On January 16th, 23 people woke up extra early, 5 AM, and headed for Big Five. They were all headed to the Inyo National Forest for the annually planned snowshoeing trip. After their early wake up, they were faced with an almost six hour car drive to the trailhead. When they arrived there, they were met with beautiful skies and yes, lots of snow. The recent storms passing through California had deposited a huge amount of snow at Inyo. During the hike, several scouts had difficulty remaining upright, due to the awkward nature of the snowshoes. Everyone made it the short hike to camp, however, and soon the ordeal of setting up camp began. When setting up a snow camp, one has to clear the ground of snow where you plan to put your tent, and then build sort of trenches that connect them to other tents and the cooking area. However, this was very difficult due to the amazing amount of snow. There were some places where the snow apparently got up to six feet deep!
That evening, after several failed attempts to build snow caves to sleep in, the scout began to settle down and start dinner. They knew that it got dark early in that area, and once it did it would get cold. That night, due to proper planning, a campfire had been prepared in a deep snow pit. This helped the scouts keep warm, but many scouts went to bed with cold toes. The next morning, those who slept well woke up refreshed and those who didn’t only had a few hours of cold, uncomfortable sleep under their belts. This didn’t harm the enthusiasm that permeated the camp, and soon, despite the occasional grumpy and cold scout, the scouts packed up and headed back to the cars. Once the scouts were all packed in the cars and had taken off their heavy snow gear, the convoy set off back to Santa Barbara. They had one stop beforehand, however; all of the scouts and adult leaders headed to a nearby hot springs for a refreshing, warm dip before getting back on the long road to home.
Scouts In Attendance: Cooper B, Robby W, Jasper U, Kellen T, Owen S, Carter F, Nathan W, Vaugh F, Jeremiah S, Tyler W, Connor S, Alex R, Jonathann W, Logan B, Kaden R, Ben B.
Adults In Attendance: ASM Brown, ASM Schott, ASM Soga, ASM Pinner, ASM Weaklieam, Mr. Swider, Mr. Beckstrand.
