All,
Signal Knob is not a hike for delicate little flowers that want to go for a leisurely Sunday morning stroll. It is a hard hike with lots of elevation. You all know by now what the pay-off is when we mention the word elevation – wonderful vistas!!
Well, whoopsie daisy. The sun finally pushed through the clouds about 30 minutes before we finished and about 5 miles after we past the final look out! Sorry 'bout that peeps.
Despite the low clouds the temperature was awesome as was the turn out. We had 19 scouts and 13 parents yomping off around the northern part of the George Washington National Forest.
Four more guys completed the hiking merit badge yesterday. Jason, Kai, Jordon and Brandon. Really good job by those guys.
Signal Knob is a 10 mile loop hike (actually closer to 11) with a total elevation gain of 2,485. We were on the trail for 5:53 minutes which is slow … but given the elevation was not too bad. On a severity scale of 1-10 this one was definitely in the lumpy category!
As we start to increase our Philmont preparation the guys going have started wearing their full packs with about 20lbs inside. I can tell you that makes a huge difference to how your little pegs feel the next day. When at Philmont you are led by a crew leader and navigator – so yesterday Braden led our hike and Charlie was our navigator. Both did a great job and the good news is there is plenty of room for improvement on the next hike!
A special congrats to Andre and Brendan who completed their first 10 miler.
Next hike is Oct. 30th – Mr. and Mrs. B are working on the venue as I type.
MWS