend against the movie, even if you are a Robert Redford fan. It is without a doubt the worst book-to-movie transition I have ever witnessed.

I have no idea in what order I read each of the following books, but each was exceptional for its own reason. Many of these are stories of the authors’ trips, while others offer how-to advice. I would recommend any of these for folks who are interested in learning about the trail.

My Appalachian Trial I: Three Weddings and a Sabbatical and My Appalachian Trial II: Creaking Geezer, Hidden Flagon by Steve Adams
These are two of my favorite AT books. Steve “Mighty Blue” Adams is a 60+ Brit who, in his third marriage, confesses to, “drinking far more than was strictly necessary.” His dry wit permeates the whole book. While describing the trail, he provides much information on things he learned as a first-time hiker. I’m not sure he had even slept in a tent before ending his first day atop Springer Mountain. I also recommend Hiking the Appalachian Trail is Easy: Especially if You’ve Never Hiked Before and his podcast. The podcasts are divided into two-parts. In the first part, Steve interviews a notable hiker, and in the second, he reads a chapter from My Appalachian Trial. Once you finish the podcasts at mightyblueontheat.com, you will also have “read” both of his books. These books I have read twice, and I’ve only recently started listening to the the podcast.

AWOL on the Appalachian Trial, David “AWOL” Miller
This is David Miller’s story about his thru-hike. It is an enjoyable read and I finished it quickly. I would also note that after the trail, Miller has been publishing The AT Guide, known to hikers as AWOL’s Guide. This book lists landmarks, summits, water sources, shelters, hostels, and many other features of the trail. In addition, it has maps and descriptions of towns that are close to the trail so hikers can plan resupplies and lodging. It is available in NOBO and SOBO versions, and each describes the trail from start to finish. The guide lists points of interest with both mileage from Springer Mtn. and to Katahdin, elevations, and in the case of road crossing, GPS coordinates. Very few hikers start the trail these days without this guidebook. I enjoyed reading about AWOL’s trip along the trail, but The AT Guide is a godsend in terms of planning for the trip.

Lost on the Appalachian Trail, Kyle Rohrig
This book is the subject of Kyle’s journey with his dog Katana on a north-bound hike of the AT. It is a great story, but Kyle caught a bunch of grief for taking Katana to the summit of Katahdin, even though dogs are strictly forbidden in Baxter State Park. While I understand his argument that Katana had been with him the whole trip, thus earning the “right” to summit, I believe that hikers have a duty to respect the trail and the few rules that have been put in place to ensure its enjoyment for future generations of hikers.

Grandma Gatewood Walks, Ben Montgomery
Emma Gatewood is the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail. She began her trip in 1955, at the age of 67, after telling her grown children that she was, “going for a walk.” She hiked the trail twice more, in 1960, and in 1963. Grandma Gatewood certainly didn’t have the luxury of ultra-lightweight gear that we have today. In fact, she hiked the trail in Ked’s tennis shoes, and carried her gear, including a wool blanket, in a bag slung over her shoulder. It is an absolutely remarkable story that I would recommend to anyone.

There are several other “trail story” books that I’ve read. To avoid the risk of redundancy in my descriptions, I’ll simply list title and author.

Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail, Jennifer Pharr Davis
Skywalker—Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Walker
Where’s the Next Shelter, Gary Sizer
Balancing on Blue, Keith Foskett

The other type of book that has been invaluable is the “how-to” type of books. Here are three that I have found particularly useful.

Take a Thru-Hike: Dixie’s How-to Guide for Hiking the Appalachian Trail, Jessica “Dixie” Mills
Jessica Mills, or Dixie, is a 2015 AT thru-hiker. She is famous for her website and YouTube channel Homemade Wanderlust. She is now an aspiring triple-crowned. She completed the Pacific Crest Trail in 2017, and her YouTube channels shows that she is 25 episodes into completing the Continental Divide Trail. She is an authority on backpacking, and this book is the first of the “how-to” books I read. It is also one that I have read a second time as my trip draws nearer, and I am a regular visitor to her YouTube channel.

