This year for High Adventure I wasn't able to attend the whole week, but I made it in time to hike up one canyon (Red Breaks) and over to the Cosmic Ashtray with our troop.
It was a long hike, covering 15 miles, much of which was exposed to the sun and the heat. It starts out with a hike up Red Breaks Canyon, which does have a few obstacles, but nothing that needs ropes or anything technical. It's easily done with help even from one other person. It was great to see the scouts helping each other and encouraging each other over the obstacles.
Here's a shot of the pretty portion of the canyon, I love it when it weaves back and forth and it's really narrow!
Then we got to the most narrow spot of all, supposedly 11 inches wide for about 10 feet or so. It was a real struggle for some of us, though the boys fit through ok. Part of the problem was that your feet got stuck in the crack at the bottom so you couldn't pull your feet up without pulling yourself down deeper.
Once we got through the canyon we took stock of our supplies, and decided we had enough water to make it to the cosmic ashtray if we were careful. So we started hiking cross country, over slickrock, down into ravines, and back up the other side. It was a lot further than we had planned to get to it, and the 100 degree weather really took a toll on us. We were out of water by the time we reached the cosmic ashtray, so though it was fun to see, we were all thinking about the 5 mile hike we still had to do to get back to the vehicles
In the end, we made it ok. We were pretty thirsty, but we didn't have any medical difficulties along the way. I had brought 5 quarts of water with me, and ended up sharing mine with others that didn't have as much, but if I were to do it again, I'd make sure everyone had at least a gallon of water each.
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