High Adventure 2016 - Blanding Utah - Day 1 - Fiery Furnace

This year for High Adventure we were a little worried and at a loss for what to do to keep the boys working together and building unity.  You see, this is the first year in 5 years that we haven't had Mitch along on our high adventure since he's serving a mission for the LDS Church for two years!  For the past 5 years we have had Mitch to serve and love and learn from.  So this year we decided to do things that would force the boys to help each other, and to set up at least one situation that they had to work together to accomplish.  We chose to go to Blanding Utah, and the surrounding area, where we could explore Indian Ruins, LDS Pioneer Sites, and the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park.

We started out the trip with exploring the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park.  This is an area that you have to get a permit to enter, and you have to watch a video about how to care for the area, and not cause problems - with the environment and with other visitors.  It was very informative and we followed the instructions that we were given.

Fiery Furnace from above

In the Fiery Furnace you can explore wherever you want, as long as you don't cause trails, don't step on loose sand around plants, don't step on the crust, don't stand on any arches or bridges, and don't make too much noise.  So it's a big jungle gym for the scouts to explore!  We made our way up canyons that required them to all work together to help each other up over obstacles and what some thought were "dead ends".

Exploring Fiery Furnace Canyons

At one point we worked together to get over a 12 foot obstacle, just to walk around the corner and see a staircase with a railing to use to get up!  But we wanted the boys to work together to get through hard stuff, so we were glad we did the obstacle!

It was a challenge for a lot of us as we spent four hours exploring and climbing and making our way through the furnace, and then finding a way back out again.  It challenged our endurance, and our bravery as we had to span across things, and chimney climb up or down places that were a little uncomfortable (but were safe with all of us working together).

Lessons learned:

• Bring more water than you think you will need.  We had each person bring at least 2 liters of water, but everyone wished they had more.  I had 2 liters of water and 1 liter of Gatorade but still wished I had more.  
• I like to bring a 2-3 Liter hydration bladder to drink out of, but also have another liter of water or Gatorade.  I've found that if I don't, then i tend to save the water for later "when I really need it" because I can't tell how much I have in my bladder unless I stop and check - and I don't want to run out.  With an extra liter in my pack I can go ahead and drink from the bladder as much as I need, knowing that when I run out I will still have a liter left. 
• Whenever we do a hike like this we like to stop when we're as far out as we can get and discuss our survival options.  It usually starts with "Well guys, I've got bad news" and then I tell them that we are stuck where we are for the night or sometimes even longer, and we go through our packs to see what we have with us to get us through the night, or or through first aid obstacles or whatever.  Typically the boys just have water and a granola bar or something like that, and the leaders bring a small survival kit with first aid stuff, fire starting stuff, sometimes a small water filter, etc.  As the boys get older and we keep doing this, they eventually start to plan ahead and bring things that they might need in emergencies - that way when they are older and taking people, they think about what they really might need in an emergency.
• Always follow the rules, no matter how inconvenient.  We got up to the top of an area, and stopped for snacks.  One of the leaders opened his pack and an orange rolled out.  We tried to stop it, but it rolled off a cliff.  Some said to leave the orange, it wasn't worth going to get, but the video we watched specifically said not to leave orange peels as they take 10 years to decompose.  So another leader and I hiked/climbed down to retrieve the orange.  We only found a small portion of it - it must have hit a ledge further up and exploded, leaving most of it on the ledge - but we found all we could, and left the boys with an example to follow.

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