After clearing the locks, I lead the 21 scouts across the picnic area beside the locks to the trailhead. Scouter Jim didn't know the way in to the cabin so he was assigned the task of rearguard, it was his job to herd the stragglers forward. I had to set a brisk pace but the trail at this point is wide and level, the few cottages around the locks use it heavily, so it was no problem for my troop and Ray's to keep up the pace. Jim's troop lagged behind near their scouter and had a hard time keeping up in running shoes and sandals, they were further bogged down by an assortment of duffle bags, garbage bags and a suitcase. The hike went fairly well for the first 10 minutes and we made pretty good time until we started our climb up into the area that was Canadian Shield.
[attachment 56152 torrancebarrens_aerial.jpg]
When the glaciers scoured the face of Canada thousands of years ago they gouged out all of the forests and topsoil in the way as they advanced down into the U.S.. The glaciers cut deep into the granite bedrock that makes up the foundation that Canada sits on, leaving vast tracks of bald granite topography when they receded. Slowly the grasses and trees came back and replenished the topsoil in the low areas but the higher elevations are still largely polished granite with a dusting of top soil and scrubby bush and trees. This is the Canadian Shield, it shielded the country from exploration for centuries and makes travel difficult to this day.
[attachment 56145 dcp_1087Small.jpg]
The rain had picked up in strength and the wind with it, not a storm yet but not fun to hike in either. The moss and lichen that covered the granite was slick as snot on a doorknob and the little pockets of topsoil had turned into mudpockets. Scrabbling across this terrain, in the rain, with full packs was tough going but we pushed onwards. Jim's troop started having a bad time of it because they were carrying the bags of gear and of course the bloody suitcase. The scout with the suitcase was having the hardest time of all and was dead last, he was a lanky kid but really anemic looking with skin so pale you could see the arteries under his skin. (not an albino but darn close) Jim to his credit was trying to help the scout with his gear but they were both struggling. After a particularly tough scramble up a ravine I called a halt in the granite clearing at the top so the rest of the stragglers could catch up and we could do a head count to make sure nobody had wandered off or been left behind. My troop leaders, Mitch and Kyle, I sent back to help Jim and the anemic scout while I lined up the scouts for the count, I counted 18 scouts plus Mitch, Kyle and the anemic scout = 21 scouts - Perfect.
As I was doing a second count just to make certain, Mitch and Kyle cleared the ravine carrying the suitcase with Jim and the anemic scout following behind.
"What the heck do you have in here, Kid?" said Mitch "ROCKS??". Mitch was a big kid and a real wisecracker but a great troop leader who really cared about the scouts under his charge.
"Come on, Mitch" I said "it can't be that heavy" indicating the anemic scout. I grabbed the suitcase handle and gave it a tug, WOW!
it had to weigh 50 lbs., no wonder this scout was lagging behind. I turned to the anemic scout who looked exhausted and said we would have to leave his suitcase behind, we could come back and get it in the morning as he wasn't going to make it if he had to hump this suitcase all the way to Scout Cabin. (we were still over a klick away)
"But I can't leave it behind" said the scout "it has all my food in it".
"Don't worry about food" I told him "we've brought plenty".
"But I can't eat that food" said the anemic scout, looking very anxious about having his suitcase left behind.
"Why Not?" I asked.
"Ahem, Scouter Eric?" interjected Jim "can I speak with you for a minute?"
Scouter Jim and I stepped away from the group and he proceeded to explain to me that the anemic scout (I can't remember his name) had some psychological issues and an eating disorder, he wouldn't eat anything but Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink from cans.
This scout had a whole case of breakfast drink in his suitcase, no wonder it weighed so much.
Special dietary needs are one of the things we factor in as scout leaders, one of my scouts (Daniel) was terribly allergic to peanuts. Just the whiff of a peanut butter sandwich would cause him to break out in a bad rash, if he ate peanuts, peanut butter or peanut oil he would go into anaphelactic shock and I only had an hour to get him to hospital after injecting him with an epi-pen, so I understood all about food allergies but this eating disorder was tough to take. We would just have to press on with it.
