By Scoutmaster Showalter
Hiking has never been my passion. But the idea of hiking and doing something epic with my son has been a motivator for the past few years. It all started with the slideshow from the past Philmont contingent. We were intrigued and wanted to experience Philmont for ourselves.
All journeys begin with that first step; with Philmont you need to take many steps. Our 2022 Contingent calculated that they hiked more than 90 miles - that's a lot of steps!
In preparing for this type of event, the expectation is that everyone is comfortable carrying around 25% of their bodyweight from one camp site to another, while traversing rugged and rocky terrain. The only way to prepare your body for this is by doing. Obviously there is preparation off the trail – diet and exercise. But to truly be prepared, you must complete what are called “Shakedown Hikes” where you have everything you need in your backpack, and ideally have more than one opportunity to setup and breakdown a campsite, test out your stove, water purification system and maybe learn the best way to address the ‘call of nature’. Hint, it may require a shovel.
During the last weekend of June of 2022, we selected Baker Lake as a Shakedown Hike. Baker Lake is a large and scenic lake at the base of Mount Baker, fed primarily by snowmelt. Five scouts and four adults hiked out on a warm Friday afternoon to the Maple Grove campsite, which was approximately 4 miles from the trailhead. Everyone was in good spirits, yet tired and hungry for a freeze dried meal. We all had a good night of sleep and were up with the first light for freeze dried breakfast and then packed up to ‘hike on’.
Heading from the Maple Grove campsite, we made our way along the east side of Baker Lake with breathtaking views of Mt Baker to our left and a moderate 6.6 mile hike in front of us. It was about a three hour journey with short rests around every 30 minutes. The scouts took less time than the adults to complete the hike. They had already found the good spots for their tents and were relaxing by the lake by the time a few of the adults finally arrived – namely me. Luckily there were adequate tenting spots available for all, and decent tree spacing for a hammock.
After another freeze dried meal for lunch and dinner and much relaxation and with little battery left in us or our mobile devices, it was time to rest up for our return on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning started with sun barely rising above the snow capped mountains to the east, in hopes that we could complete the 11 mile trip back to where we started on Friday in time for a non-freeze dried lunch. When everyone was ready to go the lead scout made the call ‘Hike on’ and we headed out. We had all agreed that there would be plenty of short rests, and some longer rests with no pack. As I am creeping up on 50 years old, I needed every one of those rests, and probably a few more.
With the lake on our right and Mexican food in front of us, we hiked on. It may have taken us a bit longer, but the scouts focused on the task and got it done. In the end, the scouts completed the 11 mile hike in around 5 hours and the final adult stumbled back to the trailhead at around 6 hours.
Back to the trailhead, we reflected on the weekend. The highs and lows of learning to ‘Be Prepared’. We knew better which brand of freeze dried meals were better and even which meals we would and would not want to eat again. We realized which items in the backpack were helpful and what was not. Lastly, we learned better ways to pack a backpack and the quality of our hiking shoes.
I may still not love hiking, but to see scouts grow and learn by new experiences is something that I won’t trade for anything.
