Hank is in training

He's only 10 - though he'll quickly remind us that he's a young adult (!!) - so it's pretty low key training, but he has a couple of goals he's working towards. He wants to hike the 15K option at the Ironmasters Challenge in a month.

 

He is also working on the Boy Scout hiking merit badge. The requirements for this are pretty steep so it will require hard work on his part. And we're all too happy to help him reach those goals.

 

So he and I looked at the calendar and made a little training plan with hikes of varying and increasing distances.

 

The good thing - he could probably easily hike 10 miles today because he's an active kid and we hike on a regular basis.

 

Not so good - we don't typically have him carry a pack and he struggles at pushing himself sometimes.

 

So yesterday I got out his pack and put in just a few things that he'll need to get used to carrying - first aid kit, small headlamp, extra socks, rain poncho, compass, and flint and steel. And I attached one water bottle. I forgot to weigh it, but it wasn't heavy at all... well, Shane added a bunch of snacks so maybe it was slightly heavy?

 

I decided to hike at Reno Monument on the AT because it's mostly flat and not very rocky. A little over a mile to the Rocky Run shelter, hang out and play, and then hike back for almost 3 miles. Excellent!

 

Two false starts for forgotten items and we were off. Not even half a mile in, Hank was ready to pass off the pack so I took it.

Spring is trying to arrive!

We got to Rocky Run and the kids had a few snack and played.

They have 2 shelters - the new built a few years ago

And the old one built by the CCC during the depression

 

 

Sweet hike, lots of fun.

Then the winds changed.

 

The kids were running up the hill to head back and Shane crashed, hard. He landed in a bunch of rocks on his hips and knees, and the blood-curdling scream that followed was probably heard for miles.



Thankfully, there was no blood, and no bones were poking out. He doesn't usually scream like that unless he has broken something so I was a tad concerned. I was well over a mile from the truck with a 50 pound kid who couldn't walk.

We still needed to stop at the dairy and Ella had an orthodontist appointment so we couldn't just sit around in hopes that he'd feel better soon.

We dumped half our water to lighten our load. I gave the remaining bottles to Ella to carry, and Hank got the pack. I put Shane on my back - thankfully his hips were ok and it was just his knee that hurt because I don't think I could have carried him on the front of me for very long.

It turned out he was fine...swollen and bruised, but fine.

The good that came out of this was that Hank had no choice but to carry the pack, and he did it. He was lagging in the last bit so he gave it to Ella... who looked like a cheerful little hobbit and skipped along with no trouble at all, but that's a post for another day...

Bridging from Cub to Boy Scouts

sniff, sniff, my baby is growing up. He bridged from Cub Scouts into our local Boy Scout Troop. It's not too huge a change for him though since the scoutmaster is the wife of his track/cross country coach. We've known her for several years and it's a great group of boys. He's just excited for more opportunities to camp, hike and fish.

 They had a nice little ceremony where they received their neckerchief and shoulder loops.

Then they put my baby in a canoe and paddled him, in the dark (!!), across the pond to signify the transition from Cubs to Boys. He thought it was SaWeet! and really enjoyed it.

Then they stood around the new Boy Scouts and recited the Boy Scout Law and talked about what each point meant.

 
 He's excited! Their first campout is coming up soon and they have lots of fun things planned. Of course we've already marked our calendar for summer camp. But I'm not sure who's more excited about that...Hank or Bill!

Winter Night Hiking

Hank is getting ready to leave Cub Scouts and bridge to Boy Scouts. We are lucky that we have a number of great Troops near us and that we have friends in a few of them. So now we're visiting each one to see where he'll best fit and have the most fun.

The Troop we visited last night is the same one Jake was in when he was a wee lad so we've known the Scoutmaster there for years and years.

This particular Troop is hosting a series of activities for area Webelos to attend so they can see if this Troop is the one for them. Last night was a Night Hike.

Before you start clutching your chest and gasping at the notion of hiking, at night, in the winter, with kids, I would encourage you to try it for yourself.

Winter hiking gets a bad rap mainly because it can be darn cold out there. You have to wear a bunch of layers and it can be windy and so on. But the beauty of winter hiking is that there are no bugs, no snakes, no humidity to make you sweat like a bovine, and no leaves on the trees so you can see the views you're missing in the spring.

Night hiking gets a bad rap because it can be a little spooky out there in the woods in the dark. But hiking at night can be quite peaceful (well, unless you're with 13 Boy Scouts; then it's pretty noisy) and beautiful. Star gazing from a mountain ridge is way more fun than from your back deck.

Ella wanted no part of our adventure so I bundled up the boys and packed every headlamp and flashlight we own, and  I tied a glow stick to Shane's coat for good measure.  We hiked up to a local ridge to some power lines. One of the dads brought fluorescent light bulbs so the boys could see how they glow when held under the power lines. Very cool stuff and the boys had a great time with it.

