UINTAS - AUG 2009

DAY 1 - AUGUST 10, 2009

At 4:00AM on August 10, 2009, Troop 624 Scouts met at the Alexander Building to load and depart for Utah's Ashley National Forest. Shuttlers, Redge & Lyndee Hudson, Melinda and Daisy Bailey, Lee & Brice Rhinehart and Ryan Briggs met the troop in Orem then followed to the Grandview Trailhead.

22 Scouts and 8 leaders pulled packs from 5 vehicles and started up the trail toward Grandaddy Lake while shuttlers drove the vehicles to Moon Lake. With the vehicles gone, the only way home was to hoof 50 miles to Moon Lake.

The group packed their gear from about 9,800 feet at the trailhead up to 10,600 at Hades Pass where they caught their first glimpse of the dozens of lakes they would see throughout the week. Grandaddy was the largest seen on day 1. They also passed Betsy before they finally called it a day after driving 8 hours and hiking another 6 miles to Mohawk Lake.

An hour after they arrived and set up camp, exhausted boys found themselves huddled around a campfire with full stomachs where they sang "Praise to the Man" and listened to counsel from Brother Chris Rose. Afterwards, they played a few games of wink murder and then went to bed.

DAY 2 - AUGUST 11, 2009

Daybreak found Spencer Gunnerson reeling in the 1st fish caught on the trek. He cooked it on a hot rock next the fire while boys and leaders fished, pumped water, sparked up whisper lights and jetboils, cooked oatmeal and packed up camp. Thinking they only had a 7 mile jaunt to the next campsite, leaders let boys sleep in and take it easy on morning 2. To their chagrin, what appeared to be 7 miles on paper, turned out to be over 9 miles to Jean Lake in the Four Lakes Basin. While not the longest day on the trail, day 2 was certainly one of the most gruelling. A detour due to a closed trail (not shown on maps) took them to Governor Dern Lake where they rested before they spent the balance of the afternoon ascending a long steep grade to the Four Lakes Basin.

As they entered the camp, the group found Heath Bailey baking a cake in a makeshift campfire oven for those celebrating birthdays at camp (Payden Yates, Quincy Edwards, Derek Cowles & Heath Bailey). After dinner, all sang Happy Birthday, sampled the cake and fought over who would lick the tin. Heath provided a very thoughtful treat and an even more thoughtful campfire message about overcoming obstacles.

The author was too tired to pay attention to what the rest of the camp did after the closing prayer.

DAY 3 - AUGUST 12, 2009

Knowing they had 12 1/2 miles and Rocky Sea Pass (11,400 ft) in front of them, the group packed up and left Jean Lake early on day 3. All hiked like champs to the pass, where they rested, took pictures and skied down snowy slopes.

After a long descent past countless ponds, lakes and streams, the group stopped, filtered water, ate lunch and then began the gut-wrenching climb to Lightning Lake (the author's favorite lake).

At Lightning, with 7 1/2 miles behind them, the group snacked, filtered more water and skipped rocks before strapping up and contouring around the Rock Creek Basin at 11,000 feet for the final 5 1/2 miles to Ledge Lake.

The first sprinkles were felt on the afternoon of day 3. Sprinkles turned into a few minutes of light rain and then skies cleared as boys and leaders fished, swam and bathed in the snow-melt that filled Ledge.

After dinner, Spencer Gunnerson shared his thoughts on some of the heroes in his life and gave the boys a chance to do the same. Appreciation for dads, moms, grandpas, friends and bishop was expressed by thankful young men. Dry eyes were few and neither leader nor boy wasted time getting to their tent at the end of day 3.

DAY 4 - AUGUST 13, 2009

Day 4 found scouts and leaders on the trail early again. Seldomly travelled trails between the Rocky Sea and Tworoose passes presented problems as cairns and tree blazes were, at times, few and far between.

