Playground Hike
by Jonathan Weakliem
On June 6, 2015, 8 scouts and 7 adults met at Big 5 at 7:00 a.m. for the playground dayhike. Unlike most troop 26 hikes (which are at least 7 miles long), this was a very short hike of half a mile. Soon the cars were loaded up and we headed to the trailhead.
At the trailhead, Logan was elected trek leader. It was a very small trail, and went downhill first (which doesn’t happen very often). The trail could have been in better condition. It was very narrow, so we hiked in single file. sometimes we had a view of our surroundings, and other times we were hiking between hedges and shrubs.
After about 20 minutes of hiking, we made it to the playground. on a huge flat boulder, everyone gathered around and Mr. Pinner gave us a safety talk. Once that was done, the scouts split into 2 teams of 4. One team was the Super Kitties, and the second group was the Robo Pups. We learned how far we could go, got a walkie talkie, and went of to explore the playground.
The playground is huge. the groups separated after about 2 minutes, and soon we were deciding where to go. Everyone wanted to find the secret cave Mr. Pinner had told us about (in the end, nobody did), so both groups eventually headed South, into the playground.
It was slow going. Sometimes we had to jump from, slide down, climb up, or squeeze between boulders. While we didn’t know it for quite some time, most of the adults made a group and went to explore. Eventually both groups came across The Narrows. It’s like a small ravine with tiny tunnels to crawl through. The bottom of it was 20-30 feet below the general level of boulders, so all the groups had to go down a slanted rock, jump down to a small boulder, and slide into The Narrows.
Soon after the Super Kitties went through The Narrows we climbed up a few rocks and took a break on a large rock. A few minutes later, the Robo Pups joined us. After the break we headed back to the large rock we started on and had lunch. We also had some delicious friendship bread made by Mrs. Soga. After a course on orienteering, we packed up our lunch and headed back to the cars.
The hike back was like the hike up. Short, overgrown, and easy. Soon we were back at the cars, heading home after an amazing outing.
The trip was attended by the following scouts: 8 and adults: 7
Scouts:
Connor A., David G., Kellen T., Nicolis I., Logan B., Wyatt S.Jasper U., and Jonathan W. (7-scouts and 1-friend)
Adults:
Mr. Spencer, Mr. Beckstrand, Mr. Tressler, Mr. Inglehart.
Assistant Scoutmasters; Mr. Pinner, Mr. Weakliem, Mr. Soga.
