So this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday BikerBob and Jpd (yours truly) got to participate in a VERY cool high adventure trip with some of the other youth in our stake. To be specific, there were only 6 scouts and 2 adults. Having a small group enabled us to have a lot of fun.
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Half of our group (me, Nick, Nick) |
DAY 1
Early Monday morning (8:00 am, which is way too early) the eight of us piled into the leader's van (to give some background; he used to be a Ranger and Helicopter Pilot in the Army and does tons of high adventure things, very hardcore) and head off two hours to our destination, Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness. While Bikerbob and I have hiked there several times, this was our first with other people. When we finally got to the trailhead parking lot, we ate lunch, saddled up, and took off on the 8 mile trail. This being a high adventure trip we had several challenges to face. The first and perhaps hardest was getting to know each other, since all but two of us were unfamiliar with each other. Luckily we all hit it off pretty well. Challenge two was to locate the first of two dinner caches (extra motivation), which was turned out to be a jar of salsa. We hoped that the next cache would turn out to be more promising and substantial.
The second cache did turn out to be more yummy. I am proud to say I was the one to locate it, underneath a huge slab of rock in a cave underneath Big Laurel Falls. Included in the second cache were 1) 12 packs of chicken 2)12 Chips Ahoy 3) 12 fruit cups; obviously a treasure to behold. After cooling off a bit under the falls, our leader showed us how to build a one-rope bridge like the ones he used to build in Special Ops. With a lot of pulling and a bit of knot tying, you can actually make a very reliable rope bridge. To put it in use, we made one that ran adjacent to a large log that rested betwixt the falls and the ground. We actually climbed the log, using the rope as a safety line in case we should slip. Going up the log was the easy part, going down was a different story. The slope that seemed gentle at first was now a lot more intimidating going down, but no one fell off or anything so it was a successful challenge.
We got our packs back on and hiked another few miles to Sheep's Cave/Falls. The geography basically consisted of a cave stream coming out and falling one hundred feet or so into a large muddy pit and going back underground. We decided to go down into said large muddy pit. While it could have been possible for to do so just on all fours, for safety reasons we set it up as a repelling job. While the rope definitely helped with not slipping in the mud, most of us got a bit of rope burn on the way down. Once most of us boys got down, we explored a little and found a really cool cave that was sort of tucked in the side at the bottom. Unfortunately only one of us though to bring a flashlight, so we couldn't explore the cave as quickly or thoroughly as we would have liked; however, it was still really awesome, with huge cave crickets and fairly large "rooms." After everyone took a look around we hooked up to the rope again and climbed back out, which was made slightly difficult by a few large mud patches. Back up top, now that we were sufficiently dirtied, we saddled up once again and hiked one last mile to the falls. There we set up camp, took a nice breather, and got a fire going; with which we heated our delicious meal of packaged chicken and salsa. By now the sun had set, draping the woods in darkness. It was then that I got mugged. That's right, in the middle of a pocket wilderness I got mugged. Let me explain:
After dinner I went to clean that pot and utensil that I had used. After walking a few yards away from the fire, on a trail, I set down said pot and utensil about to wash them. However I had forgotten the camp soap, so I walked back to my pack to retrieve it and came back to the same spot. When I got there I heard a strange metallic rattling noise and looking down, I noticed my pot was missing! Within a few seconds I put two and two together and looked for the source of the rattling. It did not take me long to spot the pair of eyes and outline of a raccoon at the bottom of the hill. I paused for a minute in pure shock; this kind of thing only happens in movies, right?! I would have immediately torn after this thief, except that he was at the bottom of a steep rocky incline. By the time I managed to get down there he was already gone. After explaining to everyone at the camp how I had been stolen from, my dad and I searched for the pot, hoping that the thief had abandoned it; unfortunately our search was in vain.
The next morning we went down to the falls, where we actually went under them. The falling water provided a refreshing shower to wake us all up. After breakfast our leader challenged us to built a rope bridge across a pit by our camp site. While it took us awhile to get it set up, the end product was successful.
