As we tracked the forecast for this past weekend Mike and I couldn’t believe our luck … for 24 hours only (sounds like a car sale) starting Saturday lunchtime we were going to have storm roll through producing rain and snow. And as we met at the church at 11:30 a.m. a few spots of rain plunked down on my pieces of paper. how bad could it be?
Um, actually, it was quite bad.
Kepler Overlook may be one of my favourite spots on the planet. It’s not often you are able to camp on a ridge 1,100 feet above the valley floor, have a campfire and enjoy the view below.
This visit to Kepler offered a unique view of the valley, a complete whiteout!
As we headed out on 66 towards the hills the rain got so hard it was actually difficult to see the cars in front of you. Don’t worry it will pass I said. We pulled off 81 at junction 291 to regroup. Luckily for us the rain had now turned to snow!
After a sandwich and last use of the facilities we headed up and over Tea Mountain. As we ascended the hill you could clearly see the snow line … despite the fact we were about to get out in this yuck it was really pretty.
When we parked and started to pack-up everybody had that nervous giggle going on … how bad could this really be?
When we reached the river crossing we were careful not to go too fast and have someone fall in … that would not be a good way to spend your day. Once the trail turned up hill the snow got heavier and to be honest the beauty increased. It really was a special place to be. We made it to the top with promises of amazing views for the newbies to Kepler. Well, all you could see were the clouds!
The snow up top was about 4 inches deep and setting up camp was a challenge but we all managed it. Some had tents, Mr. Forrer went hardcore and had a tarp and there were four hammocks on display with varying degrees of cover (aka Nino forgot his tarp and used a couple of flimsy ponchos and duct tape!!
Job no. 1. Get a fire going. The boys did well collecting wood and sawing it up. Mr. Forrer used his cotton balls and heat was quickly coming out of the snowy fire pit.
We managed to keep the fire going until bedtime and all ate interesting dinners. Evan decided that PB&J would suffice for all his meals, Nino went the ramen route and most of us had variations on the Mountain House dinners (pretty good actually). Hot chocolate and tea were had by the bucket load (which as you know has implications at 3 a.m.
We hit the sack around 8:30 and could hear the snow/rainy ice hitting our tents. Once inside our bags most of us were snug as little bugs!
Getting up is always horrible on cold mornings. Most of us had an annoying but funny issue to deal with, frozen boots. Seeing Mr. Coopersmith hobble over to the fire with his feet half in his boots and then spend the next 15 minutes trying to thaw them out will remain with me for a long time.
Breakfast was had, we packed up and headed back down the mountain. Arriving back at the car was great, but it is also good to know that if you prepare you can survive outside on a night like that and actually enjoy it. Jordon Coopersmith actually thinks that was his favorite camp out since joining the troop (good man).
We drove back to DC with the heating on full and giggled about various incidents from the night before. All in all, a great experience.
Scouts attending we Charlie, Nino, James Ross, Chris, Jordon, Ian, Evan, Aaron and Nick. Scouters present were Mike and Kate Forrer, Helen Forrer (who just for the record boys, didn’t complain once!!!) Jason Coopersmith, Keith Fugile, David Ross and myself.