Tomorrow morning at 8 am we jump in the car and head for the Mt Hood wilderness to spend the day hiking and then camp overnight in a closed Boy Scout summer camp facility. At 3700 hundred feet Camp Baldwin will be cold and wet, possibly even with some snow falling. The boys and a few adults will sleep in three sided camp buildings. I plan to sleep in the car. Winter camping is OK but getting dark early and light late means a lot of time in the sleeping bag. I'm bringing the Hobit to read by flash light, I think I read it years ago.
My youngest son is 13, he's the boy scout, I'm just the designated driver. I wont have much to do with him except in passing, he will take care of all his packing, cooking, keeping comfortable. Some parents hover over their boys, I decided years ago that the boys do just fine without me telling them what to do. A couple outings back I forgot to bring a plate, bowl and spoon. I asked my son to take care of me at dinner time since I had forgot everything, he hustled up all I needed; I think he must have felt pretty good, helping me out on that outing. During the last outing, he came to me and admitted he had forgot his mess kit, and asked if I would stop by a store with a deli and grab a plastic fork and paper plate, which I did.
On this outing, there will be 33 boys, my son will look a lot like all the rest. There will be about 6 parents attending, I wonder if we all look about the same too.
For lunch I have prepared some burritos that I plan to eat cold, for dinner Saturday I have a big can of stew. Breakfast will be hot coffee, eggs, and meatless sausage. Lunch on Sunday will be more cold burritos. I don't know what my son is bringing, but I know he is fond of Ramen noodles, and he owns a back packing gas stove.
I'm packed and ready to go, my son, who knows. Most likely I will have 5 boys in my car for the ride up to Baldwin, coming home I will probably have the same 5, but they will be asleep.
OK, I'm back from the Boy Scout outing.
ReplyDeleteWent through a tank of gas to haul six boys.
It got dark at about 4:30 so I went to the car from 4:30 to 9am, that's 16 and 1/2 hours. I read the hobbit and made soup and an omelet in a plastic bag.
The highlight was when I woke up fully awake and rested, feeling pretty good. I checked the time and it was 2 am, what a let down. So I read until my arms and nose were so cold I couldn't stand it any longer, then dove back into the sleeping bag to warm up just to repeat the same thing.
Hopefully next year I have the sense to find more to do.
John