5/25/14 - Standing Indian Day 2 Update

Bradley and Mr. Newton - Albert Mtn Fire Tower

Bradley - Albert Mtn Fire Tower

Ben and Mr Roeser - Albert Mtn Fire Tower

Mr Beaullieu - Hanging Bear Bag

Bradley

‎We knew that Sunday was going to be a long day, but it turned out to be even longer than anticipated. Following a morning devotion by our crew chaplain, Sean Larsen, we started hiking around 8:30 on Sunday morning. The plan was to hike about 10 miles on the AT to just past Albert Mountain. When we arrived at that campsite, it had been closed for rejuvenation and was relocated another 2 miles down the trail. This particular section was fairly steep with very little room to move left or right off of the trail so nowhere to create our own campsite. We were also in the middle of a pretty good rain storm. 

We arrived at the relocated campsite about an hour or so later and found that there wasn't any room for our tents. There was a new AT shelter there that already had occupants.   ‎We discussed our options with the crew and decided to hike the remaining 3 miles that afternoon and come off the trail early. 

The final 3 miles proved to be quite a challenge. Everyone was pretty tired after the first 12 miles and with the rain the hiking became technical in nature. We arrived at the end of our trip at about 5:30 and made it back to Chestnut Ridge Christian Church about 9:30 pm. 

The highlight of the day was climbing to the summit of Albert Mountain. If you have a chance do a google search for Albert Mountain Fire Tower and read about the history which is really interesting.   All of the scouts and adults said that the climb up to the summit was possibly the most difficult climb they had done with a fully loaded backpack.   Basically, the climb was very steep with portions done scaling the rock face. Getting to the summit though was well worth the effort. Our visit at the summit was cut short though due to the thunder and lightning that started to roll in when we were at about the half way mark up to the top. 

In summary, we hiked 9 + miles on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday for a total of 24 +. We had some sore feet, knees, and a couple blisters, but all in all everyone did very well. The training hikes we've been doing since January have made a substantial difference in our preparedness for Philmont. 

I've attached a couple more pictures taken with my phone. Both Mr Newton and Mr Beaullieu have pictures as well and we will consolidate and get them out to everyone. You will notice that the pictures on Albert Mtn look dark and this is because of the thunderstorm cloud that had rolled in while we were there. 

Great job everyone. 

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.