Saturday

The breakfast menu consisted of sausage biscuits and scrambled eggs.  Others chose chocolate pancakes.

The colors were posted early Saturday morning.  Then a group decided to embark on a hike to the other side of Blackhawk Lake.  Because hunting season had opened, scouts wore bright orange apparel.

The photo at the right shows a nest that a scout spotted.   

Our first mile was a brutal hike. Thick brush & thorn bushes made getting to the main trail a difficult task.

Our SPL photographed the hikers from a vacant deer hunters nest.

Later Saturday morning, the hikers reached the bridge, which is where the actual path began.

As the crow flies, it would be a four mile hike around Blackhawk Lake.  But we are not crows.  We encountered more hills and switchbacks than anticipated.  Blackhawk Lake's own Ranger Dan said that the hike around the lake is about eight miles.  (The path began a mile away from our campsite.  Add that to the eight miles around the lake, well, that's a long hike!)

Being on a tight schedule, we decided against completing the whole loop around the lake.  The others headed over to pick us up.

Mr. Maude did decide to complete the loop.  He arrived back at camp much later on.

For lunch we cooked hot dogs over the fire and had macaroni & cheese.  A few opted for grilled cheese.  Having plenty of hot food and hot chocolate is a welcome sensation on a cold windy day.

It started pouring after lunch.  For a while, strong wind gusts, thunder and lightning accompanied a very strong rain.  Some scouts headed back to their tents to play cards or read.  Others went into Mel's home to play chess next to the wood burning stove.  The rain slowed enough to enjoy a nice hot pasta dinner with garlic toast.  For dessert the scouts gobbled up several trays of very delicious chocolate brownies that had been sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Because of the rain, our Flag Ceremony Leader postponed the flag disposal ceremony until morning.

One tent did not seem to repel heavy rains very well.  Mr. Brunton helped several scouts move to a nice clean dry tent during a heavy downpour..

Heavy rains and gusty winds continued throughout the night.

Please use the back arrow of your browser.  Updated on 04/25/2007 10:27 PM