[Rhodes22-list] Unexpected Polar Bear Winter Camping Trip

[Roger Pihlaja]

Steve,

Brenda Acklin is one of those rare women that really enjoys the outdoors.
She hunts, fishes, & camps with the best of them & is always willing to try
new things.  On our Boy Scout camping trips, we've introduced Brenda to blue
water Great Lakes sailing, canoeing, white water rafting, mountain biking, &
rock climbing.  I've never known a women who was so willing to try
activities that, you could plainly see, scared her to death!  Brenda is also
an incredibly good sport about all the kidding.  The new Scouts in our troop
are drawn to her like she was a 2nd mother or something.  Brenda & Emily
stayed together in the same 2-person backpacking tent.  There wasn't a
single person, Scout or adult, that objected to Emily coming along because
it enabled Brenda to participate.  Personally, I hope some of Brenda's love
of the outdoors rubs off on Emily.

Boy Scout guidelines for safe camping & youth protection have allowed women
on camping trips for as long as I've been in Boy Scouts.  There are just
some provisions you have to consider - things like privacy for going to the
toilet, taking a shower, sleeping arrangements, etc.  It's all common sense
stuff & not at all difficult to provide.

Brenda also went on our High Adventure Trip to the Black Hills, SD last
summer.  She rock climbed at Devil's Tower, WY, mountain biked the Centenial
Trail, went mountain horse back riding, went on 2 cave tours, & backpacked
to the top of Harney Peak.  She's a real treasure as an adult leader.  I
hope our troop keeps her involved for a good long time.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Alm" <salm@mn.rr.com>
To: <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2002 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Unexpected Polar Bear Winter Camping Trip


