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Wyatt and I had a great short backpacking trip at Palmer Lake with our Troop. Here are a few photos snapped by a co-leader.
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Wyatt made it home today about lunch time from a week long stay at Peacefull Valley Boy Scout camp.  Jason and I wondered if we would get a 3 sentence explanation on how is week went.  Well we were wrong.  He couldn’t stop talking about it.  He had a fantastic time.  He earned 3 merit badges, and began working on a fourth.  The fourth one will take him a few months to complete the requirements.  Last night Stryder, Chloe, Olivia and I were able to go out to the camp for the Family Campfire Program. ( Jason had to work)  Since Wyatt didn’t attend last summer we didn’t know what to expect.  They fed us dinner, had a closing flag ceremony, and then the campfire program where the Scouts sang, and preformed skits.  It was so fun.  Wyatt was in a skit that was by far the funniest!  (Thanks to Wyatt.  He is such a clown)  He definately wants to attend next year.  That is always a good sign that he had a good time.  I took a few pictures.  Olivia sat with Wyatt and his Scout buddies during the campfire program, and she loved it!

Well this weekend the skeleton crew of the Savage Gulf Posse went on their annual camping trip. Andy, Chris, Ric, and I all made it to camp by evening of Friday. This weekend was definitely the worst weather we had, as nearly the entire day Saturday was in the rain, or a rainy drizzle. We did manage to keep spirits up and have a great time, and got to explore the Red River Gorge which is just a spectacular area. Because of the rain, I didn’t get many photos taken, but the few can be found here. All made it back safely, and we can’t wait till next year.
The Pics are here

Thursday after school Chloe and I left for a father-daughter camping adventure. With it being so late in the season, many of the roads to reach many of the trailheads were closed, or too far to make it before dusk. For this reason our destination on this trip was Mt. Bierstadt We made through Guanella pass early enough to stop and admire the view before heading on to find a place to pitch camp. Over the pass and down into the valley we found some great disbursed camping spots and decided on one. Being so late in the year we saw nobody during the evening, and only heard a few automobiles pass through the area. We spent the evening enjoying some backpacking instant food and coco around the fire. Another event of note is that Chloe lost another tooth, and seemed quite relieved to have it gone. As the stars came out we both headed to the tent for some rest. Chloe was fine, but I froze over the night. I had only packed my 40 degree sleeping bag and quite honestly was not prepared for the temperature to drop below the freezing point. Lesson learned, and I should know better anyway.

Early the next morning we rose, quickly packed up camp and headed back up to the pass. This Mountain is the first real 14er that we have attempted to summit so we were quite unsure of how it would be like. It was cold, but not windy when we stared out about 7am. As we gained elevation the thinner air became quite apparent, but we headed on. Chloe did a fantastic job of keeping up, and led the way most of the way up. By mid morning the sun was finally over the summit so we were in sunlight, but the wind had picked up quite a bit. It became apparent that we were not going to make it to the top, but we pushed on for a bit more and ended up turning around 13k feet we made the decision to turn back. Perhaps next year we will make it to the summit, but for now we will just have to look forward to the next attempt. We took a few photos. photos

The Fall Campout for the Pack went well and we had a great time. Unlike last year’s spring campout the weather was fantastic. It was the first time we had ever been to Cherry Creek State Park and we had a fantastic time there. The camping facilities are great, and the only downside being it’s right in the middle of Denver so light pollution and noise is a bit more than other parks. Photos here

We made our trek east for High Country Bus Festival.

Trip report can be found here

Photos are here:

We made it back with no problems at a decent clip. I have put photos of the trip up and they can be found below.

Over the past week we spent time in the First National Park of the US. The trip was fantastic and expect photos to follow, we are still on the road back home.

Troop 88 offered a family camp/climbing excursion to Vedauwoo, WY this weekend, so we jumped at the chance to do a camping shakedown before the season really got going. We all had a fantastic time and got a chance to relax for a weekend. As a family camp Wyatt was patrol leader for his family who formed a patrol. I’m sure it was tough making the calls and telling his siblings what to do, but he did just fine. Anyway some photos from the trip can be found below.

The Savage group once again made our yearly trip into the woods of Eastern TN,Western NC. This time heading to find the community of Lost Cove. Friday evening was spend waiting for all to arrive at the hostel where we stayed Friday night. The next morning we all set out traveling down the railroad tracks to the know trailhead heading up into the past. Many hours later we were greeted with our first view of the existence of a former community. Lost Cove had been inhabited from the late 1800 all the way till the 1960′s when the last of the families moved away. All that remains now is a small collection of fallen houses, most with the chimney still intact. Our exploring found two standing structures which certainly were a bit eery. The remainder of the weekend was spend exploring and trying to imagine what it might have been like in the peak of it’s community.