you'll never believe who I ran into hiki ng...

“Trip report soon to come!

Some of the highlights(In no particular order): Running into Sassafrass and Wolfeyes, Sleeping with 50 boyscouts, and running into Blister. :)”

“You should be more careful next time.”

“small world ain't it!”

“I am convinced everyone must of been out in those woods.....Firecrackers are NOT cool in the backwoods >:(”

“Sassafrass and Wolfeyes sleeping with 50 boyscouts....you little devils, you.”

“no, sassafrass and wolfeyes passed up the opportunity to sleep with the inconsiderate little brats! :) Boy did mike give them boys an education..I am sure they had never heard so much cursing in thier lives when they nearly lit our tent on fire!!”

“It was great to finally meet you, Free25! You have been taking good care of CMB, I must say. He looked real good, and Sassafras and I retold the story of the cow eating the plastic to CowPatty. What a riot! Sorry to hear you had the 50 scouts near you. We heard the firecrackers but didn't hear the 50 scouts. Thank God! Hope to meet up with you all again sometime this year!”

“Will there be 100 little eyes staring up from the creek waters next time we go? LOL!”

“Forgive me...I must have missed a comma somewhere....

After beating a few of the kids, I would have had to follow up on who ever was acting scoutmaster. I hope mike had a nice little talk with the, excuse me, adults.”

“HAHAHA!!! It was close wolfeyes...but I dont blame the boys..I blame the leaders more. It was almost sad how they were lecturing on LNT to them and then let the boys one by one go poop by the only water source around and to washe the cook pots in the stream too.....Was very rude how they didnt even give us any privacy and camped right on top of us instead of moving further down the creak (AND there was PLENTY of room for them to camp down there) They just didnt give a damn.”

“mtsteve...I went to go talk to the leader...and all the adults were asleep...leaving the kids on thier own pretty much....”

“thats the kind of stuff that gives the Scouts a bad rep. Its the leaders fault.”

“Should have told them all of you were fresh out of prison and were in there for First Degree Murder.”

“well...I think karma will get them. I saw some of the kids when they were pumping water to drink getting the intake and outake hoses mixed up together....if they get Giardia maybe they will learn...”

“I didnt even have privacy to um...#&%!$ myself.I got up real early in hopes no boys were around to do my thing...when I was finishing I saw two of them...I shook my bum at them and shouted "Enjoying the veiw!?" Peepers!!”

“"thats the kind of stuff that gives the Scouts a bad rep. Its the leaders fault."

I know lots of scout leaders that are super with the kids.....and one or two that aren't. Fortunately, the good ones seem to be trying to "police" the others a bit.”

“It was great to finally meet you, Free25! You have been taking good care of CMB, I must say. He looked real good.

wolfeyes
09:41:54 PM
05/31/04

uh-oh......”

“ummmm . . . did it rain after I left on Sunday.”

“Where was yer spot, free?”

“Trip report???”

“Too bad you had a less-than-pleasant encounter with Boy Scouts. I've always been an avid supporter of scouting, being an Eagle Scout myself. Usually, only the more serious scouts make it this far into the backcountry, but every once in a while...

It seems like everyone has a "bad encounter with scouts" story these days. Tsk tsk tsk...”

“Ya it did rain ALOT!!!!!But it was fun to hike in.

Ya Nicole has been takeing care of me and its great she is by far the best thing that has ever happned to me.


The thing with the scouts was by far the most fuc#ed up thing that I ever ran into in 14 years of backpacking they acted like we were not even there.

I think Free is going to do a trip report.

8)”

“Now that was an interesting trip report.”

“Saturday, May 29th.

Mike and I met "Gforce" and "Kruger" at the Upper River Road Trailhead parking area and managed to squeeze our cars in amongst many other vehicles and a boyscout bus. Mike Immediately ran over to the scout leader and asked where they would be camping so that if possible we would know ahead of time and change our plans. The man just gave Mike a look and said "It's a big creek" and didn't give us a real answer. We could only pray they would not stop where we were. Kruger is a new member to the club and so I was very glad to meet him. On first impression he seemed very friendly and eager to hit the trail. I wondered how he would manage with his pack- overloaded with a giant Coleman 3-4 person palace and a large sleeping bag strapped to the outside of his pack. We got organized, loaded ourselves up and hit the trail.

Immediately we had to hike up one pretty steep hill and then another more gradually graded one.
"The worst one is just up ahead" GForce informed Kruger and I.
"But I thought you said the two worst hills were the ones we just did..." Replied I in horror.
"Nope, but you have a little ways to go to get to it."
"Bring it on!"
Mike found a tiny gopher snake in some rotting logs on the trail. It couldn't of been more then a few days old. I snapped a picture of it in Kruger's hand before we let it go and it quickly disappeared into the leaves on the ground.
After the third mean hill which did not seem as bad as the first, we came to a little spur trail up to Red Hill Lookout, the highest point of our trip, about 1,200 feet in elevation. I dropped my pack and ran up the hill With Kruger and Gforce to see the view. Kruger stayed halfway up looking through his binoculars birdwatching. I followed Gforce to the top where he had found a fawn laying in the ferns right by the trail and unmisable. I could reach out and touch it if I had wanted to. Instead I just took a picture and went down the hill to tell Kruger and Mike so they could get a look at it. Mike thought it was probably sick but I figured it was just doing what fawns do, hide and be still.

