Yesterday two groups of scouts and scouters ventured across the border to Maryland to tackle the three sections of the Billy goat Trail.
The early shift (6 a.m. depart!) went to the team that were doing the 20 mile version. Scouts were Charlie, Ian, Andre, Braden, Nino and Jack and they were accompanied by Mike F. and Steve B.
The later shift (7 a.m. depart) comprised Brandon, Jordon, Connor K., Ian S. Teddy, Mario, Manuel, Noah, Nick, Jason and Matthew. This motley crew helped these old people around the loops, Mrs. Salt, Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Coopersmith, Mrs. Munoz, Mr. Harrington (plus a bonus sister as Kate Harrington joined us), Mr. Bonnano, Jennifer, Maria B. and some old aching bald guy.
The idea was that the 20 mile team would do the loops twice and the 10 milers once. The 10 mile gang bumped into the early team a couple of times and were mighty happy we only had to do the A loop once. As much fun as it is there are a lot of rocks and it is really slow going.
It was great to see so many people out enjoying the day, with most of the other hikers hovering around the most popular A loop, there loads of crazy kayakers, one incredibly crazy paddle boarder, a ton of people climbing, people of all shapes and sizes wedged into lycra outfits riding bikes and shouting “on your left” as they zoomed by and of course our favourite sighting, the eagle.
After the 10 milers wrapped up at just before 1 p.m. (congrats to Teddy and Connor K. for completing their first 10 miler!) and the cars whizzed off with a bunch of tired bears onboard, I loitered waiting for the 20 milers to come my way. At about 1:20 they emerged from the second go round of the A loop and I joined them on the last two loops (B and C) before we ventured back up the towpath to complete their day. Mr. Forrer has a unique method for helping Andre along the towpath as he told us his legs simply refused to work and he wasn’t going to make it! But kudos the boys that finished this hike, Nino and Jack earned the merit badge today and others (like Andre) are just one hike away from finishing!
Our normal big thanks to Mr. B for joining us again. Truly couldn’t have done it without him yesterday.
MWS