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.

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.

Blanding High Adventure - Lessons Learned

I learned a lot on this trip about the character of our scouts.  Some of these guys spend a lot of their time in front of the TV or video games, but when we got them outdoors, they changed.  They wanted to be challenged, and they wanted adventure.

We were rained on hard quite a few times, and when it wasn't raining it got pretty hot.  But the boys didn't ask to go back to camp, they were excited to do the next thing.  I heard very few complaints, and was impressed to see their energy levels.

Something that we determined about the scout carrier is that if the back handles were lengthened to allow someone walking behind to grab on and help get around obstacles or just to take the weight off for a few seconds would be nice.

We also learned that if you have a base camp, try to bring up an awning of some type to give you somewhere to go to cook and eat during the monsoonal rains.

We also learned that we can have fun, and learn something no matter what we're doing.

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Timpanogos Peak Attempt

So we had planned to hike Timpanogos Peak (elev. 11,750 ft) last weekend.  We planned to backpack up 3-4 miles and set up camp for the night.  Then the next morning we would leave the tents and backpacks and just take day packs to hike to the summit and back, then pack up and hike back down to the trail head.

You'll notice I said "planned".  We didn't get as far as we had hoped due to weather (it was raining cats and dogs), and lack of preparation - but it was a good learning experience for us.

We had boys with sleeping bags rolled up and strapped to packs without any waterproof bag covering them (which got soaked in about 90 seconds).  We had boys with packs that were open on the top that allowed rain to go right in, soaking everything inside the packs.  We had boys that didn't have any rain gear even though they were told that the forecast was for rain and to be prepared.

We quickly took black garbage bags and covered everything we could, but it was too late really, too much was soaked.  We backpacked up the 1.3 miles to Scout Falls on the Timpooneke Trail, then had a little learning discussion.  We talked about how unprepared we were to spend the night - knowing that it was going to get down to the low 30's and we had all wet stuff.  We still had approximately 2 miles to hike and only 45 minutes before dark.  We talked about what we would do if we were on a 50 miler, and 25 miles from our vehicles and had to spend the night.  Then we hiked back down to the vehicles and drove home.

It was a bummer that we didn't "succeed" in our attempt to climb the peak.  But I found out the next day that there was 3 inches of snow at Emerald Lake, and temperatures at the peak were 30 degrees, with a 20 degree wind chill factor.  It was good we weren't up there for all of that.  And it was a great learning experience for the boys, and us leaders as to what we need to do to prepare better next time.

Canyoneering - Lessons Learned

So, you can't do anything like canyoneering and not learn from something that either didn't go the way you had planned, or something that might have worked better if you'd tried something different.  I have a good friend that has gotten me into canyoneering, who has taught me so much about how to navigate the canyons, and safely go through them, but also about the beauty of the canyon and what you can gain from the experience.  Here's a few guidelines for canyoneering that I've learned from others, and experienced myself.

• Don't do a canyon if you don't have AT LEAST 2 experienced canyoneering people in your group.  These people need to be experienced in setting up rappels off of bolts or natural anchors.  They need to know the knots, and the gear you're using inside and out so they can teach others and check others gear to make sure everything is ok.  According to BSA, both people need to be trained as well in their Canyon Leaders Course.
  
  
• With 2 leaders, you can both set up rappels, send one down first (first one doesn't get a bottom belayer, so it's advisable to set up a top belay for the first one down) and then belay's everyone else that comes down.  The other leader can check and recheck all the boys equipment, and talk them down the rappel from above.  So, where the first rappeller needs to be good at rappelling and belaying, the last one needs to be rock solid sure that he sets up his equipment properly because there's nobody to check on his personal setup.
  
• The last rappeller will also check to make sure that the ropes aren't twisted, and that they will come down properly after he finishes his rappel
  
  
• NO HORSEPLAY, NO SHOWING OFF around cliffs, period.  Don't stand for it, and let the boys know that if they do, they will be sitting in the truck the rest of the time.  It only takes one time to get someone really hurt, or dead.  Take no chances!
  
  
• If you are doing a canyon with water in it that you will be swimming through, assume it is going to be 40 degrees F.  It's typically in the shade 100% of the day, so it never gets warmed up from the sun.  If you are going to be swimming through cold water for very long, and repeatedly through the canyon, you'll want to consider wet suits.  You as a leader may have enough extra insulation to make the canyon bearable, but some of those boys with 0.001% body fat will freeze in no time at all with no way to warm up without trudging through more water to get to the end of the canyon where you can sit out in the sun and dry off.
  