On the NCT again I lingered in the back of the group and took my time. I spotted some unblooming trilliums and looked around for more and that is how the first lady-slipper orchid caught my attention, hidden behind a tree. I was thrilled to see this rare beauty and as soon as I caught up to the others I told them about it.

At a bend in the trail, Kruger, an avid bird-watcher and a very interesting fellow with lots of adventures all over the world to talk about, spotted a Scarlet Tanager in a tree. He showed it to me since I had never seen one before. So bright and colorful! We talked a lot about birds then for a while and Mike and Gforce went on down the trail ahead of us. Continuing on Kruger and I ran into "Sassafrass" and "Wolfeyes", people I have never met before from thebackpacker.com forums. They recognized me from a picture and introduced themselves. I am glad to of met them, they seemed very nice. They ran up ahead to Mike and Gforce to scare them and we all got pictures of the group together on the trail. We were right near our camp for the night then and invited them to camp with us however they were going to the Manistee river side to meet their friend "Cowpatty".

We made camp in a large planted pine grove by Edington Creek and relaxed for a while, starting a nice warm fire to sit around. Gforce roasted some wieners and invited everyone to share. They were good... 3-4 hours later we watched a large group of scouts come down off the hill and proceed to set up camp and tromp through our tent area to get water. We hoped that was the extent of them. Nope. Another group came down, then one more until there were about 50 scouts camping right on top of us. Suddenly it didn't feel like we were out in the backcountry any more. Our solitude was broken. We could not hear the birds or the creek. We were annoyed to say the least even more when some of the boys decided to build a fire right next to Mike's and mine tent. I got up and asked to speak to someone in charge about this and all the adults were already asleep so one of the more responsible boys went over to ask them to move. The boys got smart and Mike gave them an earful. They did eventually move the fire, but moved it right next to Kruger's tent.

On the side, I usually don't have a beef with boyscouts in the backcountry, so long as they are responsible about it. We felt the leaders were at fault here. They were extremely rude and inconsiderate for the most part. What gets me the most is their backcountry ethics. One leader had been telling them to LNT(Leave no trace). Why then were the boys all pooping by the water source? Why were they washing their dishes there? And why, if they were practicing LNT would they have such a large group there in the first place?

By the stream Mike found jack-In-The-Pulpit (Probably all trampled now by boys) and showed them to me since I had never before seen them. A very interesting plant that keeps its flower all year until frost. That night I wrote a little poem about the creek. It's Kind of hokey but fun anyway.

Crystal clear water flows
Over shiny colored pebbles it goes,
Through green grassy verdant woods
Singing its song of secret words.
Rushing to some far destination
It's a restless but never weary creation.
It's voice like wood elves laughing
Is music, and my thirsty ears are drinking.

I told mike in the tent while we were trying to sleep amongst yelling boys and fire-crackers somewhere in the woods that never again will we go backpacking on memorial day weekend.

Sunday, May 30th.

The morning sun filtered through the pines decorating the ground in long bright stripes of light. I had to poop and couldn't hold it any longer and found a tree, hoping the boys would still be sleeping and not wandering around. When I was nearly through I turned and saw two of them watching. PEEPERS! I thought about shaking my hinny at them and embarrassing them by yelling loud enough to wake their whole camp. I should of, but didn't.

We actually got started after the boyscouts did. They were heading out off the trail today and would not be in our way again. We were thrilled. It was sunny and we took a long time to pack just enjoying it.

We started on the trail and crossed over to the Manistee River Trail side. Kruger showed me several birds along the hike I had never seen before through his binoculars- Orchard oriel, fox sparrow, indigo bunting and american red stripe. We crossed a big suspension bridge that left me dizzy and took a break on the otherside watching large groups of campers fishing and a couple of men with bikes on the no-bikes-allowed trail that was clearly marked. Gforce tried to freak them out by saying "Hey be careful, there is a ranger ahead who will ticket you if he sees your bikes." They didn't care and went on. There were a lot more wildflowers on the Manatee River Trail side and more amazing views along bluffs over looking the river. We saw lots of orange indian paintbrush, 2 kinds of orchids, 3 types of violets, trillium, bush honeysuckle, garlic mustard, marsh marigold and others. We crossed lots of streams, all bridged, and saw some small waterfalls then ran into another from thebackpacker.com named "Blister" who was backpacking with his wife and kid.