Appalachian Trials: The Psychological and Emotional Guide to Successfully Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail, Zach Davis
This is another book that I have recently reread. As its title implies, this one prepares the reader for the mental side of hiking the trail, which I’ve heard is a much harder battle than the physical one. One early piece of advice that Davis (and Dixie) give is, “to tell everyone,” and was the impetus for starting this blog. Another suggestion is to make lists such as, “I am hiking the AT because…” and “When I successfully thru-hike the AT I will…,” and “If I give up on the AT I will…” I will certainly take this book and my lists, in ebook form, on the AT to help me through those days on end when it is 30° and raining.

How to Hike the Appalachian Trail: A Comprehensive Guide to Plan and Prepare for a Successful Thru-Hike, Chris Cage
Cage’s book has chapters devoted to specific aspects of planning for and executing a thru-hike. He also includes a state-by-state guide to the trail. For each state, he gives a general overview of the trail and tells how many miles of the trail reside in the state in question. Like the many others, this is a book that I’ll take with me on the trail.

Thanks for enduring to the end of this article. I’ve been working on it for about a week, and though it may interest only a few people, I felt like I needed to write it. I am also planning a post about different YouTubers that I’ve been following for those of you who prefer moving pictures to the printed word.

Now that Beth and Griffin are back in school, Gavin and I are beginning to settle into a schooling routine of our own, but we are also planning to complete several “training” hikes. We’ll use these trips to fine-tune our gear and get in better shape (though I still maintain that round is a shape!).

Our first trip was in the Shining Rock Wilderness area. We planned for 20 miles over three days, but we didn’t plan for the terrain to be so rocky and steep. We wound up doing 11 miles over two days, but we considered the trip a success anyway.

Gavin and I stayed in Asheville Monday night. On our way to the mountains, we needed to stop at the Verizon Store in Hickory, and we also needed to make a pilgrimage to REI. This trip was necessary because Sunday night, while making final plans for the trip, I realized that bear canisters are required in the area we were planning to hike. At 2:00, $70 lighter in the wallet and 2.5 lbs. heavier in the backpack, we departed REI with a BV-500 bear can. Realizing that we were an hour away from the trailhead, we decided to just hotel in Asheville and to get up Tuesday morning and hit the trail. This worked out well because we were able to have supper with one of Gavin’s friends from camp and his parents who live in the area.

Day 1: September 11

Our trip to the Black Balsam trailhead was mostly along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which gave us a tease of the views that we would see along our hike. Our first climb was up to Black Balsam Knob (elev. 6,214′). The views here were marvelous. We hiked along the ridgeline for a while until summiting Tennent Mountain (elev. 6,040′). Here we had 360° views and the valleys were just phenomenal. In the video of the trip, Gavin remarked that this is one of the best views he has ever seen. We descended along the Art Loeb Trail and headed for Grassy Cove Top. At the base of this bald, we had a couple of missed turns in trying to take the trail we had planned to travel which would take us up and over the mountain. I will admit that the trail was poorly marked in this area, and when we finally got on the correct trail, we went a little way up and were greeted by a “Trail Closed Because of Erosion” sign. We backtracked through the head high brush that was closing in on the “trail” and reevaluated. It turns out that one of the rights we had made at the base of the trail would have skirted the mountain continuing along the Art Loeb Trail, but we didn’t notice it at the time. Instead, we switched onto the Ivestor Gap Trail which was a fairly flat two miles to our campsite. We made some of our best time along this section of the trail.

The campsite where we stayed was really nice. It was in a hemlock covered area and wasn’t too far from a water source. We found what we thought was an excellent tree for a bear hang. Even though we had the behemoth bear can, there were a couple of bulky items that wouldn’t fit, such as our stoves, a few Raman bricks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and my first-aid/meds bag. These items were split between two dry sacks and hoisted into the tree for the night. After a quick perusal of the campsite for stray gear, Gavin and I said our prayers and headed to our tents. I had no more kneeled in the vestibule of my tent to spread out my sleeping bag and liner when I heard a ruckus in the woods in the vicinity of where we hung and stashed our food.