  
• Check your anchor between rappellers.  This is important if you are rappelling off a natural anchor, or one you made yourself.  One time we did a rappel that was only 15 feet, but we had to set up an anchor by burying a rock down in the sand with a rope tied to it, and then stacking rock and sand on that rock.  It was a solid anchor, but after 10 people had rappelled on it, it shifted enough that it came loose on someone when they were a couple of feet off the ground.  Luckily, nobody was hurt and we were able to set up the anchor again.  Checking the anchor between each rappel would have allowed us to find slight shifting in the rocks and enabled us to make sure the anchor was solid.
  
  
• Don't assume someone has more experience than he actually does.  Sometimes you'll take a group and one of the boys (or leaders) will say that he's had lots of experience rappelling and can do it "with his eyes closed."  Then when you get started, you see him making simple mistakes, and unsure about himself while on the edge of the cliff.  Sure, he'll continue to say that he knows what he's doing to save face with his peers, but you need to make sure he really knows what he's doing.
  
  
• Bring more water than you think you need, especially if your canyon involves a hike to the top of it, or back up to the top after it.  I did a canyon once with some family members and we assumed that the canyon would be wet.  Unfortunately, it wasn't wet, so as we went through the canyon we never got cooled off.  Therefore we went through more water to replace our sweat.  Add to that the fact that we went down the canyon first, and ran out of water by then end of the canyon, but still had to hike back up a different canyon to get to our vehicles, and we were in a bit of trouble.  So, those that were doing the worst stopped to rest in the shade while the rest pushed on ahead without water to get bottles of water from the vehicles for the others.  We all made it out fine, but it wasn't the way the canyon trip was supposed to go.
  
  
• Don't assume that since you have some experience with rappelling and climbing that you can take a group of scouts through a slot canyon (even if you have taken the week long training course offered by the scout council).  Slot canyons have their own challenges and obstacles that require an experienced person to get you through.  Especially if you're taking scouts.  Go with someone who has lots of experience with canyoneering.  Learn everything you can from him on the first dozen trips or so before you call yourself a professional and able to take charge of a group of scouts.
  
  
• With that all being said, have some fun and enjoy being somewhere that 99.99999% of the people in your area will never even dream of going.  Take the chance to enjoy the beauty around you and the amazing forces of nature that created each canyon.

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Backpacking - Lessons Learned

So, you have to learn something on every trip, right?  What have I learned about backpacking through the years?  Well, there's been a few things - some I've learned, some I've learned by watching others.

Don't always ignore your pain


When I was growing up, my brother and I tried to conquer pain.  We thought that if we could ignore all pain, then we could get through any type of physical challenge just fine.  That worked pretty good in Track and Field, and in Wrestling, and quite frankly in a lot of things we've done since.  BUT it's not always the best policy for backpacking.

To some degree you have to ignore pain while backpacking.  The packs aren't totally comfortable, you get rub spots and your back, shoulders and hips hurt, and you get tired.  But, if you're on a 50 miler, you need to pay attention to your FEET.  I started out just ignoring the fact that I was getting a hot spot in my foot, and I was able to do that just fine.  But then at the end of the day I had blisters on my feet that I wouldn't have had if I had just stopped for a minute and taken care of my feet.  Instead, I have blisters that I have to deal with for the next 40 miles!  Don't ignore your feet!  AND Try to get the boys to do the same and you'll all have a much better trip!

Duct tape works, but it's so much better without the blisters in the first place!

A hike like this is so much better when you're feet aren't in pain

Pack Light


I've always had more than I needed on a backpacking trip.  Part of the problem is that I bring extra in case anyone forgets something or something happens to them or their gear.  The other part is I have ingrained in my soul "BE PREPARED".  Be prepared for what?  For anything that might come along.  I'm the kind of guy that always has bandaids in my wallet for when my kids need one.

So I take matches and a lighter, and a few other ways of starting fire, just in case those two get lost or don't work.  I have an extra pair of pants and shirt at the bottom of my pack that I've never taken out yet, but, you never know when you might need it.  I have an extra survival kit that's all packed up together that I take along with stuff that I already have in my pack, but this is all in one package so I can throw it in my day pack if we're going on a day hike (and in that survival kit I have 2 or 3 different ways of starting fires as well!)

What can you see in the video below that probably wasn't necessary for an over nighter camping trip?

