High Adventure 2005

[BillScar 10]

We've got a group doing a ten day trekfrom Red's Meadow near Mammoth in the Sierra, going south to Kearsarge Pass. Another gorup of younger hikers will trek from Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite and backtrack the JMT to Yosemite Valley, catching Half Dome enroute. This trek is only about 35 miles and great for the younguns. Our Venturing Crew will be going to White's Landing, a BSA high adventure base on Catalina Island, about 26 miles from LA. They offer backpacking, mountain biking, sea kayaking and SCUBA. The trail guides teach about LNT along the way and deliver daily program geared to team building, leadership growth and personal development.

YIS,

Bill Scarberry

Troop 824

Crew 824

[BillScar 10]

I typed the link for White's Landing but it didn't print. Here's the link: www.catalinahighadventure.org

 

YIS

/BS

Troop 824

Crew 824

[hacimsaalk12 10]

just did a Cheat River trip, last weekend, on sunday. we did it with Laurel Highlands. It was am awesome trip. the river was at 5+ feet (for any one who dosent know, the highest the will run is 7 feet). there were around 6-7 class V's, and 2 or 3 class V+'s. there was a rapid called Big Nasty. it had a huge hydrolic that you were suppossed to either hit straight on, or go around it. well, we hit it at kinda of an angle. the raft went up on its side, almost all the way over. we all fell out, except for the guide. 3 out of the 4 peole got caught in the washing machine, and were stuck there for about 10 seconds. it really sucked when that happened. we all got back in and kept going. it was a great trip, and the guides couldnt have been nicer or better. i would reccommend this trip to all adventure patrols, but be warned that you should be able to swim if you go.

 

 

i guess its off to the Gauley this Fall. does anyone know of any good outfitters for this?

 

thanks

 

hacimsaalk12

[crw729 10]

I WISH THEY ALL COULD BE CALIFORNIA TREKS

 

In 1977, the Wrigley Family endowed the Catalina Island Conservancy to care for the 75% of the island that was still underdeveloped. One of the sites was Whites Landing, a former military instillation and camp, on the east coast closest to the mainland. The Orange County Council submitted the winning proposal to turn Whites Landing into a high adventure base, from whence scout units would head off to explore the islands interior and coast on treks. They just finished their third summer of operation. So far its been a win-win situation for the Conservancy and the OCC. The Conservancy fulfills it mandate of preserving the land and bringing people into the interior. The OCC has a high adventure base that would make National drool. Part of price of admission is that every scout participate in a half-day conservation project to help out the CIC.

 

Whites Landing offers four programs backpacking, mountainbiking, sea kayaking and scuba. Troop and Venture Crew 729 from Washington Heights, New York City, has just returned from Catalina where we spent 12 days participating in all four activities.

 

Backpacking: 2 days

 

Hiked from the base camp across the island to Ben Weston beach on the west coast. Midway, at the spine of the island elevation is near 1,700 feet and you can see the ocean on both sides of the island. The land is uninhabited with unpaved trails. The hike down to Ben Weston involves climbing down a 200-300 foot down to the beach. The terrain makes Ben Weston a favorite for surfers. It is the only wave-action beach on the island. We camped there under the stars and spent the next day in the waves. At mid afternoon, we climbed back up the cliff and continued on a short hike to Little Harbor an official campground with designated campsites, pole showers, a ranger station and port-a-johns. Sweet.

 

Difficulty just right.

Thrill factor A+. Climbing down the cliff to Ben Weston with full packs was certainly a challenge, so was hiking through a herd of bison.

Scenery A+. The island is just beautiful.

 

Sea Kayaking: 2 days

 

Kayaked clockwise around the north end of the island from Little Harbor back to Whites Landing. The first day was the longest and we woke up early to get in enough miles before the swells picked up in mid morning. At Cat Harbor, at the west end of the isthmus, we were maybe a mile out to sea and noticed dolphins swimming along the shoreline. Then at some point, they noticed us and started swimming right toward us, 30 dolphins swimming abreast in a line about 50 yards wide charging right at us. About five feet in front of us they dived under our kayaks and then emerged about five feet behind us.

