Troop 344

The Hawn State Park backpacking trip was a one-night, 9.5 mile backpacking trip on December 9th through 11th. On Friday night our crew left from LMS and, after an hour long drive, we arrived at Hawn State Park. Once we found our campsite, we pitched our tents, threw in our gear and called it a night. At some point in the night I woke up to the soft patter of rain on our tent’s rain fly, and got that feeling you get when you realize that tomorrow morning is probably going to be really wet. I promptly fell back asleep. In the morning I awoke to a rainstorm, and after about sitting in my tent for half an hour hoping for it to end, I threw on my rain gear and got out of the tent to start getting ready for the backpacking trip. After eating breakfast, my tent mates and I learned how not to take down our tent when it is raining, and our tent, as a result, got dripping wet, not only with water, but also with our lost dignity. Once all the tents were down, we started on the backpacking trip. Thankfully, about five minutes after we left, the rain let up allowing us to take off our rain layers and pack covers. After uneventfully hiking for three hours, we settled on a rocky outcrop and ate lunch. I, as always, ate the most delicious (and uncreative) sandwich money could buy in addition to some beef jerky (not the best that money could buy). After getting a much needed break and refilling our tum-tums, we set off in hopes for our campsite. As we hiked, all of us started to get a little more tired and achy, and after getting one to two miles out from the campsite, some of us were getting a little demoralized (and hungry). To combat this, we sang songs to keep us distracted, and, with this morale-booster, everyone made it to the campsite alive. First, we hurled out our crew gear on the forest floor. Then, my tent buddies and I set up our Soggy Tent™, and o’boy, couldn’t we wait to sleep in it! Finally, we set up our camp chairs next to the fire and prepared our meals. Our group was pretty tired after the hike though, so the after-dinner festivities left something to be desired (energy). Most of the group, including me, went back to their tents for the night. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out my Soggy TentTM had an in-build swimming pool. Noice! I swam a few laps around the pool (surprisingly spacious) and then called it a night. The next morning, our crew woke up, fixed breakfast, and took down camp, ready to get back to base camp. Once we finished up the hike with a mile or two of minimally exhausting hiking, we got back to base camp, practically running’ up that hill, running’ up that building’. Although I came home dirty, wet and smelly enough to give Pumba a run for his money, I still enjoyed the trip. This was definitely a learning experience, and I had a couple of epiphany moments. A: Bring more socks than you think you need. B: Don’t invest in Soggy TentTM, they are scams. C: As long as you go about your life with a good attitude, you can still have fun in miserable or demoralizing conditions.