River Flows in You

 In Boy Scouts, I got to take an awful lot of camping trips. No trip was ever quite as exciting, though, as the time that my troop. Up from a troop from Duncannon and went on one of their upper-level Scouts favorite summer trip, one in which they kayak 50 miles on the Juniata River. I needed to do I can you trip over 20 miles to get my outdoor exploration merit badge for Eagle Scout, and this seems like a perfect way to do so. So for the first time in a long time, their troops merged with ours, a result of a scoutmaster from my troop being a co-worker with one of the scale masters from their trip.

Also featuring some of these fine gents.

When I went on the trip, I had a lot of emotional baggage that I was dealing with. Any time I could get out the house and get some vacation to myself was much needed. Answer my best friend since middle school so I can seem to be friends with and I decided to become tent mates for this weekend Excursion. We camped out the first night where we were, enjoying s'mores and a bonfire, but in the morning, early in the morning, we would be mulching are canoes and kayaks for the Southern Shores.

It was on this camping trip that I finally realized how much I enjoyed kayaking, as I was invited 2 use one of those neighboring trips kayaks about halfway through. I was reluctant to give my kayak back at the end of the trip, as I had enjoyed it so much. After kayaking the trip, as I had enjoyed it so much. After kayaking several miles downstream and having the time of my life, having some of the deepest conversations on my life on the Riverside, I can never look at canoeing the same way. It was also on this trip that I'm had my first MRE, or meal ready to eat. This invention by the United States Marine Corps is meant as a caloric supplement for soldiers who are either in active duty or in field training, and in my situation, it was a quick meal that could be done with just a little bit of water that had been purified from the river.

Late at night one night, after we stopped at our campsite and had a shower and a snack, I laid in my tent talking with my best friend Joseph. I was overcoming my first heartbreak at this point in time, and I asked him what he thought about whether or not she would remember me years from now. It was then that he delivered some of the most solid advice I've ever had gotten. Simple, but effective. He said, “Always remember as much as you can. Try not to forget anything. Because when you finally do remember, you'll remember that you have forgotten it." Because of the effect it had on me at that time, I still remember those words to this day.

 Between kayaking, river-filled Super Soakers, some moving water, a couple of stray rocks, wonderful side bars along the river, and the camaraderie of both troops, I had the time of my life on this trip. It instilled a sense of adventure in me that lingers to this day, and a sense of adventure in me that lingers to this day, and will always be my favorite camping trip I've ever taken. Until the river calls me home once again, I dream and fondly remember.

Among the Hidden

G. Lynn Gable <grejarra@gmail.com>	11:37 AM (4 hours ago)
to me

in the summer of 2017, I decided to join the troop of my church as an assistant scoutmaster. Troop 37 was a small troop recovering from the shambles of a troop and weigelstown Pennsylvania, and it finally found a church to host themselves at. In referendum to an earlir post, with myself being an eagle scout, I decided to gladly accept this request to join.

Hidden valley scout reservation is a nationally accredited Boy Scout camp with over 50 acres filled with hiking and amenities, and post classes for well over 60 merit badges. in the center of Camp leading up to the campground my troop was in, there was a massive Creek with a stone bridge to take you from one side of the creek to the other. The scene was quite ideal like, so of course I had to stop and take some pictures.

there was a program there for the younger Scouts called The Dan beard program, and wish they would be working on requirements and advancements for their first three scouting rings. If completed successfully, then there would only be one or two requirements left to take the scouts to First Class Rank and their first year of scouting. And a higher chance of them getting their Eagle Scout award. So needless to say, we push our three kids in the troop through this quite quickly.

One of our Scouts was a bit of a Wanderlust, trying to spend every second of free time he had playing a game known to the youth as "gaga ball". it was played in the fenced-in area, and was a game of dodgeball and what you can only throw the ball towards the other players Shins. It was otherwise a free-for-all game. as fun as this game was, I sent him on the straight and narrow and made him report to us before running off and doing his own thing, as he was still young and sometimes directionally challenged. to help with all of the above, made him go on the optional hike for his Dan beard program and what she would be learning about 15 different species of Wildlife and hope to identify 10 of them for rank advancement. I walked on this hike with him, and that Scout Masters from McLean Virginia and Frederick Maryland, which one individual being and information security officer with a knee replacement, another individual being a biologist, and the scoutmaster one trip being a middle school guidance counselor. going on this site also proved to me that it is never too late in life to learn something new, and there is always something that you don't know about the world.