We broke down the anemic scout's load of canned breakfast drink and spread it out amongst the group to lighten the load, with no complaints from any of the scouts who all pitched in to help a fellow scout and we were off again.
We had about 15 minutes of daylight left when we made it to the halfway point in the trail which was a rocky outcropping overlooking the Severn River, the rain had picked up considerably and the west wind was blowing hard now, making a chop on the surface of the east flowing river. Kyle spotted a boat coming around the point just before Scout Cabin, it was Scouter Ray! Ray had figured that he should head back to see if he could help by ferrying us in, leaving his son Tom to sort out packing the provision into the cabin and the setting up of the tents. I asked all of the scouts who had flashlights to get them out so we could signal Ray in the boat, after a minute or so he spotted us and signalled back with his flashlight and angled the boat towards an area just ahead of us that had a large rock jutting out into the river that we could use as a landing area. A lot of the younger scouts were wet, cold and tired by this point but they maintained an orderly pace down to the rock ledge where they could board the boat. We met scouter Ray at the rock 5 minutes later, as he threw us a line I could see the concern on his face as he surveyed this tired looking band of scouts.
Unfortunately, Scouter Ray's little car topper boat couldn't take even half of the group so we would have to make three trips or we would overload the boat. We came up with a quick game plan on the spot, Ray would ferry the first boatload of scouts to the cabin and Jim would stay with the second load, I would take my 2 troop leaders Kyle and Mitch in on foot with just basic gear, our packs could go in the boat. We would avoid a third trip this way, which would have been in complete darkness and rough water. We got the first group of scouts into the boat and could see that we could accomodate the second load upon Scouter Ray's return, Ray shoved off and Mitch, Kyle and I started out. Just as we were leaving, Scouter Jim broke out some candy bars and started passing them around to the scouts to help bouy their spirits and give them a little quick energy, I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Scouter Jim" I asked "What type of candy bars are those?"
"Snickers" he said, I could have killed him!
"Jim!" I yelled "Throw Those Away!"
Scouter Jim started to ask "why?", but I grabbed the bag of 'Snickers' out of his hand and threw it as far into the river as I could, then I grabbed my scout who is deathly allergic to peanuts and drew him away from the group. In the growing dark my peanut allergy scout, Daniel might have unsuspectingly bitten into one of those 'Snickers' and died.
"Scouter Jim" I said in a calm but dangerous tone "Did I not explain to you at the planning meeting that Daniel has a dangerous allergy to peanuts and that he only has an hour to get to hospital if he eats any peanuts??"
"We didn't bring any peanuts" said Scouter Jim.
"What the HELL do think a Snickers bar is made with? - PEANUTS!!"
I am very protective of my scouts and this jackass had just endangered one of them, I didn't throw him in the river but I REALLY wanted to. I made everyone go through their packs to make sure the were no other peanut products and by the time we were done I had half a dozen candy bars and a box of 'crunch and munch' to give as an offering to the river. I'd have to check Jim's troop supplies when I got to the cabin.
My troop leaders and I donned our headlamps and head back up the hill to the trail, leaving the other scouts and Scouter Jim to wait for Scouter Ray to return in the boat. It was 7 pm - raining hard and full dark.
[attachment 56152 torrancebarrens_aerial.jpg]
When the glaciers scoured the face of Canada thousands of years ago they gouged out all of the forests and topsoil in the way as they advanced down into the U.S.. The glaciers cut deep into the granite bedrock that makes up the foundation that Canada sits on, leaving vast tracks of bald granite topography when they receded. Slowly the grasses and trees came back and replenished the topsoil in the low areas but the higher elevations are still largely polished granite with a dusting of top soil and scrubby bush and trees. This is the Canadian Shield, it shielded the country from exploration for centuries and makes travel difficult to this day.
