2012 Day 8-Trail pics and Back Home

 

As many of you know by now, our trip was cut a little short by the storms that hit the East.  As we were driving through the State Park that was to be our last campsite, Wiley said in his understated way “looks like rain again tonight”.  No sooner had we gotten the trailer parked than the rest of the troop joined us, and as the adults disembarked, we were shown a radar image of the weather front and got reports from home of major storm damage and problems.  Clearly were about to get hit with the same thing, so the decision was made to not camp but to get some badly needed showers while we saw how the storm developed.

 

And develop it did!  We drove out of the rain in about 45 minutes, but given the late hour and threat of more rain, we pushed on home for an early arrival rather than take additional risks.  While not the best ending to a great summer trip, we can’t fight mother nature!

 

This summer the boys really were challenged, and they met that challenge with gusto.  The canoeing, kayaks, and duckies were fun but definitely required guts and grew their skills with boats and themselves.  The Gettysburg experience was a great historical lesson, followed by a couple tough hikes that cemented the knowledge that what our Civil War fighters went through required perseverance and bravery.  We were hardly loaded down compared to the soldiers of the day, and had far better clothing and equipment, yet covering only 1/3 of their daily mileage really opened our eyes to the hardships these men endured.  I give the most credit to our younger scouts never gave up, and kept up with the rest of the boys!

 

We also need to thank all the parents involved in planning and leading the trip.  We had a lot of new adults this year, and everyone chipped in to make sure the boys got to experience scouting to its fullest.  Many times, I heard a Dad say “how in the world are we going to top this next year?” 

 

Stay tuned, and see for yourself.