Back at Camp, our Scouts slept together into tents under Starry Skies with minimal rain the entire trip. Are safe scouting leader was up for the week to spend it with the boys, and he set up a solar array to charge some headlamps and cell phones for the scouts. This proves to be invaluable, especially since we were not burning any fossil fuels. scales from neighboring troops came to visit us, as our scoutmaster was a counselor for personal management and finance merit badges, and I'm at a young hockey player from Northern Virginia, as well as a scoutmaster from Kingston PA who had originally come from Portsmouth Maine and then lived in Boston before settling upon where he is now.

All in all

, I'm very impressed with this little Camp. I am partial to camp Tuckahoe, as I spent six Summers of my youth advancing Rank and learning achievements there, but for an extra 20 miles away from home, this camp was very nice and felt like home. I would actually argued that this Camp was a bit easier to navigate as well.

more information on becoming a Boy Scout can be found here. I might just be one of the most wholesome decisions you or your child can ever make.

On Eagle's Wings

When I was a scout, and the Boy Scouts of the United States of America, there was very little that I ever wanted to do with the outside world. It was pulling teeth to even contemplate dragging me on a camping trip, and four out of six years I went to summer camp I probably was unofficially awarded the biggest pansy award. I love my novelty of indoors, but mostly just missed showering and did not have an affinity for sweating constantly. However, even after sitting a Tenderfoot for 2 years, I never stop giving up on rank advancement. My dad only made it to life Scout, and he really wanted me to strive for Eagle Scout and push myself. It has definitely come in handy and anyways since then, and I was bound upon that further in a book.

As for now, it is important to understand that the feat was accomplished. I was able to get my Eagle Scout award after 10 years of service to the BSA. To this day, I come back as I'm able to and assist as a junior assistant scoutmaster. I learned as much as I could, overcame a lot of adversity, and even eventually learned how to survive being out of the house.

Not only did being in Boy Scouts contribute to my passion of travel, but it really taught me how to appreciate nature and all of its small intricacies. Although I am also guilty myself, I must mention that there is so much that you miss when they are staring down at a small little computer screen in your hand. Being in Scouts, we were not allowed to have technology with us on trips in my troop, or it'd be confiscated, screwed with, and then given back to us after the trip. I didn't want any of the above to happen, so I was pretty complacent.

Although I have switched troop snow as I've grown older, being a scoutmaster for a younger troop with fewer members, some of my best memories were with my old troop, troop 94. In 9th grade, we met up with a sister troop from Duncannon, an hour away from us, and we canoed and kayaked 40 miles on the Juniata River over an entire weekend. We hit the bike trails of Gettysburg, slept in the Backwoods of northeast Pennsylvania, visited the military base in the USS battleship, took a couple of historical hikes with lots of information, hiked the Appalachian Trail, and just in general got out and enjoyed nature and did things that the average teenager wouldn't do on a weekend.

Scouting taught me basic essential life skills that have helped me in every aspect of my life. Even the 12 point Scout Law and Scout Oath have become integral Dogma and my interactions with other human beings, and have been practiced so thoroughly that they are now a subconscious part of who I am. And now, I get to pass my experiences and scouting down to next generation of Scouts and leaders. Who knows, one of the kids I am teaching the day could end up being our surgeon general or President...

There are 12 points of the Scout Law, the Scout Law is as follows:

 A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

The Scout Oath:

As an American, I will do my best, to do my duty, to God and my country, and to obey Scout Law. To help other people at all times. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

If you combine these things with a passion for being outside and putting the out into Scout, experiencing everything that you possibly can, then you will make a Great Scout. Your average teenager won't be putting on three layers of jackets and sleeping on the ground in the middle of the Woods, surviving off of rations and scavenged food and the fire that you've learned how to build yourself without matches. The average teenager will not go mountain climbing, where hiking, or seeing historical sites on the week end. They will not explore nature, meet friends with common interests, shoot at targets, throw hatchets, make explosions (usually when a rocket launch goes wrong), learn 23 life skills over a few years while still young, or organize and lead a conservation project. These are all things that scouts do, and if you're serious about it, you'll even ascend to Eagle.

Choosing the Right Hike For You

Everybody goes hiking for different reasons. Some people go for the views they receive at the end of the hike, some guys for the exercise; others go because it gets them out and about. Some people just go because they want a family activity and they have identified that they enjoy nature. The reasons vary from person to person, but there are a few things to bear in mind when selecting a destination.

Defining a hike.

