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glatt · 08-08-2014, 08:15 AM

I did this for a hike last winter. I scouted out about 1 mile of a 5 mile hike because there just wasn't time that day to scout out the whole hike. It looked perfect for our needs for a first easy hike the new scouts could do to train for a bigger 10 mile one in a month.

So we went back to do the entire 5 miles, and after the 1st mile, the trail went down a hillside into the shade, where there was a little snow and ice by the side of the trail, and then a little more, and a little more, and it was really incremental the way it changed. So we kept going forward until it got to the point that it was so icy, it was a little bit dangerous with the now icy rock scrambling. But by then we were 80% of the way around the loop, and nobody wanted to backtrack, so I and the other leaders figured we'd just keep going forward and be careful. That's when one of the boys slipped and smashed his forehead on the ice. Fortunately, he was OK and his dad was even with us, but he did get two golf ball sized bumps on his forehead, and looked like a Klingon.

But if we do this cave, it will be with a guide who is an expert, and we don't have to go through this crazy passage. A couple of the troop leaders have been in this cave before and recommend it.

08-08-2014, 08:15 AM	#641
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I did this for a hike last winter. I scouted out about 1 mile of a 5 mile hike because there just wasn't time that day to scout out the whole hike. It looked perfect for our needs for a first easy hike the new scouts could do to train for a bigger 10 mile one in a month. So we went back to do the entire 5 miles, and after the 1st mile, the trail went down a hillside into the shade, where there was a little snow and ice by the side of the trail, and then a little more, and a little more, and it was really incremental the way it changed. So we kept going forward until it got to the point that it was so icy, it was a little bit dangerous with the now icy rock scrambling. But by then we were 80% of the way around the loop, and nobody wanted to backtrack, so I and the other leaders figured we'd just keep going forward and be careful. That's when one of the boys slipped and smashed his forehead on the ice. Fortunately, he was OK and his dad was even with us, but he did get two golf ball sized bumps on his forehead, and looked like a Klingon. But if we do this cave, it will be with a guide who is an expert, and we don't have to go through this crazy passage. A couple of the troop leaders have been in this cave before and recommend it.