Updated Hammock Camping

One of the leaders has gotten into making hammocks lately.  He made a few that he took up to High Adventure this last summer and let the boys use and abuse to see how well they held up.  They worked great!  The boys all wanted to make one, so they spent a couple weeks worth of activities learning how and making their own hammocks!  It was great!

They all learned how to cut fabric and sew fabric!  It was a fun project for them because it resulted in something they can use for the next campouts!

I wasn't able to make it to the sewing party, so I didn't get a chance to make a hammock for myself.  But shortly after they finished, the leader that started it all found plans online that he then modified to a hammock with netting over the top, and a ridgeline, and pockets and everything!  It was great!  He showed my son and I how to make our own hammocks like that.  It took us about 10 hours to get it totally done, but it turned out great!

My Hammock with my son's hammock behind - showing the zipper side, and the netting

 The really neat part of these hammocks is that the bottom of the hammock is double layer, with an opening so you can slip in a sleeping pad between the two layers.  Then it insulates the bottom side of you while you sleep.  Without a pad below you, you wouldn't stay warm even in 40 degree weather.  But with the pad, I was able to sleep comfortably in 34°F weather with a 3" foam pad.  I tried the next time with a 1/2" blue pad, and a truck windshield reflector.  It got down to 19 degrees that night, and though I was cold (mostly my feet since the nature of the hammock puts your feet up and the blood drains out of them somewhat), I survived.

Looking from the end shows how wide it is when it has a sleeping pad stuffed in

Lumberjack Campout Oct 2016

We have a few people in our neighborhood that use a wood burning stove to heat their home all winter.  A few years ago we decided to do a "Lumberjack" Campout and go cut wood to haul back and give to these people to help them get through the winter.  We get a wood cutting permit and go up to the same place each year because there's tons of wood ready to cut, and the road leading up to it is terrible, so nobody else goes up there.

This year was no different.  We spent about 6 hours with the adults cutting up the logs with chainsaws, and the boys and some adults hauling the wood back to the trucks and trailers.  This year we had enough boys that were interested in, and strong enough to chop the wood, so we were able to chop about 90% of the wood we harvested!

It's a lot of work!  We all work hard, and really get worn out, but the boys love the work, and they love that we drive down into town and go to a recreation center to play Wally Ball (volleyball in a racquetball court), and then swim for a couple hours before driving back up to camp and spending the night.

Even though it's a very hard working campout, it's one of our scout's favorite camps!  Partly because they get to chop wood, and partly because it is service and we are able to bless others with the wood we harvest.

I think another part of it is that it's a lot of work, and we as males crave some hard work once in a while.  There's a sense of accomplishment that comes when you work hard for a day to accomplish a task, and you finish the day totally worn out, sweaty, sore, and tired.  When take the time to look back at what you've been able to do, you feel like you've achieved something worthwhile.  You've made your mark.  You've stretched yourself and found yourself up to the task.

Boys need to learn to work hard.  They don't learn that from video games, they learn that from going out and working hard alongside adults that work hard.  They'll probably be surprised to see that they enjoy working hard too.

High Adventure 2016 - Blanding Utah - Day 3-4 - Target Ruin & Ballroom Cave then Hammond Canyon

Day Three we hiked up a canyon and checked out two different ruins, the first one was Target Ruin because of a target that was painted on an inside wall of the ruin.  The whole ruin is too high to get to so we only looked at it from across the canyon.

Target Ruin

Here's a closeup of the target (shot with the camera looking through a pair of binoculars):

The Target Painted on a wall at Target Ruin

Then we hiked a bit further up the canyon and found Ballroom Cave and shot this silhouette shot.  The cave is actually quite large, and at least 20 degrees cooler than the 90+ degrees we were hiking in out in the canyon!

Ballroom Cave

After that we drove to Hammond Canyon to backpack in to where the Three Finger Ruins are.  It was approximately a 5 mile hike down into the canyon to where our campsite would be, below the ruin.  We made it there in time to set up camp and have dinner, but not in time to explore the ruin that night.

View of Three Finger Ruin from our campsite
Do you see it? Probably not, it's up on that cliff and quite a hike to get to.

As we started making dinner, about half of the scouts and leaders realized they had forgotten spoons to have our freeze-dried meals!  So they carved their own spoons to eat with.  They were pretty proud of their work and took some time to make them usable.  I don't think they'll forget the spoons next trip though.

That evening we took off our shoes and socks and soaked them in the stream that went by camp.  It felt so good to cool our feet off and clean the dirt/sand off of them!

Day 4 - we decided to not make everyone hike up to the Three Finger Ruins, so just took those that wanted to and left at 6 AM.  It was quite the hike!

View of Three Finger Ruin a little closer up

We were told by a Navajo woman in Blanding that this area is sacred.  She was happy to hear that we were going to see it.  It took us a good 40 minutes to hike up to it, but as we got closer we knew it was worth the hike:

Three Finger Ruin Closer Up

Inside one of the rooms at Three Finger Ruin

Fingerprints still on the "plastered" walls at Three Finger Ruin

View from the Three Finger Ruins

It was an amazing experience to see and wonder what it was there for, what the people did that lived there, how they got food and water, why they chose such a remote place, etc.  We sat there and discussed ideas and soaked in the beauty of the place and the view for over 30 minutes.  It's mind boggling.

Then we hiked back down to the campsite and had breakfast, packed up, and hiked back out to the vehicles.  We had left a truck in a different location so we were able to do a loop instead of an out and back trip.

Lessons Learned:

1. When it's 90+ degrees F outside, it's a good idea to carry a lot of water, and filters.  We did ok for water on the trip, but the weight of it was a lot to handle.  One of our leaders had the great idea to put some cut up watermelon and cold Gatorade in a cooler at the truck.  That was AMAZING!  Everyone loved eating the cold watermelon and gulping down the cold Gatorade!  It was exactly what we needed to lift our spirits after hiking up and out of the canyon.
2. Bring any utensils you may need for the trip - though it was a good experience for those that forgot to make their own this time.
3. Whenever you visit a place where people lived long ago, take some time and discuss with the scouts what it must have been like to live there at that time.  It's a great experience, and very insightful.  It brings the place alive.