 

The winds never picked up and it remained overcast. A little farther north on the northwestern shore the cliffs rise 200-300 feet straight out of the water. There was an eerie silence with no wind and just the waves lapping the shore. We passed a rock covered in pelicans. With the silence, the isolation, mist muting the colors of the cliffs and pelicans gliding like pterodactyls, it was a scene out of Jurassic Park. It is the most unworldly place I have ever been. From here we started seeing lots of sea lions and they swam with us around the north tip of the island to our camp site at Starlight Beach.

 

The next day we continued down the east side of the island. Burgers and flush toilets at Two Harbors the town at the east end of the isthmus. From there we kayaked through a neat little grotto and then made camp at Lava Wall Beach. This campsite has a sheer wall about 150-200 foot lava wall. The next day we made it back to base in time for lunch. Sweet.

 

Difficulty just right.

Thrill factor A+. The adrenaline rush from the dolphins is still being felt.

Scenery A+. Out of this world.

 

Scuba: 2 days

 

Began instruction right after lunch for the Passport (resort diving with instructor) NAUI certification. Three in our group of 14 were already certified and we helped and encouraged the others.

 

Scuba was in its first year at the base and there are still many kinks to be worked out. In all fairness, we were just exhausted coming in from the trek. We had spent a lot of time teaching our scouts how to swim, but waves in the Pacific Ocean are a far cry from a pool at the Y. In the end, only two of the non-divers in the group managed to go on an open water dive, but five more probably could have with just a little more time. Scuba was probably the high point of the entire trek for the first time divers. Six of the scouts have expressed an intense desire to go back next summer to complete the week-long full certification program. Would be nice if we can figure out a way to make it happen.

 

Difficulty Too much too soon for most of the scouts.

Thrill factor Do you remember your first dive?

Scenery B-. Im spoiled because I all my previous diving has been at Little Cayman. The water off Catalina certainly isnt anywhere near Cayman clear, but there are still plenty of fish and other critters in the water to make it worthwhile. And there is always a high probability of marine mammals swimming by.

 

Mountainbiking: 2 days

 

Started off the day walking our bikes up the same way we had backpacked out the week before. By early afternoon, we were back up to the spine of the island and camped at Black Jack. That afternoon, we completed our volunteer service project for the Conservancy.

 

The next day we reaped the reward for a half day of walking, pushing our bikes uphill a ride down the Cape Canyon Trail. There we visited Middle Ranch and saw their wild life restoration facilities for bald eagles and Catalina foxes. We then rode, walked, pushed our bikes up Middle Canyon Road back to the spine. We then rode the KBRT trail down into Bullrush Canyon. This trail was a great ride and we got to see the southern end of the island with another Channel Island, San Clemente, off in the distance. The next day it was a relatively short day back up the KBRT trail (sweet both coming and going) and then down the trail back to base camp. I waited until then to take my spill. Abrasions on both knees, back and front of both hands, elbow, shoulder (ripped shirt), ear and big ding in my helmet. By the way, Im not whining. When it comes to me, a mountain bike and a mountain trail, only one of us is capable of choosing poorly. Sweet.

 

Difficulty just right. Gravity giveth and gravity taketh away.

Thrill factor A+. Its not mountainbiking unless half the group wipes out.

Scenery A+. Bullrush Canyon and the south end of the island are great.

 

If anyone wants to host pix on a web site, I will be happy to send some jpgs.

 

Catalina as an alternative to Philmont.

 

In this case, we actually did have slots for Philmont 2005. Our crews vote was almost unanimous to go to Catalina instead. The two-week, four-activity pu pu platter offered at Catalina is certainly hard to beat.

 

JetBlue goes into Long Beach, which is a ten minute drive to the Whites Landing ferry. Southwest goes into Santa Ana, which is also a short drive to the Newport Beach ferry. So if your area is served by either JetBlue or Southwest, getting to Catalina is probably a lot cheaper than you think. Throw in a double-double animal style and a final day at Disneyland before heading home and youre likely to be the one next year telling Philmont, Thanks, but no thanks. Sweet.

 

Yours in Scouting

 

Scott Simpson

Troop/Crew 729

Washington Heights

[johnmbowen 10]

WE WENT RAFTING WITH OUR OWN BOATS

TRIP REPORT

 

SEE THE VIDEO (ok, so it is an amateur production)

 

please go to: http://homepage.mac.com/johnmbowen/ and look at the movie 2005 136 Westwater.