Of course, I knew what it was, and my thoughts immediately went through anything “smellable” that I may have left in my pack that might lure the bear into our campsite. I admonished Gavin to stay in his tent and continued preparing for bed. As I zipped into my sleeping bag, not really worried about our safely stored and hung food, I began to hear pots rattle. The pots were supposed to be safely up the tree, but it was evident that the bear had found a way to get at them. I also heard him (or her, I didn’t get up to check) batting around the bear canister a bit. The whole episode lasted for maybe 10-15 minutes, and I didn’t hear anything else. As I lay there praying that Gavin and I would be safe, I wondered if we would ever see our pots and food again. Having never used a bear canister before, I didn’t know if the bear would try to haul it away or not.

Day 2: September 12

The next morning Gavin woke first. I heard him go up past my tent toward the food storage area, and I knew what he would find. He was a bit upset that the bear got into our stuff, but thankfully, most everything was still there on the ground, right below where we hung the bag. The final score for the bear was two packs of Raman, two Sea to Summit dry bags, a tube of toothpaste with bite marks, and a ripped-open first aid kit. I’d say we came out on top in this encounter and we have some souvenir claw marks on the lid of our brand new bear can. I’d say it was $70 well spent, but I’m still not sure about the 2.5 pounds in my pack.

It was late when we left our campsite, and this is something we need to work on. Gavin and I both have a difficult time getting going in the mornings, and if we’re going to do the miles we need to do, we will have to learn to be up with the sun. Also, I expect I will be lynched by other hikers if they have to listen to me hit my snooze button for an hour before dragging my butt out of my tent.

Our three climbs today were Shining Rock (elev. 6,040′), Dog Loser Knob (elev. 5,761′) and Old Butt Knob (elev. 5,522′). The recording of our hike shows only 459′ of elevation gain over 3 miles, but it seemed like we climbed much more than that. I know that the climbs were exacerbated by the rocky trail which was also interspersed with tons of roots waiting to trip us up. The hardest part of the trail, though, was the descent of Old Butt Knob. It made the rocks of Wilburn Ridge in the Grayson Highlands look like pebbles. We descended more than 2,000′ in about three miles, with a good portion of the trip traversing grades from -50% to -20%. Add in that we were stepping down over large rocks, some of which Gavin wound up sliding down on his butt, and this made for a very tough day on the knees.

We had planned to do about 10 miles on the second day of our trip, but as we neared the Pigeon River and a trailhead I took a look at the remaining miles we had planned. Though gradual, the rest of our trip was going to be uphill, and I knew that after the tough descent we had just endured, we’d have a difficult time making the distance we had planned. I made the executive decision, which Gavin seconded, to hitch a ride back to the truck and head home. We fairly quickly got a ride at the trailhead, but the guy that picked us up couldn’t take us back to our truck because the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed to commercial vehicles, and he was in a work truck. He was kind enough to take us to the Parkway, and we had a short hike to an overlook. We waited by the road and shortly secured a ride back to the truck. The second hitch was from a gentleman who was responding to a search and rescue call in the area. He was interesting to talk to, and he pointed out many of the local sights off the parkway. We’ll have to come back down this way sometime and take the time to explore. This day was also a milestone because, at the age of 51, I had secured my first and second ever hitches. Until I started reading about the Appalachian Trail a few years ago, I would have never considered standing beside a road with my thumb out.

Things We Learned

As I mentioned above, this was our first “training” hike, and even though we cut it short, I still consider it a success. First, and perhaps most important, we learned a big lesson about properly hanging a bear bag. We also had the opportunity to try out some new gear: Gavin tested his Outdoor Research Helium II rain jacket and REI rain pants, and he was satisfied with both. I also sported a new rain shell, the Outdoor Research Interstellar. I was skeptical because it didn’t have pit zips, but the fabric seems to breathe as much as the customer service rep told me it would. I was very comfortable in the jacket. I learned that I am also going to have to have a careful look at pack weight. When I got home, my pack weighed 35 lbs., and that was without the 2L (4.4 lbs) of water that I usually carry. That is way, way too heavy. I know that some of it came from the bear can (2.5 lbs) and an iPad (1.5 lbs) that I didn’t want to leave in the truck, but I’m going to have to look more carefully at my food selections and quantity. We have done the best we can to purchase gear that is as lightweight as we can afford, so the extra weight has to be in food and such.

