Upper Priest Lake 6/11/10 - 6/13/10

Article submitted by Zach Bailey

Upper priest Lake

Wow! What a campout! Not only did we see some amazing views of the area, but we backpacked either 9 or 18 miles depending on the group we were in.

On Friday we all loaded our packs into cars and drove 2 hours to Upper Priest Lake. We all met up at the trailhead, put our packs on, and started hiking the 3 miles to our campsite. When we got there, we set up our tents, ate lunch, and played around. Later that day, we all had to go and find some wood to help start a fire. One group found a really loose tree and pushed it down. We had plenty of firewood after that!

The next morning, the older scouts packed up all their gear and hiked 3 more miles to the next campsite. The rest of the troop followed with their daypacks. We got there, set up our tents, ate, and relaxed. About an hour later, the younger scouts hiked back to the first campsite.

The older scouts that stayed at the second campsite had a contest to see who could go out the farthest into the water, which was freezing cold. A couple scouts went all the way into the water, but most scouts only went in about knee deep.

After that, we studied first aid for hypothermia, heat reactions, frostbite, dehydration, insect stings, tick bites, snake bites, and blisters as a requirement for the backpacking merit badge.

Later that day we went on a day hike. We hiked 3 miles uphill, and got an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. The top of the mountain was supposed to be at the end of the trail, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. To everyone’s relief, we decided to hike back down to camp instead of continuing on.

Once we got back to camp, we were tired and hungry so we cooked dinner. Since we had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to meet up with the rest of the troop at the first camp, we went to bed not long after dinner. The next day, we packed up our gear and hiked the 3 miles back to the where the rest of the troop was and helped them clean up. Then we left to hike 3 more miles back to the cars.

more pics http://troop201.smugmug.com/Scouts/2010-Events/PriestLakeBackpacking