Hill Country State Natural area. Long post ...Page 1

[Weekender]

We asked the boys to show up at 5pm so we could leave at 6. Of course, some of them took it right to the last minute. At 6:10 We pulle dout of San Angelo with two suburbans loaded with backpacks. 3 hours 10 minutes and 3 bathroom breaks later we pulled into Hill Country State Natural Area. It was almost 9:30 and the HQ was closed so we filled out a registration form and headed for the equestrian trailhead campsite we had been told to use for the first night.

 

The boys set up the tents and helped our visiting webelos' dad get his tent up. We started a fire in the fire ring and were up until about 11:30.

 

Saturday morning started around 7:30. Making breakfast, cleaning up, and breaking camp took till about 9:30. We Checked in with HQ and checked trail conditions and around 10:00 we were ready to hit the trail. One of the dads I had with me wasn't sure his knees would make the trip so we arranged for the camp host to take him and all our extra water to our next campsite. The lady who ran the camp and the camp host were both very nice and very helpful.

 

The rest of us (myself, one other dad, and 8 scouts) hit the trail about 10:00. I started them off with a fairly steep ascent and when we reached the top we stopped and adjusted everyones pack that needed it. About 30 minutes of hiking brought us to the base of an Overlook trail. We dropped our packs at the base and headed up to the overlook. My scout who has the toughest time keeping up with hikes said to me on the way up, "I'm really glad I came on this one...this is pretty cool."

 

Back at the base we took a break to let the boys get drinks and some trail snack and to get rid of any heavy clothes left from the start of the hike. Then we were back at it. At the 2.5 mile mark we stopped for lunch. We found a small grassy knoll with shade and broken sunlight. It was about 70 degrees. Could have asked for better! Lunch was crackers, cheese and summer sausage for most of us. The boys had paired or threed up for meals and the adults ate together. After lunch we had another mile plus a little to go to get to camp. By the way, HCSNA has some of the best marked trails Ive seen. Only had one or two times when we had to work to figure out exactly where we were.

 

When we reached camp our third adult had already gathered some wood and started a fire and once we were in camp he got to leave and check out some of the surroundings. The rest of the after for the scouts was exploration time. We set some limits on where they could go and made sure they only went out in groups but they were on their own. After the sun went down the adults and a few of the boys hung out around the fire and some of the boys played a few games of fox and hounds.

 

 

[Weekender]

Sunday morning came around 7:30. Breakfast for he adults was biscuits and gravy. After breakfast we talked to the boys about lightening their load for backpacking. We had seen several larger than necessary flashlights, etc. We had each boy pull out all his gear and made suggestions on things we thought could make life easier for them. And, yes, we did turn up some contraband that we are dealing with. We got the camp cleaned up and policed and hit the trail around 9:30 or quarter to 10. We picked a different 3.5 trail for our trip out and again, the boys said they really enjoyed the trail time. We arrived at our vehicles almost exactly at noon. After a couple minutes to recuperate we had our church service. Planning to be flexible we discussed the importance of making plans, the importance of listening to God and being ready to change plans if it is His will, and the Fact that God has plans for each of our lives that we can find if we will only look and listen.

 

After church we piled in the suburbans and headed for home. We stopped in Junction TX at a place called Lums BBQ and each had an excellent BBQ Brisket sandwich. We arrived back in San Angelo around 4:00 pm Sunday, 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

IT WAS A GREAT TRIP.

 

Adult Menu:

Saturday Breakfast:

Breakfast Burittos (egg and precooked sausage in a tortilla with Taco bell hot sauce)

Saturday Lunch:

Summer Sausage, cheese, crackers, peanuts

Saturday Dinner:

Broccoli and Cheese Rice-O-Roni with Precooked Sausage and a loaf of French bread

Sunday Breakfast:

Biscuits and gravy (Again, made with precooked sausage, my cardiologist would probably blow a gasket if he only knew.

 

Tips:

1) If you are worried about younger boys being able to handle the rigors of backpackingstop. We had an 11-year-old who is going to be joining the troop next month. He needed a little help with his load because of his size but he did a great job. Just dont expect him to be ready to thru hike the AT. Keep the trip between 3 and 5 miles each way and he should be fine. He was ready to be done about 1000 yards short of our campsite on Saturday and felt like he could do even more than we did on Sunday.

 

2) If you want to bring fresh meat camping (1-2 days max) Cook it first, then freeze it. If you take out of the frig in Friday night and wrap it in a towel it should just be defrosting by Saturday night.

 

3) Not really a tip but our new scouts dad came with us (his first backpacking experience). He had a great time and is looking forward to spending more time and going on more trips with the troop.