Thanks for making it to the end of this post. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe! Also, check out the photo gallery of this trip.

This is a short post, but I have to share. When Beth and I were discussing the possibility of my retirement and Gavin and I hiking the Appalachian Trail, I found a quarter in the floor of my classroom. It wasn’t just any quarter, it was one of the 2016 series America the Beautiful quarters featuring John Brown’s Fort from Harpers Ferry, WV. This is significant, I told her, because Harpers Ferry is the symbolic half-way point of the AT, and also home to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. This was surely the sign we needed to know this was the right decision.

Fast forward to today. We were fortunate to go see a movie with our friends Matt and Katie and we wound up at Ruby Tuesday for supper. Guess what I found on the floor on the way out? Hint: there is a photo above. I suppose it was probably a small part of someone’s tip to the waitress, but I couldn’t bear to put it back on a table because of its significance (sorry nice waitress). The last two quarters I’ve found have been of the Harpers Ferry variety. I take this as a definite sign that Gavin and I are supposed to be taking this trip!

When I share with folks that Gavin and I are planning to hike the Appalachian Trail, you can see the look come across their faces. Most folks know that the AT is a really long hike in the woods, but unless they’ve read Bill Bryson’s book A Walk in the Woods or have seen the movie (please, read the book– the movie is abysmal), their knowledge of the trail stops there. In this post, I’ll try to answer some of the questions that most folks ask about the AT. The Appalachian Trail is a 2,200 mile “footpath for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness” that stretches from Springer Mtn., GA to Mt. Katahdin, ME. The elevation gain in hiking the AT is equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest 16 times. Along its course, the trail traverses 14 states, requiring more than 5,000,000 footsteps to complete. Fitbit Challenge, anyone? The average hiker takes about 165 days to finish the trail. Gavin and I plan to start in late February and finish up in August or early September.

One of the most popular questions is, “Will you ever go into town?” The answer is definitely, “Yes!” Throughout most of the trail, we’ll never be more than 3-5 days away from a trip into town to resupply or sleep in a real bed, or, most importantly, find an all-you-can-eat buffet. Though town life can put a drain on both your wallet and hiking pace, I expect we’ll plan for at least one zero day (a day where you hike 0 miles) each week or so. An alternative to a zero is to plan to end a day only a few miles from a town so that the next day you can take a nero, or a day when you hike nearly 0 miles. You might stay in town that night, and get up bright and early (yeah, we’ll have to work on that) and hike out the next morning.

When we’re not in town, which will be most of the time, we’ll either be tent camping or staying in one of the more than 260 shelters spaced out along the AT. Generally, shelters are basic, 3-sided structures designed to provide respite from the elements (as long as they don’t attack the open 4th side.) The good thing about shelters, especially in inclement weather, is that you don’t have to worry about pitching a tent in the rain (or packing one up wet.) There are down-sides to consider too. Because they are frequently populated, there are lots of crumbs which attract mice. Nearly every shelter I’ve visited has dangling strings with a tin can or plastic coffee can lid from which to hang gear. Since shelters may accommodate 6-20+ hikers, it is difficult to get sleep there because of all the snoring. I don’t expect to be part of the solution on this one.

Many hikers will mail themselves packages along the trail (or have their lovely spouse do it for them.) This used to be one of the primary ways to resupply. For whatever reason, be it the increased popularity of the trail, or the kindness of strangers, though, it is now easier and more cost effective to go into a town to buy whatever food items you are hungry for now, rather than taking your chances that you’ll still be craving what you sent yourself weeks ago. Though we’ll no doubt have to swap out winter gear for lighter weight summer stuff and order replacement gear (i.e. shoes = 3-4 pair each) by mail, most of our resupply items will come from local towns along the trail.

