This weekend (Nov 19th-21st) the troop had three different hikes going on.
For Varsity Team 448 we went to Lost Maples State Natural Area:
We left Austin on Friday night and arrived around 11:00 PM at Lost Maples.
On the trip down several deer ran in front of our car--and also what appeared to be a giant 400 pound wild boar. We were fortunate not to hit anything because I have been on other trips where folks damaged the front of their vehicles on deer in that same area.
After arriving, we hiked-in the one mile to the nearest camping spot under a nearly full-moon that illuminated the late night nocturnal landscape as a lonely owl called in the distance. The silence reminded me of a long-ago Longfellow poem.
The next morning we hiked back to the ranger station--and then set-out on East Trail and hiked the loop around the mountain and back down to the pond again. We stopped to enjoy the multiple scenic outlooks after enduring the grueling hike up the mountain.
After a short nap--we set out on the West Trail going up the mountain again and eventually arriving at Campground #H. The first couple of hours the boys were cranky---but by about 1:30 in the afternoon were getting into the swing of things and trying their best to outpace us.
For supper we had dehydrated camping food (chili-mac) that we heated on the stove--and then an assortment of other ready-to-eat provisions. It's surprising how good a low-life granola bar looks when you've been hiking and you'll eat almost anything.
Because it was dark and everybody was exhausted we went to bed around 7:00 PM as a cold wind began to blow.
The next morning the boys woke us up at around 5:40 AM. A giant cloud had descended on the mountain top bringing a wet winter like mist that reminded me of a Harry Potter scene. Droplets of water were blowing from the trees and the flashlights and headlamps created a silver-lined halo in the distance. As we descended down the mountain top even the best pair of hiking boots found the rocks to be quite slippery in the pre-dawn fog and several times we almost lost our footing.
As we reached the West Trail sunrise was beckoning and we continued down the trail across the frequent small stream crossings eventually reaching the parking lot area.
On the way home we stopped at a restaurant in Kerrville frequented by deer hunters in camos because we figured they might be used to customers like us that hadn't had a shower recently.
Overall a great weekend which I will always remember and I thank the scouting organization and all the folks in the troop that taught us the skills we got to try out on this trek!