 

 

 

This summer my Troop and Crew 136 did a whitewater trip to Westwater Canyon, using our own boats, boatmen and crew. We opened it to some fathers and aunts as well (no moms this time) as well as some adult kayakers for safety. This was a high water year in the Rockies and since we had some new kids that had to be trained, and lost several of our older ones to summer jobs, we had only one Scout to run his own boat.

 

We did start the summer with a new SM, only to have him have to resign when he finished graduate school!

 

Prior to the Westwater trip we did training on the Cache Le Poudre river, where one of our ASMs is a professional river guide, to get the boys in shape to paddle the more severe water of Westwater, the next weekend. Unfortunately, we lost two more of our more experienced boys to 4H as well. All the boys were trained in self rescue, and in boat based rescue, as well as flip drills all during our usual swim test.

 

That next weekend, with only 3 boys left, we went through the flatwater section upstream of Westwater called Ruby Horsethief where the boys could spend some time learning to run their boats themselves, as well as just having some plain wet fun (including 'adolescent riverine warfare'). We got to camp once at the famous Black Rocks campsites where the Vishnu Schist pokes up outside of the Grand Canyon, and after the Westwater Canyon section we got to camp there as well at the bottom of the big rapids.

 

Westwater has some of the largest rapids on the upper sections of the Colorado, and are easy to get permits for (lucky for us). Our one experienced Scout, Justin now 16 who had rowed this section last year as well at lower levels, rode on my boat which was heavy laden as a cargo boat, and ran most of the big rapids with the exception of Funnel Falls and Skull Rapid. I like to run the big ones too, and was feeling left out. The other Scouts/Crew stayed in the paddle boat which was rigged with a stern mount oar frame, again for safety.

 

After running Little Deloris Rapid at the beginning of what I called "the screaming mile" which is the 2-3 mile section with the largest rapids, as well as several of the big rapids, I conned Justin into letting me row too. Though we were the lead boat, I didn't exactly know where we were as at the 17800 cfs level, some of the rapids tailed into the next. I wasn't too worried as I have run Westwater many times before and could recognize the largest rapid, Skull, when I saw it. But, I didn't realize that we had gone through the mostly washed out Funnel Falls when I saw that we were actually passing the scout point for Skull Rapid some thirty yards ahead!

 

You must run Skull on the left in order not to go through the big hydraulic in Skull which then lands you on the "Rock of Shock" with the potential of flipping and/or being sucked into the "Room of Doom." Well, I was on river left and had to make a wild dash with a heavy boat to far right just above the gaping maw of Skull Hole itself (in a wild panic). I dropped over the guard rocks on the left which appeared like an eight foot deep waterfall, but was caught by the v shaped lateral wave that pulled me toward the Rock of Shock! I cranked my stern hard left and pulled back like mad all the way up onto the Rock! I thought that I put some 20 strokes in during those perhaps five seconds, screaming at the top of my lungs (and no doubt scaring Justin who was riding behind me). We slid up on the huge pillow on the Rock of Shock, closer than I have ever wanted to be, and slid slowly (to me) off to the left where I finally eddied out, huffing and puffing.

 

That was when Justin looked at me with concern and said, "Are you going to have a heart attack?" (Damn kid)

 

I let him row the rest of the rapids. Unfortunately I ran out of video batteries and didn't get that on film.

 

Obviously, we couldn't do this kind of trip if we were not experienced. However, the other ASM/Crew advisor and I are both professional boatmen and the father that ran the other raft is one of my trainee guides as well. Our kayakers, though pretty experienced actually went in the paddle boat with the other three scouts. With the proper experience, as well as extensive planning, careful and constant training of the kids and lots of non-scout practice time for us adults, such high end trips are possible. The advantage to the Scouts that participate is that they can see what it takes to put such a trip together, and shows them that if they train well, learning the proper technical skills in addition to the basic Scouting skills, they also can do these kind of things for themselves. (As proof, you can see them on last years trip running their own boats on the easier tourist run on the Snake River near Jackson, WY).

 

We still need a new SM though.

 

Now we have to do the hard stuff - Fundraising - which we are not good at.

JB