- Make complete and satisfactory plans for the trip, including the possibilities of advancement.
- Cover the trail or canoe or boat route of not less than 50 consecutive miles, take a minimum of 5 consecutive days to complete the trip without the aid of motors.
- During the time on the trail or waterway, complete a minimum of 10 hours each of group work on projects to improve the trail, springs, campsite, portage or area. If after checking with recognized authorities, it is not possible to complete 10 hours each of group work on the tgrail, a similar project may be done in the unit's home area.
- Unit or tour leader must then file a 50 Miler Award application with the local council service center.
During our week we met all of the requirement except #3 because the forest service and others we tried to arrange a work project with were not responsive to our requests. Forunately we can go back and do trail work at another time. Here is a summary of what we did each day:
Monday Jun 13, 2011 - (Miles 12.1) We got off in good time and drove up to where our base camp was going to be. Base camp was located off FR751B near Blue Ridge Reservoir. We started out by hiking down the forest road to where the Arizona Trail meets FR751 and then down the Arizona Trail to where it leads down the steep walls of the canyon that holds Blue Ridge Reservoir. At the bottom of the canyon that holds Blue Ridge Reservoir. At the bottom of the canyon the boys wanted to hike up the lake bed to where the water was and there were some interesting things to see on the way. Heading up the steep slope on the other side of the lake was pretty tough but we had a geocache to find and this was the way to it. The top of the slope gave way to a road which we hiked down until the Arizona Trail left the road. A mile or so down the trail we came to where our GPS showed the geocache as being but it was hidden fairly well. Jacob's keen eye finally spotted it and we had our first find. The hike was now only half over and returning along the Az Trail was especially difficult when climbing out of the lake gorge on the south side. The first ones back to camp made it there around 5 pm. The evening campfire included skits by the boys, The Cowboy Fireman song by Bro. Selin, and some Robert Service poetry (The Cremation of Sam McGee, Blasphemous Bill, and Bessie's Boil).
Tuesday June 14, 2011 - (Miles = 15.0, Total Miles = 27.1) Tuesday was bike ride day and we took a 15 mile bike loop that first brought us over to the fire lookout tower in the area. When we arrived, we ate a trail breakfast and then climbed up the lookout tower and the fire spotter in the tower gave us a nice overview of what she does and how she spots the fires. The view was wonderful and we got a good look at the Doppler Radar Weather Tower. She gave each of us a small Smokey the Bear keychain and afterwards we found a geocache that was close by. C.J. spotted this one. Most of the bike ride was fairly flat or downhill until the last few miles which involved recovering all the elevation that we had biven up to that point. These last miles were torture and Bro. Selin ended up calling the climb "Heart Attack Hill". The boys dubbed it "Moqui Mountain" since the lookout ranger told them that she thought "Moqui" meant "Death". Later in the afternoon Jim Degiuli showed up and brought some sports equipment and potato guns that the boys enjoyed.
Wednesday June 15, 2011 - (Miles = 8.5, Total Miles = 35.6) Wednesday we decided to take advantage of the bicycles and do some more geocaching. We ended up riding 8.5 miles and of the two geocaches we looked for, we only found one. The one we found was over by the Doppler Weather Radar Tower previously mentioned and it was a puzzle that needed to be solved in order to get the proper coordinates of the hide. C.J. and both Hadleys were adept at doing the math and solving the puzzle, and again it was Jacob with the good spotting eyes who discovered the cache. Bro. Irv Gehris came up around noon along with Jimmy Tidwell to give the rifle shooting merit badge class in the afternoon. all of the boys qualified with their shooting. In the evening we had another "lanterside" (since there were fire restrictions in effect) and Bro. Selin held a "moon ceremony". Unfortunately, none of the boys caught on to the secret and they were not able to draw any "good moons". Maybe next time.
Thursday June 16, 2011 - (Miles = 11.0, Total Miles = 46.6) Today was canoeing day. Bro. Steve Smith hauled the canoes up to camp in the morning and Ryan Cole accompanied him. The boys and leaders hiked the 3.7 miles down to the lake and shortly after arriving the canoes showed up at the boat ramp. We put the canoes in the water and Bro. Degiuli and his son had a canoe with a huge crack in the side. It was taking in water pretty fast so Bro. Selin gave them his canoe and he used duct tape to repair the crack in the canoe. This repair was only temporary and about a mile down the lake he had to tie up his canoe on the shore and get in as a third person in another canoe. The wind was brutal at times but when it was at your back it was nice. Bro. Cole and Isaiah seemed to be expert canoeists. The lake was crowded with people and we saw several groups on the water and camping on the shore. At lunch time we pulled into a cove and had a trail lunch. The spot was somewhat muddy and stinky so some of the boys opted to wait to eat until we got somewhere that wasn't so smelly. On the way back tot he launching ramp we ran into Bro. Owens and Bro. Moore who had borrowed a canoe from one of the girls camps and were searching for us. There was a geocache we wanted to try for but it was on the other end of the lake and we ran out of time and weren't able to get over there. The hike back was all uphill but we made it without too much of a problem. In the evening Bro. Moore gave a nice thought about being "Real Men" and then we played Big Bootie. Isaiah did very well at the game but didnt' end up being Big Bootine at the end of the game.
Friday June 17, 2011 - (Miles = 3.4, Total Miles = 50) We only had a short distance to complete the 50 miles so we explored a small forest road that ran by the campsite. We hiked to the end of the road and it was just what we needed to complete our 50 miles. The rest of the day was spent working on Geocaching merit badge requirements. The closing "lanternside" included a short testimony meeting after playing Big Bootie again.
Saturday June 18, 2001 - Total miles = 50. Everyone was up fairly early and camp was packed up by 8:30. The boys packed up and headed to Dairy Queen to collect on an offer from Bro. Sharpe and Bro. Selin stayed at camp to wait for Bro. Wolfley to arrive to tow back down teh water trailer that Bro. Ring let us borrow. After one minor mishap with the water trailer (the hitch came off while it was being towed), we drove back to the valley without mishap.
Camp Attendees/Helpers:
Boys: C.J. Bingham, Jacob Degiuli, Isaiah Estrada, Braxton Hadley, Byron Hadley, Tyler Stone
Leaders: Ryan Cole, Jim Degiuli, Ryan Moore, Steve Owens, Doug Selin, Rob Sharpe, Ammon Wolfley
Volunteers: Irv Gehris, Dean Ring, Steve Smith, Jimmy Tidwell
Here are a few photos from the experience:
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