Dolly Sods Adventure
James Y. – Scorpions
On a Saturday morning, we left at about 8:00 AM for a three hour drive to Dolly Sods. When we arrived, each patrol was split up. Not only was this a hiking trip, but also, each patrol would by itself instead of camping as a troop.
The Scorpions had only three real members, and the highest rank first class. With two adult leaders and the SPL hiking with us, we started at the Blackbird Knob trail. The more we hiked, the more tired we became.
Also, tiny hard flecks of snow, which looked a bit like hail, kept raining down on us as we kept hiking. We went through not only small forests and wide open plains, but also, mud that took a person down like quicksand and steep rocks, along with multiple rivers and streams. When we crossed a stretch of water, we would unbuckle ourselves but keep the pack on us, and we’d hop on the rocks to the other side.
Eager, we went our way throughout the trails using our map and compass, and we finally arrived at Campsite 5. However, we decided instead our open, wide, flat plain area, exposed to wind, we would retreat to a different campsite, covered from wind from tall pine trees, with plenty of firewood and sticks nearby. Our campsite also came with a small fireplace surrounded by stones right in the middle.
As we set up our tents, we started to focus on cooking dinner. A simple add water recipe, we first boiled water on our extremely tiny lightweight stove. We measured how much water we needed and poured it into a bow. When the water boiled, we poured it into the package of freeze dried beef stroganoff, containing beef, noodles, and mushrooms. However, we did forget to do the first step – take out the oxygen absorber, but luckily we didn’t get food poisoning.
When we finished our dinner, we rinsed our mess kits in the still hot water and poured it out by the side of a rock. We set up the bear bag with all our food – pop tarts, bagels, etc. Finally, we could go to sleep, and by now the campfire was lit (with hard work and thanks to our adult leader), and we warmed ourselves up. At last, we then went to sleep. However, it was below freezing, and some water bottles ended up with ice in them!
We woke up at about 7:00 to maybe 7:30 and ate breakfast, chicken stroganoff, with tomatoes instead of mushrooms. This time we remembered to take out the oxygen absorber. Along with that, we took down the bear bag and also helped ourselves to strawberry pop tarts! We rinsed our mess kits again, we didn’t really get anything dirty, and packed up all of our gear. We did our Sunday service and set off.
Weather seemed better than the day before, for the sun began to peek out more and shine brightly. Though it was a bit windy, we still hiked on, and went back the way we came. We crossed the same rivers and the same hills. As we hiked on, we snagged in a few photos, and as we reached the end, we all recognized the same wooden boardwalk from where he had started.
As we all drove back in the car, except one adult in another car, we helped ourselves to bagels and apples. We arrived at St. Francis Church at maybe 3:00 or 3:30 PM. Finally, we were finished with our journey.
Dolly Sods was an excellent trip, and the hiking and orienteering was fun, even though weather was cold!
Dolly Sods Backpacking
By Jason J. -Bears
During the morning, everyone was very excited about Dolly Sods. We met at St. Francis Church, and left around 8 o’clock a.m. The trip to Dolly Sods was about 3 hours, so by the time we got to Dolly Sods, it was noon. Each patrol started their hike when every person in the patrol was here, so each patrol had a different time to depart. Each patrol also had a separate bear bag, and a unique campsite. Because there were different campsites, each patrol had to hike a different amount of miles. As a result, some patrol hikes were less tiring than others. Each patrol had to cook their own food, and did whatever they wanted. Some patrols went on another hike, others filtered water from a nearby creek. Sometimes the terrain was tough, even though other times it was just flat plains. Because Dolly Sods was a mountain, it was cold and had gorgeous views. It was sometimes very hilly, and with packs, took a lot of effort to climb the hill.
During the night, patrols had to throw the bear bags high up into the trees, to avoid bears from getting the contents inside it. Pretty much everybody was very tired, and everyone looked forward to the night.
The next day went pretty quickly. The hikes felt a lot faster, and many patrols reached their destination before they knew it. Because most of the patrol was in the same car, they could leave right after they finished hiking. The way back was another 3 hours, but a lot less vigorous than the hike. Even though Dolly Sods was very tiring to many scouts, it was still an exciting experience.
