Every year at summer camp, Worth
Ranch sends the first year scouts from Hammer Patrol to spend the night on Kyle
Mountain. And every year it’s a Troop 5
tradition to send a first year adult leader with them. This year I was awarded that honor. Even though we only have one first year
scout, I was very happy to see five of our second and third year scouts
volunteer to go up Kyle with Cory. I’m not
sure, but a lot of the other troops must have had the same idea as there were
over 130 scouts on the trail up the mountain.
Add to that the staff guides and adult leaders, and there’s almost a
continuous line of people from the bottom to the top.
The trek up Kyle is not a
particularly strenuous one, but for some scouts it can be their first real “scout”
type challenge. All of the scouts with
me had been on Kyle before, so the climb was almost second nature. Of course, the intended challenge is spending
the night in the open on top of the mountain.
This too went without a hitch, our Troop 5 reps got settled in pretty
quickly and were soon asleep. By the
sounds coming from the campsites around me, I realized that I was not one of
the fortunate scout leaders who had the traditional first-year-scout-sleeping-on-Kyle-Mountain
experience. I’m not complaining.
Once all the flashlights were out
and scouts were finally quieting down, I was able to lay back and enjoy my
night under the stars. And though I hadn’t
chosen the most comfortable spot, I was soon asleep as well. I woke to the first sounds of our scout
guides waking everybody up before daybreak.
The ultimate purpose of the trip was coming soon; heading to the other
side to watch the sunrise. Although it
was a little crowded on the ridge, it was worth the wait.
As with most things in nature, the
pictures do not do it justice. Sleepy eyes
soon forgot how sleepy they were and a lot of first year scouts will go home
with something not everyone has.
…and we made it down in time for
breakfast.
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