On the way back Shane petered out on the last uphill to the parking lot so I had to carry him on my back. I didn't realize all the boys had run ahead of us so we were last which meant the poor dad who had to be the caboose was stuck with us. My little moose weighs a good 55-60 pounds so this was a pretty good workout. Thankfully it was only 10-12 minutes before we reached somewhat level ground and he was ready to go again.

It was a really fun night, and I'm glad we were able to go.
Now find yourself some experienced hiker friends and enjoy a night hike adventure!

Flag Retirement Ceremony

The Boy Scout Troop that our Cub Scouts are affliated with have a flag retirement ceremony twice a year...Flag Day (June 15th this year) and Veteran's Day (in Nov) and they always invite our Cub Scouts to participate.

The Girl Scouts were invited, too

Shane has attended plenty of these and watched Hank and Ella. Last night was his first time as a bona fide Tiger Scout, and he was just a wee bit excited.

getting the fire started is the hardest part

The kids each read a patriotic quote and then place their flag on the fire. We had a lot of flags to retire so each kid had several turns at the podium.

boys, sticks and fire go together like peas and carrots

Shane was the youngest kid there and it was really sweet to watch the older scouts take him under their wings and make sure he safely put his flag on the fire - which got really hot and big.

The Scoutmaster is the wife of the kids' cross country coach, and my kids really like her.

I love that my kids have this opportunity to learn about and participate in this patriotic ceremony.

Chilly weather camping

Hank is almost a 2nd year Webelos Cub Scout which means next year he'll be a Boy Scout. That means he needs to decide which Boy Scout Troop he wants to join, and that means he can visit different Troops to see which one he likes best.

A Troop in a nearby town invited a bunch of Webelos to go cold weather camping with them in PA. It is February, and that typically means frosty temps and maybe even a little snow. Well, it was chilly during the day - around 50ish - and pretty cold at night - around 30ish.

At first I thought we were going to be in tents so I was reading all sorts of cold weather camping tips and planning a packing list that would help keep us warm at night.

Then I found out we'd be in a cabin. Cool. Mostly. After 2 days without showers, we were all getting a little stinky and being in one space made our space a little stinky too. But we were warm and dry so it was all good.

The Troop planned their camping trip as an opportunity to practice first aid skills because there's a big first aid meet coming up. They also took some time to help the Webelos who were there with some of their advancement skills.

Tying knots.

Hank's least favorite thing to practice, but doing it with a 'cool' older Scout made it more bearable.

They also went on an orienteering hike. The Webelos paired up with older Scouts and off they went into the woods...actually the trail took them along the road, but they didn't realize that until they were finished.

I forgot to mention that there were only latrines for toilets. And there were about 300 other Scouts at the camp for a Klondike Derby (you can google that if you're interested) so the potties were Mucho Stinko.

The Scoutmaster informed me there were real bathrooms at the bottom of the mountain. In lieu of going for a run - which I had hoped to do, but squashed because there were so many boys/dads at the camp - I made several 1/2 mile trips down the mountain to the potty.

Hank had a great time. Everyone was really nice, and he got along great with the boys so this Troop is definitely on the list of possibilities.

We headed home Sunday morning to shower and get ready for our next adventure - Williamsburg...

Frosty camping with the Boy Scouts

As a Webelos scout, Hank will be spending more time with the Boy Scouts learning cool, new stuff and checking off requirements for advancement. Part of those requirements involve camping and cooking with them. The Boy Scout Troop affiliated with our Pack went camping last night and invited interested Cubs to tag along.

You may be thinking to yourself that camping in November, in Maryland is a tad chilly - and you would be very right! Now Cubs are not allowed to camp overnight if the forecast is calling for below freezing weather so we watched the forecast all evening to be sure we didn't land in scouting time out. Nothing to worry about though because everyone's iPhones reported it would be a balmy 38 degrees! Break out the shorts and flip flops!

My and Hank's set up

 Cubs and Boys have to set up their tents in separate areas so here's a shot of Boy Scout world. We spent most of our time over there because they had a nice, big, warm fire, and they did all the cooking.

Uncle Toddy gave us some of his old military coldweather gear and let me tell you what a difference it makes when you have the right stuff. At an earlier campout I took a bag that was supposed to be rated to 40 degrees, ha! I froze my patootie off and was miserable.  This time, I snuggled into a big, honking mummy bag with my fleece insert (and hand warmers stashed between my 2 layers of socks). MUCH nicer! And Hank slept like he was dead so this was a huge improvement over our last experience.

I think it must have dipped at least a little below freezing (whoops!). We woke up to a very frosty tent and crunchy grass.

Playing football while folks are waking up

Time to grub with the Scouts

Cold? Yes. Lots of work? Of course. Worth it?

For sure