Several hikers lost track of beaten paths in the thickly wooded, marshy basin. However, adherence to the buddy system and radios kept the group intact on Thursday. Noon found the group pumping cold water from Rock Creek, resting and watching dark clouds gather over head. By the time bladders and bottles were filled, silver dollar rain drops and hail were pounding Troop 624. For the 1st time at camp, the dreadfully anticipated, fun-spoiling, morale-stealing rain came - and came in grand fashion. Scouts and leaders stubbornly resisted the downpour for 20 minutes - procrastinating the inconvenient search through wet gear for ponchos. With clouds growing purpler by the moment, the group yielded to mother nature. Minutes later, Troop 624 was a rainbow of red, yellow and green rain gear. Rain held for most of the long, steep ascent from Rock Creek to Tworoose Pass. By the time all finished another 12 1/2 - mile day and reached camp at Tworoose Lake, the rain had stopped.

With the sky blue once again, sore hikers ditched shoes, walked barefoot and longed for a frisbee to toss across the wide-open, spongy meadow. Water was pumped, shoes dried by fires and Mountain House meals were eaten before all settled around the upper fire to sing "Army of Helaman" and listen to Quincy Edwards' message on going home. Remarkably, as soon as the closing prayer was given, the storm returned and all retreated to tents and hammocks for the night.

DAY 5 - August 14, 2009

After hiking over 25 miles in 2 days, getting pounded by rain most of the night and knowing the hike in front of them on day 5 was all downhill, boys were allowed to sleep in until 7:00AM. Sun creeping slowly over tall trees at the east end of the Tworoose meadow found men and boys dressing tree limbs and rocks with wet tents, sleeping bags and packs soaked during the night. Within minutes, the west end of the meadow was outlined with with a 100 colors of nylon.

While waiting for their gear to dry, the troop pumped water, ate breakfast, bandaged blistered feet and cleaned up camp. At 10:00AM, camp was clean and all were back on the trail. By 1:00, the group had passed Kidney, Island and Brown Duck Lakes and found themselves 6 1/2 miles from Tworoose on the wilderness boundary. With no sign of a site that would accomodate 20 tents, leaders huddled to discuss where to go for the night. Moon Lake campgrounds were expensive and full. It was unclear whether or not they were on private property. All appeared to still be fresh and in good spirits, so leaders felt they could finish the hike, load up and make it back to Las Vegas without setting up camp on Friday night. When the the proposal was presented, boys disappeared in a cloud of dust sprinting to the trailend.

Less than 2 hours later the last hiker rolled into the parking lot where shuttlers had left vehicles the previous Monday. Blisters, tears and sore shoulders were forgotten as boys pounded their chests and stood a few inches taller.

Packs were loaded in haste as dark clouds began to dump and batter cars and gear. Once loaded, a caravan loaded with boys longing for good fast food, soft beds and moms headed for Heber City. Arby's bore the burden of hosting 30 men & boys who had eaten nothing but dehydrated food for close to a week. Serving trays stacked high with roast beef sandwiches and french fries could be found on every table. Horsey sauce was never so fulfilling. Cars and trucks were loaded one more time with gamey, roast beef-filled boys. All vehicles rolled safely into the Alexander Building parking lot around 2:30AM on August 15th.

PARTICIPANTS

Jacob Harper, Payden Yates, Dallin Layton, Derek Cowles, Easton Fogg, Jared Harper, Cameron Rose, Michael Rosenkrantz, Josh Curtis, Austin Brasier, Brody Burley, Preston Hadfield, Dexter Edwards, Luke Bailey, Tanner Jensen, Porter Rosenkrantz, Trenton Rose, Trenton Roundy, Daniel Buchanan, Josh Jones, Locke Edwards, David Karnafel, Brice Rhinehart, David Curtis, Paul Roundy, Lee Rhinehart, Heath Bailey, Chris Rose, Quincy Edwards, Cliff Brown, Spencer Gunnerson and Gene Wright.