[gss-content-box]This article was written by Jonathan Weakliem.[/gss-content-box]
On Saturday, July 19, 10 scouts, 14 adults (plus a friend of one of the adults), and a dog that we joked to be trek leader went on a hike to Montecito peak and back. It was a seven mile hike with a total elevation gain of 2,400 feet.
We met at the church at 4p.m. instead of Big 5, because it was a night hike. We split up into cars to carpool to the Cold Springs Trailhead, where we started our hike at about 5 pm.
We had a great view on the way up, taking breaks at places like fire roads, ideal rocks for sitting on, and the Sam Soga tree. The Sam Soga tree is a sycamore near the peak. The weather was mostly clear, except for some clouds covering the sunset.
On the last hundred yards, the path grew very steep and was a challenge to climb. I had hiking sticks, but many people didn’t. It must have been even harder for them!
When we got to the top at 7p.m., the scouts settled down for dinner near some rocks, while the adults gathered in a little space about 20 yards away to eat. Before we left, we did a sweep to pick up trash.
After about an hour, we started to head back down. At first, we didn’t need to use flashlights, but soon we all had to turn them on as the sun started to set. We saw lots of little scorpions, most people seeing two or three, but I saw seven. They were all pretty small and I probably wouldn’t have seen them if the people in front didn’t spot them. I even saw two fighting until one ran to the middle of the path.
It took two hours to get up to the peak, and about the same time to get back down. Everyone was tired by the time we got to the cars, so we drove back to the church and everyone went home.
The hike was attended by the following scouts: Jarrison B., Max J., Timmy H., Ryan M., Wyatt S., Jonathan W., Jeremiah S., Logan B., Connor S., and Kellen T. These 14 adults joined us: Mr. Johnson, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Baird, Mr. Brown, Mr. Mintzer, Mr. Teng, Mr. Ball, Mr. Beckstrand, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Swider, Mr. Tressler, and Mr. Weakliem. And finally, our one and only dog, Luke Baird.