Speaking of towns along the trail, two of the closest “trail towns” to us are Damascus, VA and Hot Springs, NC. These, and most other towns along the trail are hiker-friendly. That means that there is no shortage (I hope) of inexpensive hostels which provide a cot/bed, and often breakfast for under $20. Towns along the trail are accustomed to hosting thru-hikers, and residents of these towns often provide shuttle rides from town back to the trail and/or vice versa.

People frequently ask me if I am planning to carry a gun on the trail. The short answer is, “No.” For a variety of reasons, I don’t believe a gun would be useful on the trail. First, I don’t own one, and second, they’re very heavy. Most importantly, the biggest danger that I hope to run into along the AT is ticks, and I think a handgun is overkill for those (and my aim isn’t that good anyway.) We will likely see rattlesnakes, but you don’t gain any Leave No Trace points for walking up and down the trail shooting wildlife. We’ll have to remember that we’re guests in the wildlife’s home, and will have to behave accordingly. If it means taking a wide berth around a snake, or waiting for it to move along on its own, that is what we will do. You might be thinking that I’ve avoided the #1 reason for having a weapon along the trail, Bears! Yes, the entire AT runs through the habitat of the Black Bear, but all the research I’ve done indicates that they’re more scared of me than I an of them. I just hope they’ve done the same research. Kidding aside, Gavin and I will hang our food bag and “smellable” items high in a tree away from camp each night, so bears will not be drawn to our campsite. Also, we’ll be mindful of not crossing between a mama bear and her cubs. If we encounter Black Bears, we both know how to behave, so I’m not really worried about them. I guess that is easy to say from the comfort of my recliner.

For the final question, and you know what it is, the answer is, “We’ll do what the bears do.” Seriously, if we’re fortunate, we’ll be passing by shelters that have privys when Nature’s call arrives, but otherwise, we’ll follow the Leave No Trace practice of Disposing of Waste Properly by burying it in a small “cathole” 6-8 inches deep. Can’t wait for that balancing act.

This wraps up the answers to most of the questions that we’ve gotten so far. If you have other questions about how we will deal with life on the trail, please comment below. We’ll look forward to hearing from you.

 

My Scout leaders and I took 9 boys on a backpacking trip Wednesday thru Friday to the Grayson Highlands State Park area of Virginia. It took us only about an hour and fourth-five minutes to get there. It is a fairly easy drive and the park has incredible views.  There are tons of day hikes that aren’t too difficult. It is certainly worth the trip to visit.

Before getting into a day-by-day description of the trip, I want to thank Danielle, Melanie, and JT for coming along. It was the ladies first backpacking experience, and they did great! We sort of split off into two hiking groups. Gavin and Joy lead the way, and I did my best to keep up with them and some of the faster scouts. JT brought up the rear to make sure nobody got left behind. It really worked out well. The front group did a good job stopping every little while so the second group could catch up. After socializing a bit, the lead group would break off and head on down the trail. I was really proud of the whole crew, as we hiked at a pace of 2 mph, not counting rest breaks. This was pretty close to what I thought we’d do.

Day 1: July 18

We left Bethlehem heading north, and after a brief stop at Cook Out in Wilkesboro, we headed on up Hwy. 16 into Virginia. We got on the trail a little after 5:00, hiking from the backpacker parking lot up to Massey Gap. We joined the Appalachian Trail heading north to the Wise shelter area. No camping is allowed in the area just around the shelter, so we crossed Big Wilson Creek to be just outside the state park boundaries before making camp. Most of the boys were hammock camping, and there were plenty of trees available. Everyone had a great supper and I’d like to say “settled in for the night,” but that was just the adults. The boys were restless and told jokes like you’d expect middle school boys to tell. Eventually everyone got a good nights rest.

Day 2: July 19

This was the most difficult day of the trail. We started out going up, and continued doing so for most of the day, though there were some level areas and a few downhills. The hike wasn’t difficult, but it was a long day of about 6.5 miles with almost 1,100 feet of elevation gain. The hike was highlighted by many nice views, as well as the sighting of a couple of deer and several of the famous Grayson Highlands wild ponies. We even got to watch one take a mud bath on the trail. I thought only dogs did that.

