What do Scouts do?

By Benjamin Valladares-Cormier

In early August of this year, my scout troop went on a 55 mile backpacking trip in the Jefferson wilderness. We had to plan months in advance and we were all excited to go on the trip. The day before we left, we had a weight check and gave out food, stoves and water filters. Some of the packs were too heavy and they had to adjust the weight.

When all those logistics were completed, we departed on August 7th, 2023. We went to the Marion Lake Trailhead and started the first ten miles. The first three days were almost all uphill. By the end of the third day we had jumped from 300 feet of elevation to 4500 feet. The overall uphill was almost 25 miles!

Each day they ended at a lake and a few other boys and I skipped rocks on it for hours on end. We saw mountain goats, breathtaking views, and many more things. We had many challenges though, the troop had to climb over fallen trees, and hike miles with no coverage from the sun due to a fire. It was also very dangerous, if you took the wrong step you would find yourself falling down a steep incline. It was also bear country, so we never knew if we turned around a corner and saw a bear standing there on the narrow path. The troop went so high up that we could have summited Three Fingered Jack and still be on track to finish at the designated time. 

On the fifth and final day we were so excited to finish, the last mile we started to sing. Once they saw the parking lot, two other boys and I sprinted to see something we had not seen for almost a week. Cars. We were so excited to not have to walk with a 35lb backpack we dropped their bags and laid on the ground having some watermelon that was prepared for them by a scout parent. Rhett Randell, an assistant scoutmaster, was later quoted saying, “ I love the outdoor aspect of scouting”, what he meant was that he loved all the outdoor activities they do in scouting and is looking forward to the ones in the future.