High Adventure 2016 - Blanding Utah - Day 2 - San Juan Hill

On day 2 of High Adventure we went to a museum about the LDS Pioneers that settled in the area.  We learned about the Hole-in-the-Rock Pioneers and their journey across from Cedar City area to Blanding.  They planned on it taking 6 weeks to travel the distance, and it ended up taking 6 months because of all the obstacles along the way! See my post about the actual hole in the rock where they carved a road down to the Colorado River HERE.  

After they had gone through most of the journey, they got to comb ridge, that goes for miles and is impossible to get wagons and teams over, till they got to San Juan Hill.  There they had to build a road up a hill of slickrock that the horses & oxen could haul their wagons up.  It took a few weeks, but they did it!  We drove out to the hill and hiked up it and were amazed that they were able to get the wagons up there!

Hiking up San Juan Hill

 Up at the top, the pioneers were so grateful to make it to the top that they carved into the side wall "We Thank Thee o God".  It's hard to see so we dumped a little water on it to make it show up better.  It was amazing to us that these people were on a trip that took four times what it was supposed to take, but they still were grateful to God.

"We Thank Thee O God"
Carved into the sandstone at the top of San Juan Hill

 After that we found a shady spot to have lunch.  As we finished up lunch the leaders got together and decided the scouts needed a challenge.  So we got their attention and told them "We have bad news, the Bishop is unconscious and needs to be carried back to the truck."  to which one of the youngest boys responds "can I drive his truck?"  Quick boy! :)

We determined to let the boys figure it out and tried to keep our mouths shut as they worked out how to carry Bishop back to the vehicles.  It took them about an hour to come up with a way that worked the best (which meant that Bishop could lay down and rest for an hour - which he was ok with).  The picture below is the stretcher they came up with and which ended up working to carry him the whole way.

Carrying an "unconscious" Bishop back to the trucks

We were impressed with the scouts in that they didn't argue or complain.  They took everyone's ideas and suggestions and worked together to create a working option.  I think if we were to do it again they would come up with a working option quicker and more efficiently.

Then we checked out Riverside Ruin to see some ruins that were nearby:

Riverside Ruin

After that we decided they worked hard and we all needed to cool off.  We drove to a reservoir and swam for a while.  Unfortunately someone had left the head of an elk in the bushes nearby and the rotten smell was strong!  We named the spot "Elk Head Point" but then hauled the head off into the trees to make it a more pleasurable swim.

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.