Boys Belong in the Woods

On Monday and Tuesday of last week the boys, my nephew Roman Daves and the Wagner crew ventured into the great wild.

Tyler led the way with a crushing load consisting of socks, underwear and snacks.


Jared did his best to impersonate a self propelled backpack. The pack looks huge but it really wasn't that heavy. Clothes, a sleeping bag and snacks.

Alex had a fabulous time. What more do you need in life than a bowl full of dehydrated spaghetti, a cup of hot chocolate with two marshmallows and a head lamp. His pack consisted of clothes, headlamp and snacks. Can you guess who carried everything else?


My nephew Roman gets the prize for the best garage sale on Tuesday morning (stuff everywhere) but for a 13 year old boy scout he does pretty good out in the woods on his own. We went through his pack on Sunday night and made a few minor corrections from what his mother told him to bring. I am quoting here, "My Mom looked at the weather forecast and said I didn't need to bring a jacket. I usually bring one but my Mom said it was going to be hot." We added a jacket to his packet.

We were glad to bring Roman with us though as he was the supply source for the backpacker's favorite nutrition source, candy. I was beginning to think that Roman was actually a marketing tool for the sugar industry as more and more candy came out of his backpack. Make sure that you notice the special headpiece in the photo below.


Here are a couple of random shots.

This is where Travis Wagner fell in the creek and was rescued by his father which resulted in one pair of fire melted boots, one pair of socks with holes(again from the fire) and some smoke roasted blue jeans (which are not quite as good as smoke roasted almonds but are a close second).


HEY I've got a good idea let's cross the river on a log!!

A great time was had by all.

By the way we went to Sulphide Camp in the North Cascades National Park. Parking at the end of the Baker lake road you hike up the Baker River trail, not to be confused with the Baker lake trail, about 2.6 miles. It is a nice easy hike with no appreciable elevation change. It is a good day hike or an excellent first overnighter. Since the elevation is so low (~700ft) it is one of the few, possibly only, backcountry sites that the NCNP will allow fires. It stays snow free most of the year and is a nice place to go in as early as march or as late as november. There is not much of a view but it is a very pleasant camp.

I would like to go into Anderson lakes around the end of July. Anybody interested?