Not only is it a figure of speech (i.e. wow, that’s a hike!) to infer something that is quite some distance away, but it also has its own Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionary definition. Different people view it in different ways, but it is generally referred to as being a large span of distance that is walk with intention. To many people, it is also used as a figure speech to mean anything that is outside the normal drivable distance. Defining what a true hike means to you as important because you will be able to go from there I decided where you want to go exactly. To quote Merriam Webster, a hike is “to rise up; especially to work upward”. As per Oxford, it is ”a long walk or walking tour”. So now, it’s time to dig into the nitty gritty details of choosing the right style of hike for you.

1) Who is coming with me?

When you establish this, hopefully it is easy to see what you are going to do from there. For instance, you probably wouldn't take your small child or infant hiking for 5 mi uphill. And personally, you and your stern hiking buddy going on a very easy trail would be too boring. As such, you must assess the skill levels and hiking competency of everybody in your hiking group, and it comes down to a few factors; previous hiking experience, level of physical fitness, their willingness to explore, how old they are, and any other underlying health complications.

Normally these things all flow in equilibrium, being with somebody who is older is usually more experienced with hiking and occasionally more physically fit. However, this might not always be the case. Good examples are Jordan Romero, who summited Kilimanjaro at age nine and Everest at age thirteen, or perhaps a couch potato who is willing to explore but not much else (and usually via the discovery channel). That being said, you can start to look at the next item of mention.

2) How much of a challenge do you want to be in for?

This kind of ties in with the other part of this post talking about the Yosemite grading system, but it deserves a mention as well. Are you in your group of people looking for a stroll in the park? Or are you looking to have a challenging hike ahead of you? This factor plays a lot into your physical fitness level, so choose wisely. What might be good for one person may not be for the next person, so it is important to know you and your groupmate’s limitations before you try anything too crazy.

3) How far are you willing to travel?

Unfortunately, a lot of hikes I attempt are dictated strictly on how far away they are. Or, inversely, they're dictated by how long the trail is. If there since we're not an issue, I would be all over the United States hiking right now. Sadly, that is not the case though. Another part of hiking is deciding how far you want to travel to reach the trail, and how far the purported destination is from the trailhead on the trail. Some things you need to plan out an entire day for, others can be done in a quiet afternoon. Either way around, make sure to make your decision responsibly and considering your energy levels. And whatever you do, make sure to bring trail mix and some sort of snack and beverage.

4) Trail Rating.

Next, you must bear in mind the rating of the trail itself. Just as I mentioned earlier, The Yosemite Decimal System was incepted for this reason. It breaks down hiking into 5 sections, as follows:

Class 1: Easy hiking with minimal elevation gain and few obstacles

Class 2: More difficult hiking, some of which may be off-trail, and may require putting your hands down for balance at times.

Class 3: Rock scrambling and/or un-roped climbing.

Class 4: Climbing with a rope and lateral ascension at parts.

Class 5: Technical climbing, mountaineering, ice picking, etc.

So not only do you have it broken down by difficulty and duration necessary for the height, but this YDS breaks it down further into things that you will encounter along the trail. Different difficulties work for different people, but I take it most people reading my blog will stay with a 3 or below, like myself. Class 5 would be something like climbing K2 with ice picks and crampons. Class 4 would be something on par with the Seven Summits and needing to climb them with poles and ropes. And then, if kind of goes downhill from there. Hah! No pun intended. Pick your hike based on the rating you think you can tolerate the best.

5) Do you like your lungs?

If the answer is yes, then stick to altitudes that are lower in hiking, particularly below 8000 feet. If the answer is no, and you feel as though you can handle altitude sickness well, then choose a hike that is above 8000. However, be aware of elevation related sicknesses and physical conditions that can occur in your body. Lake elevation related hypoxia, air bubbles potentially forming above 15000 ft, and so on. You don't need to let it scare you away from a really good hike, but it is something you definitely should be aware of.

6) What scenery are you after?

The last notion that is worth mentioning is that of scenery. There are a lot of great hikes with good scenery, although a lot of them are short. And then inversely, there are a lot of really hard ones. You need to identify what balance is right and make your judgment as such. It would also be a good idea to look at reviews and pictures from other hikers online, as it will give you a better indicator as to what the heck would be like. My blog is one of many places and what you can do just that.

I hope this post provided some insight to how you plan on choosing your next hike. Now get out there, go hiking, and enjoy yourself. You have nothing to lose and everything (and a lot of altitude) to gain!

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