We stopped to eat lunch and “sit down” at the Scales, an old livestock corral. There is a two-room privy and there was supposed to be a spring, but we never did find it. After leaving the Scales, we also left the AT, heading along the Crest Trail. This was essentially a one-lane gravel/rock/boulder road and horse path. It wasn’t tough hiking, but I could have done with fewer rocks. The highlight of the day was passing by the campground because it wasn’t where I thought me map said it should be. I insisted on going several tenths of a mile farther in search of the “real site.” The lead group finally stopped and dropped their packs and I headed on ahead alone looking for the site, but after 0.5 miles or so, I realized that the kids were right, and that we had passed the site (sorry guys, I was wrong!) We headed back the way we came and set up camp for the night. The first order of business was searching for the water source that I had been told about. After a text and a phone call to a friend, we still didn’t find it, so I headed down the trail to see if I could find a usable spring close by. I did manage to dig out a place to get some water, but it was pretty murky. Then I heard someone shout, “We found it!” Funny thing is, we had all walked past the spring which was protected from the horses and cattle by a split rail fence. Duh. 0 for 2 today, I guess.

We had beautiful views from the campsite, but we also got colder than expected temperatures. We had been forecast for 60°, but I think it was closer to 55°, and on the ridge there was definitely some wind chill in play. The boys had a good time exploring the area and climbing on rocks, but the adults were freezing. I tried going in my tent to get out of the wind, which was nice, but Joy was whimpering because she had been abandoned. I zipped the legs on my pants and  got back out of the tent to read and play with her for as long as I could stand it. About 8:30, I called all the boys in and suggested that they should hop in their hammocks and settle in and warm up. I’m pretty sure I was asleep before the sun set completely.

Day 3: July 20

We started breaking camp around 7:45. Actually, it may have been earlier for some, but I don’t respond well to alarms and tend to hit the snooze button multiple times. As we were packing up and having breakfast, JT told us that he had a bear sniffing at his hammock during the night. The boys found some footprints, but I was too focused on making coffee to go look. I wish I had. Just as we were about to pack out, a herd of 5-6 ponies galloped through what had just minutes ago been our campsite. They stopped in the clearing and hung out for a while. Two of them even went over and inspected my pack. This was our closest and best pony encounter of the trip.

The hiking this day started out with a steady uphill climb. Did I mention that yesterday there were rocks? Never mind. Today, there were ROCKS!  The trip down the mountain was treacherous! Looking back, I realize that I had been concentrating so much about maintaining my footing that I hadn’t taken any pictures of the terrain we were traversing. On the way down we met up with 76-year-old Pathfinder, a NOBO thru-hiker who started the trail at Springer Mtn. on March 23. She was struggling with a bum knee and was trying to navigate the descent. Another hiker had already taken her pack to the bottom of the most difficult area. I sent the boys on and hiked with her for the next hour or so. Her knee had reduced her pace to a crawl, especially trying to navigate the huge rocks and steps going downward. She had treking poles, but I took one or both of her hands to help her down some really difficult parts of the trail. We had a lovely conversation, and I told her that Gavin and I were planning to start our thru-hike in February or early March. She was insistent that it was too cold in February, and that we should wait. She also said that she’s probably the last NOBO thru-hiker going up the trail this year, and she is probably right. She had to miss the Smokies because of a fall that resulted in a dozen stitches in her forehead. She was adamant that she would have to come back and do that part of the trail later on. We were met by a local not far from where the trail difficulty eased up a ways, and she hiked the rest of the way into Massie Gap with Pathfinder. I hope that she was able to get her knee iced and looked at, and that she is back on the trail heading North.

Our trip this week was truly a marvelous experience, for both the young and the older. I appreciate Paul for suggesting this route as our first backpacking excursion since I’ve been with the troop, and for trying to help us find water at our night two campsite. The boys are already talking about going on another trip like this one as soon as we can. I know that I am ready. I believe this trip, especially meeting Pathfinder, made me more ready than ever to get out on the trail. I can’t wait to start!

Be sure to check out the photos of this experience, which are linked in the menu above.