When we're just going on an overnighter backpacking trip, and I know the boys that are coming have some experience in what we're doing, I can get my pack down to about 15-20 pounds.  But on a 50 miler where we'll be at least 10 miles from the trucks (and 20 miles at most), I'll just carry the 50 pound pack and hope my physical condition is sufficient to handle it.  So far I'm still fairly young and in good shape (I'm in the low 30's).  But I know that I'll get to the point where I can't handle a 50 pound pack for 50 miles, then what?

Then I'll have to trust in the gear I have, and the experience I have to get through whatever I face.  I'll have to trust the boys (which means going through packs and making sure they have what they need sometimes) and not bring extras for them - they can survive an overnigher unprepared, it'll just help them to be prepared for the next trip.  I'll need to be experienced enough that I know what will and what won't work for all my gear (tents, water filters, stoves, fire starters, etc) so I don't have to bring up extra equipment.  I'll need to know exactly what I will need to eat on a trip to keep me full of energy, but not bring so much that I'm bringing home food afterwards.

Stick to your Hiking Pace


Everyone has a pace where they can walk for miles and not get tired (well, most people).  Find that pace and try to stick to it.  It's difficult when you have a group of boys and adults that all have different paces.  You can try to make everyone slow down to the slowest pace but that has 2 problems.

1. Sometimes the slowest person just likes to be in the back.  I've been walking with people before that have this inner need that they probably don't even recognize to be behind in the group.  No matter how much you slow down to include them, they just slow down further to stay behind.  I've been biking with someone with that mentality.  I slowed down so much that I could walk faster and yet still he stayed a ways behind me.
2. If you go slower than "your pace", you'll use more energy.  Your body has a speed in which it can keep going for long distances quite efficiently and when you deviate from that pace it throws you off.  Yes, going slower can actually use more energy than going at your pace - AND you get there later as well!

I've tried and tried to keep groups together on long hikes and it never works.  So I've come to the conclusion that when possible, it can work to split up into 2 groups if they are too much different in paces.  The problem is that then it's nice to have 2 leaders with each group which means more leaders.  But I have had times when we had a boy and a leader that were worn completely out, and we were running out of daylight.  We still needed to get a ways down the trail to where we were going to camp.  So I took some of the fast boys along with me and climbed up a big incline in the trail, then we dropped our packs and went back to help the others.  It worked out pretty good because they all got to hike at their pace, and they got to help each other make it.

Another thing, if you get bored hiking, grab a walking stick.  It will give your hands something to do, and you can focus on the walking stick instead of the monotony.  Lord Baden Powell (founder of scouting) said that if you use a walking stick, the miles will fly by.  It really works!  Give it a try!

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Snow Cave Camping Lessons Learned

Needless to say, I've learned a few things about snow cave and winter camping.  Below are a few of the things I've learned:

• If you are going to be hiking at all to where you will be camping, get some cheap plastic sleds that you can strap things to, with a pull rope on it.  Then bring a backpack with most of your personal gear, and load the sled with your stove, water, fuel, firewood, kitchen box etc.  Then, if you have time you can hike up the hill and sled down for fun!

Sleds make it easy to haul up gear to your site

• We've sometimes been able to connect caves together with tunnels in the morning after we got up, but one year we connected them together before we went to bed, thinking it would be cool to be able to talk to each other through them.  Well, we learned a few things:
• Snow absorbs so much sound that we couldn't really hear anything in the neighboring cave, so we didn't end up visiting at all
• I was in the cave that was lower (in elevation) than the other cave.  The guy that was with me was sleeping right below the tunnel connecting us to the upper cave.  Well, all the cold air from their cave rushed down through our tunnel, past him and out our door, giving him a cold breeze on him all night.  It would have been warmer for him without the connecting tunnel.

Connecting the caves (3 connected in this case) is fun, but wait till after you wake up to do it

• If the snow is powdery, you'll need to pack it down before you start digging.  In the picture below, we piled up the snow but didn't pack it down and it collapsed twice while digging it.  We ended up just digging a trench and sleeping in it instead of a cave.  We were still warm, but it wasn't the same.

Pack the snow if it's powdery or it'll collapse while you're digging it out

• Feed scoops from IFA and Avalanche Shovels work great in different types of snow.  Other things that work great are regular or square nosed shovels that have the handles cut down to about 12-18".  

Feed Scoop and an Avalanche Shovel

• Shovels to scoop out the snow and throw it away (or to the top of the cave) need to be "scooping" shovels, not "pushing" snow shovels.  Some snow shovels work great for pushing snow off the driveway, but you can't really scoop it up and throw the snow with it.  Those won't work too great when you're trying to throw the snow out of a hole 5 feet deep in the snow.