> What? Females on a boy scout trip?  Chocolate or no chocolate, this is
> heresy!  What's this world coming to?
> Slim
>
> On 11/3/02 11:19 PM, "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402@centurytel.net> wrote:
>
> > I just got back from a weekend backpacking trip with my Boy Scout troop.
We
> > hiked & camped on the Jordan River Pathway, which is in the Mackinaw
State
> > Forest about 15 miles SW of Gaylord, MI.  It's about a 2-1/2 hour drive
north
> > from my house in Sanford, MI.  We had 19 Scouts and 5 adult leaders
along,
> > which is by far the biggest group we've ever tried to do a backpacking
trip
> > with.
> >
> > Our troop has developed sort of a bimodal age distribution in the past
couple
> > of years.  We have a bunch of 11 & 12 year olds & a bunch of 16 & 17
year olds
> > with relatively few Scouts in the 13 - 15 year range.  It's hard to find
an
> > activity that's interesting & challenging for the older Scouts that
wouldn't
> > absolutely kill the new Scouts.  So, we tried something a little
different on
> > this camping trip.  We divided the troop into Group A & Group B.  Group
A
> > started their hike from a place called "Deadman's Hill"  & hiked about 8
miles
> > + about 1200 feet of total elevation change + several small stream
crossings
> > to our overnight destination at Pinney Bridge Walk-In Campsite.  Group B
drove
> > the vehicles to another trailhead & hiked about 3 mostly downhill miles
to the
> > same overnight campsite.
> >
> > I hiked with Group A along with 6 Scouts & one other adult leader.  We
hiked
> > about 4 miles & stopped for lunch on the trail.  We covered the entire 8
miles
> > in about 4 hours.  The trail conditions were pretty tough for hiking.
The
> > area got about 3" of snow the night before & we got occasional wet snow
> > flurries during the hike.  The temperature was right at freezing.  The
ground
> > was still warm enough to melt some of the snow on the trail & there was
> > freezing cold water dripping off the trees.  The trail was slippery from
the
> > snow, mud, & wet leaves.  You had to be really careful of your footing,
> > especially on the hills, or your feet would go right out from under you
or
> > you'd twist an ankle.  This was the 1st time I've ever parallel "skied"
in my
> > hiking boots!  Did you you know you can "hockey stop" a pair of Sorels
in the
> > mud if you edge them really hard?  Without the heavy backpack making me
so top
> > heavy, it would actually have been kind of fun.  Fortunately no one in
our
> > group got hurt, all though we were all pretty wet & muddy by the time we
made
> > it to our overnight campsight.  The fall colors were just past peak &
the
> > scenery from the high ridgelines along the trail was great.  I saw an 8
point
> > whitetail buck, an easy 50 yard standing broadside shot with a rifle.
But, it
> > ran away before I could get my camera out of my pack.
> >
> > Group B got into camp about 2 hours ahead of us & had the campfires
burning
> > when we arrived.  All the younger Scouts had done just fine on their 1st
ever
> > backpacking trip.  Nobody in Group B had gotten hurt either.  We all
said a
> > little prayer of thanks for that blessing.
> >
> > One of the adult leaders in Group B was Brenda Acklin.  Brenda wasn't
able to
> > find a babysitter & had her 12 year old daughter, Emily, with her in
Group B.
> > This was also Emily's 1st backpacking trip.  Emily is kind of a whiner &
a
> > fussy eater.  I knew Brenda would have her hands full taking care of
her.  So
> > when we were planning the camping trip, I promised Brenda that I would
cook
> > dinner & breakfast for the 3 of us.  For dinner, I made Polynesian
chicken
> > over rice, green beans with lemon-butter sauce, hot fudge brownies for
> > dessert, & all washed down with hot spiced apple cider.  Emily was a
little
> > slow eating her dinner &, in the freezing temperature, the food got
stone cold
> > before she'd finished half of it.  I warmed up Emily's whole plate of
food at
> > the same time as I was warming up the brownies in my double boiler.
Waving
> > the dessert in front of Emily did the trick & she soon finished the rest
of
> > her dinner.  I've found that when you camp with women, you simply must
bring
> > chocolate!
> >
> > Saturday night, the temperature got down to about 23 deg F.  After
dinner, I
> > started feeling pretty tired & cold.  I was in my sleeping bag by about
7:30
> > PM & slept straight thru to 7:30 AM Sunday morning.  I think most of the
troop
> > was in bed pretty soon after dinner & nobody got too cold overnight.
> >
> > Sunday morning, I made breakfast burritos + fresh baked honey cinnamon
sticky
> > buns for Brenda, Emily, & me.  The last of the new Scouts was finally
packed
> > up & ready to leave by 11:00 AM.  We all hiked out together via the
easier
> > Group B route.  Hiking out from Jordan River level to the ridgeline was
uphill
> > almost the whole way, about 450 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles.  Some
of
> > our new Scouts were hurting bad by the time we reached the trailhead.
> >
> > For some reason, the tailgate on my Chevy Astro minivan wouldn't open
when we
> > got back to the vehicles.  I think it was frozen shut.  It made loading
> > backpacks into the rear cargo area thru the side door & over the 2nd &
3rd row
> > of seats a royal PITA!
> >
> > We drove a short distance to another scenic overlook to have a look at
the
> > site of an ancient landslide.  Then we hiked about 1-1/4 miles to the
> > headwaters of landslide Creek.  The headwaters turned out to be a spring
that
> > bubbles up out of the hillside & cascades down the hill in a pretty neat
> > little waterfall!  Yes, that's right, this stream starts out with a
waterfall.
> >
> > On the way home, we stopped in Gaylord, MI & had lunch at Taco Bell.  We
> > arrived back the SUM Church in Sanford, MI at 15:58, two minutes ahead
of
> > schedule.  I love it when a plan comes together!
> >
> > The Jordan River Valley has quite a history in the lumbering industry in
> > Michigan.  There used to be a log flume on Deadman's Hill.  I imagine
getting
> > in the way of a 5 ton log going down a 450 foot log flume would just
ruin your
> > whole day!  There were some fatalities at this site, hence the name.
Our
> > campsite at Pinney Bridge Walk-in Campground was originally the site of
a
> > lumber camp around the turn of the century.  The Jordan River Valley was
> > reforested during the 1930's by the CCC's.  Nowadays, it is managed by
the
> > Michigan DNR as a working forest.  Along the trail on our 8 mile hike,
there
> > were signs pointing out the sites of relatively recent wood harvesting
> > operations.
> >
> > I'm really proud of the way our troop handled this backpacking trip in
fairly
> > tough conditions.  Nobody got hurt or hypothermic.  They all managed to
cook
> > their own meals & slept thru the cold night without any problems.  A few
of
> > our new Scouts got cold wet feet & I'm sure they all learned a few
things.
> >
> > I wish I'd brought an extra pair of fleece pants.  The pair of fleece
pants I
> > wore on the 8 mile hike in on Saturday was pretty soaked by the time
we'd
> > reached our campsite.  I really missed having a dry pair to wear after
dark on
> > Saturday night & Sunday morning.  I had to make do with light weight
> > polypropylene long johns & nylon wind pants.
> >
> > We're calling this our 1st Polar Bear Winter Camping trip of the year.
It
> > didn't start out that way, but that's Michigan weather for you.  Our
Scouts
> > will certainly have bragging rights at school tomorrow.
> >
> > Roger Pihlaja
> > S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >
> >
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