After taking down our rope bridge, we broke camp and headed out a mile or so to the nearby river, where we faced another challenge; our leader wanted us to rig a raft made of our packs, to be used by someone to float across the river. Not only were our packs going to get soaked, but we also had to put in clothes and our sleeping bags to float it. But the raft worked well, even though our packs were drenched and sandy. We also found a rope swing, which we put to good use. From here it was a straight hike out back to the trail-head, which landed us at the parking lot around five o'clock; then we drove about an hour out to the leader's family ranch, where we crashed for the night.
The next morning we had a nice big breakfast and went out back to shoot shotguns. I myself have only shot one once in my lifetime, so it came as a surprise when I managed to hit about 80-90% of the clay pigeons. While I've never been a gun fanatic by any means, I do have to say it was quite fun. In addition, we got to take his dirt bike and dune buggy out for a spin on their property. Unfortunately we were not allowed to drift (safety or something like that), which prevented me from executing my Mario Kart skills.
Anyways, this high adventure trip was definitely awesome and we will be doing it again next summer for sure.
We got our packs back on and hiked another few miles to Sheep's Cave/Falls. The geography basically consisted of a cave stream coming out and falling one hundred feet or so into a large muddy pit and going back underground. We decided to go down into said large muddy pit. While it could have been possible for to do so just on all fours, for safety reasons we set it up as a repelling job. While the rope definitely helped with not slipping in the mud, most of us got a bit of rope burn on the way down. Once most of us boys got down, we explored a little and found a really cool cave that was sort of tucked in the side at the bottom. Unfortunately only one of us though to bring a flashlight, so we couldn't explore the cave as quickly or thoroughly as we would have liked; however, it was still really awesome, with huge cave crickets and fairly large "rooms." After everyone took a look around we hooked up to the rope again and climbed back out, which was made slightly difficult by a few large mud patches. Back up top, now that we were sufficiently dirtied, we saddled up once again and hiked one last mile to the falls. There we set up camp, took a nice breather, and got a fire going; with which we heated our delicious meal of packaged chicken and salsa. By now the sun had set, draping the woods in darkness. It was then that I got mugged. That's right, in the middle of a pocket wilderness I got mugged. Let me explain:
After dinner I went to clean that pot and utensil that I had used. After walking a few yards away from the fire, on a trail, I set down said pot and utensil about to wash them. However I had forgotten the camp soap, so I walked back to my pack to retrieve it and came back to the same spot. When I got there I heard a strange metallic rattling noise and looking down, I noticed my pot was missing! Within a few seconds I put two and two together and looked for the source of the rattling. It did not take me long to spot the pair of eyes and outline of a raccoon at the bottom of the hill. I paused for a minute in pure shock; this kind of thing only happens in movies, right?! I would have immediately torn after this thief, except that he was at the bottom of a steep rocky incline. By the time I managed to get down there he was already gone. After explaining to everyone at the camp how I had been stolen from, my dad and I searched for the pot, hoping that the thief had abandoned it; unfortunately our search was in vain.
The next morning we went down to the falls, where we actually went under them. The falling water provided a refreshing shower to wake us all up. After breakfast our leader challenged us to built a rope bridge across a pit by our camp site. While it took us awhile to get it set up, the end product was successful.
After taking down our rope bridge, we broke camp and headed out a mile or so to the nearby river, where we faced another challenge; our leader wanted us to rig a raft made of our packs, to be used by someone to float across the river. Not only were our packs going to get soaked, but we also had to put in clothes and our sleeping bags to float it. But the raft worked well, even though our packs were drenched and sandy. We also found a rope swing, which we put to good use. From here it was a straight hike out back to the trail-head, which landed us at the parking lot around five o'clock; then we drove about an hour out to the leader's family ranch, where we crashed for the night.
The next morning we had a nice big breakfast and went out back to shoot shotguns. I myself have only shot one once in my lifetime, so it came as a surprise when I managed to hit about 80-90% of the clay pigeons. While I've never been a gun fanatic by any means, I do have to say it was quite fun. In addition, we got to take his dirt bike and dune buggy out for a spin on their property. Unfortunately we were not allowed to drift (safety or something like that), which prevented me from executing my Mario Kart skills.
Anyways, this high adventure trip was definitely awesome and we will be doing it again next summer for sure.