A "pushing" shovel

Scooping shovels work better for scooping up snow and throwing it away

• Use a plastic box for your food and utensils and stuff (cardboard just get's wet and weak).  Then carve out a kitchen in the snow.  You can make shelves for your stove and food box, a serving table, or whatever you want.  No sense cooking with your stove on the ground just because you don't have a table.

Make your own kitchen

• If you start a fire on top of the snow, it will slowly sink down into the snow and soon the fire will be 4 feet down in a hole and the only way to get warm will be to stand directly over the fire in the smoke.  But if you dig down to the ground and dig around so you can be down by the fire, you can be around the fire and stay warm.  If you only have a few people, you can dig out one side around the fire and let the snow wall on the other side reflect the heat back to you.  If you have a big group, dig out all around the fireplace so everyone can get around it.

Fires started on the snow will sink down till they are useless for heat

For just a few people, dig out one side and let the snow wall reflect the heat back to you.  This also will allow the smoke to go straight up and away from you.

If you have lots of people, dig all round the fire so more people can be near the fire.  Then you can cut seats and stuff into the snow - sit on a piece of wood, or plastic to keep your backside dry

•  It's amazing how much a candy bar can do to help you warm up, have energy, and raise your spirits.  Keep some candy bars in your pack to eat when you get cold or tired.  When you pack, think about how each candy bar will be when frozen.  Carmel candy bars freeze so hard that they're hard to eat.  I prefer peanut butter and chocolate candy bars because they give sugar and protein.
  
• Keep your spirits up.  If you know that you have a plan, you will be more able to be optimistic and keep the boys busy.  If you're busy, you feel better, and you'll stay warmer

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Wilderness Survival Camp Lessons Learned

Where do I start?  We learned so much on this campout!  We knew that it would be difficult, so we spent 4 months preparing.  We had classes on everything we could think about, we devoured anything we could find on survival.  We read any book we could find.  I bought 6 books online about survival (my wife wasn't too happy about that) and devoured everything I could in each of them.  Each one taught me something new that added to my arsenal of information for survival.  

One of the books was from a group of guys that taught survival skills, and decided to experience it themselves.  They picked a place and planned on surviving for 46 days with just their clothes on their backs and a pocket knife.  They hunted wild animals, and made their own water bottles (out of bark and pitch), shelters, weapons, etc.  One day the author finds a fawn hiding in the grass.  It takes him awhile to convince himself that he needs to kill to survive, but eventually he does, and he brings it back to camp and they dry the meat so it can be used for more than one day.  In the end, the author doesn't write about it until 10 years later, and still doesn't tell where they were because it was illegal to survive in such a way (it's not illegal to die, just to survive - how backward is that?)  The book is called:

"Wilderness Survival, Living off the Land with the Clothes on your Back and the Knife on your Belt", by Mark Elbroch and Mike Pewtherer.

Unfortunately, no matter how much you learn (or think you've learned), the real thing is going to be totally different from anything you've read. We couldn't find a place to survive where there were animals that we could hunt and eat, so we went to some private land (owned by one of our leaders).  It wasn't ideal, but it served it's purpose.  We got really hungry, and were willing to eat just about anything.  Which was part of the reason we did the camp.  We wanted to experience true hunger so we could get to where we would eat things to survive instead of eating things just to eat them.

These small barrel cactus were actually pretty good (well, tasteless, but moist and not bitter).  But this was the only patch of barrel cactus we could find so we didn't want to eat very much - had to follow the Leave No Trace principles as much as possible

The Gooseberries we found were awesome!  We ate all that we could find, the ripe and even all the green ones.  They were sour, but sour beats the bitter Dandelion or bitter Salsify that we were trying to choke down.

Learn how to start fires with whatever you find.  Learn how to do a bow and drill fire because you can then start a fire with just your shoe laces and a couple of sticks (and a pocket knife to shape the drill).  Then practice, practice, practice.

Don't be afraid to spend the night freezing, wrapped around a fire to stay warm.  The first night we all tried to sleep laying around the fire for warmth.  We didn't get very much sleep, but we survived the night.  You can always take a cat nap during the heat of the day to keep going.

I would love to try some alternative fire starting techniques.  I've always wanted to buy a fire piston from www.firepistons.com.  They look awesome!

Above all, keep your spirits up.  As we went through our survival experience we found that as long as we keep our attitudes up, it was easier to endure.  When we started getting down on ourselves, or complaining about the lack of food or warmth at night, we suffered more.  Laugh some, joke some, keep a positive attitude and you'll find it's a lot more fun, and you'll get a lot more done, and it'll turn into a positive experience for everyone.

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