When we got to camp we had to say goodbye to Gforce, who had family obligations so he hiked on back to the car instead of staying one more night. We made camp by the bridge near Slagle creek and thankfully we were alone. During the night it thundered and rained off and on.

Monday, May 31st.

I woke up to clouds and rain. I clothed myself in rainpants and jacket and went exploring while everyone else hid out in their tents. I munched on an energy bar and watched the creek from the middle of the bridge and thought how pretty the diffused light made the green stand out. I felt as if I was back in the PNW again with the clear running water, soaked conifers, and the damp mist. I almost expected to see elk on the banks and salmon swimming upstream. Logs in the water had become island gardens supporting wildflowers and ferns. One log was covered with blooming purple violets.

Ah but I must leave this place. Though we had ups and downs on this trip I feel it has been a very positive experience. I have learned a lot from my new friend Kruger who I would recommend anyone to go hiking with. He was a kind and considerate hiker who is very attuned to the natural world around him and a strong environmentalist who tries to do his part in the world.

We packed up our gear in a small break in the rain and hurried out. The woods were so dark from the clouds that in some places I thought I would need to get my headlamp out. It began pouring on us soon after we hit the trail and continued all the way to the cars. The trail filled up with water and became rivers themselves, bridges were slick and mud was thick. We had about a mile of roadwalking once we left the trail and Kruger and I got offered a ride to our cars by another couple of backpackers. We said no thank you, and continued on, mike was way ahead (as usual). We changed out of soggy clothes and fought hordes of mosquitos. I was mauled by them, YIKES. 50 mosquitos got into the car with us as we said goodbye to Kruger.”

“ahhh, they saw you going to the bathroom? that sucks!!”

“no kidding!!!”

“I rally cant complain though, it was beautiful the rest of our time out there and it felt good to get out. :)”

“good! :-)”

“Geez, I really hate to hear about Troops and their leaders who act like that. The rest of us Scouters have to work super hard to overcome the crappy image they give the rest of us.

I'm sorry they were so rude.

Nice report. Photos soon?”

“Great report, Free!!

Last weekend I saw two of the pink lady slippers. What great flowers. If it hadn't been raining so much, I would have taken a picture. I also saw a scarlet tanager, a first for me. Sounds like you guys had a great trip except for the Scouts. But now you have the memory and the story. I'm looking forward to meeting Kruger. Always love to learn from someone who knows birds.”

“Like i said I usually dont mind them and not all the boys were so bad. A few tried to make peace with us in the morning by inviting us to their sunday sermon. It did make me wonder why such a large group would stay in the backcountry instead of finding a group camp ground.”

“I wondered where all those Scouts were gonna camp. It literally was a schoolbus full of them, I saw their bus pulling out on Sunday. The leaders looked like they were done and ready for bed when they passed me near site #1 on the MRT side.
Wolfeyes and I ended up camping there on half the site (a man and his son were on the other half, loads of room between us - no red neck rapists!) and CowPatty did make it in to camp with us around 8pm so I'm glad we stuck with our plan.

It was cool to meet you Free25 and to see CMB and Gforce!”

“It was cool meeting you guys too! I wished we could of hiked with you and wolfeyes some :)

Did you guys happen to run into blister and his family? (Wife and kid) who were backpacking on the MRT.”

“Nope, I was looking for a guy with wife and kid too, they must've been camped by the time we passed them up or vice versa.

We'll catch a trip with you and Mike sometime. Don't get out as much as we used to because of our daughter but we will sometime.”

“Now that was an interesting trip report!

and Free was even dabbling in alittle wilderness poetry. What's next, Haiku???

When it comes to an outdoor privy, the less walls the better. I like to take in a good view when I'm doin' my business!”

“Nice trip report, nice thread! Nice meeting you and Mike and Kruger and seeing Gforce again. Sorry I missed Sass and Wolfeyes - probably still making pancakes when you walked by our camp.

You might be dismayed to know that we (wife, kid, and myself) camped in those same pines the next night and had the place to ourselves. There were four camps crowded in around where the trail crosses the creek, but we couldn't hear them. LNC was pretty well followed, except for a few matchsticks you couldn't tell there were 50 people there the night before. A light rain ended and we had a nice fire.

I'll do my part to restore the image of the boy scouts (my son is one). Next year, I anticipate being his troop's backpacking leader.”

“Good report, Free. Also, good to see CMB is alive and well. Last month I was wondering what happened to TT's most energetic hiker.

I've been lucky and never had bad "neighbors" in the backcountry. Campgrounds are a whole 'nother story, of course. :)”

“K, I found the trip report. Good one! Yeah, Free, I think your should start on haiku soon, like Bobo suggested. LOL!

Did someone say Gforce had more than one wiener to roast? hmmmmmm... And I suppose I need to look at the photos first before I ask that question of trips with Gforce or Prosecutor along. LOL!”

“I always heard that Gary Galore was some freak of nature!!!


LOLOLOL!!!”

“haiku sucks!!! :P”