[attachment 56145 dcp_1087Small.jpg]
The rain had picked up in strength and the wind with it, not a storm yet but not fun to hike in either. The moss and lichen that covered the granite was slick as snot on a doorknob and the little pockets of topsoil had turned into mudpockets. Scrabbling across this terrain, in the rain, with full packs was tough going but we pushed onwards. Jim's troop started having a bad time of it because they were carrying the bags of gear and of course the bloody suitcase. The scout with the suitcase was having the hardest time of all and was dead last, he was a lanky kid but really anemic looking with skin so pale you could see the arteries under his skin. (not an albino but darn close) Jim to his credit was trying to help the scout with his gear but they were both struggling. After a particularly tough scramble up a ravine I called a halt in the granite clearing at the top so the rest of the stragglers could catch up and we could do a head count to make sure nobody had wandered off or been left behind. My troop leaders, Mitch and Kyle, I sent back to help Jim and the anemic scout while I lined up the scouts for the count, I counted 18 scouts plus Mitch, Kyle and the anemic scout = 21 scouts - Perfect.
As I was doing a second count just to make certain, Mitch and Kyle cleared the ravine carrying the suitcase with Jim and the anemic scout following behind.
"What the heck do you have in here, Kid?" said Mitch "ROCKS??". Mitch was a big kid and a real wisecracker but a great troop leader who really cared about the scouts under his charge.
"Come on, Mitch" I said "it can't be that heavy" indicating the anemic scout. I grabbed the suitcase handle and gave it a tug, WOW!
it had to weigh 50 lbs., no wonder this scout was lagging behind. I turned to the anemic scout who looked exhausted and said we would have to leave his suitcase behind, we could come back and get it in the morning as he wasn't going to make it if he had to hump this suitcase all the way to Scout Cabin. (we were still over a klick away) "But I can't leave it behind" said the scout "it has all my food in it".
"Don't worry about food" I told him "we've brought plenty".
"But I can't eat that food" said the anemic scout, looking very anxious about having his suitcase left behind.
"Why Not?" I asked.
"Ahem, Scouter Eric?" interjected Jim "can I speak with you for a minute?"
Scouter Jim and I stepped away from the group and he proceeded to explain to me that the anemic scout (I can't remember his name) had some psychological issues and an eating disorder, he wouldn't eat anything but Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink from cans.
This scout had a whole case of breakfast drink in his suitcase, no wonder it weighed so much. Special dietary needs are one of the things we factor in as scout leaders, one of my scouts (Daniel) was terribly allergic to peanuts. Just the whiff of a peanut butter sandwich would cause him to break out in a bad rash, if he ate peanuts, peanut butter or peanut oil he would go into anaphelactic shock and I only had an hour to get him to hospital after injecting him with an epi-pen, so I understood all about food allergies but this eating disorder was tough to take. We would just have to press on with it.
We broke down the anemic scout's load of canned breakfast drink and spread it out amongst the group to lighten the load, with no complaints from any of the scouts who all pitched in to help a fellow scout and we were off again.
We had about 15 minutes of daylight left when we made it to the halfway point in the trail which was a rocky outcropping overlooking the Severn River, the rain had picked up considerably and the west wind was blowing hard now, making a chop on the surface of the east flowing river. Kyle spotted a boat coming around the point just before Scout Cabin, it was Scouter Ray! Ray had figured that he should head back to see if he could help by ferrying us in, leaving his son Tom to sort out packing the provision into the cabin and the setting up of the tents. I asked all of the scouts who had flashlights to get them out so we could signal Ray in the boat, after a minute or so he spotted us and signalled back with his flashlight and angled the boat towards an area just ahead of us that had a large rock jutting out into the river that we could use as a landing area. A lot of the younger scouts were wet, cold and tired by this point but they maintained an orderly pace down to the rock ledge where they could board the boat. We met scouter Ray at the rock 5 minutes later, as he threw us a line I could see the concern on his face as he surveyed this tired looking band of scouts.
Unfortunately, Scouter Ray's little car topper boat couldn't take even half of the group so we would have to make three trips or we would overload the boat. We came up with a quick game plan on the spot, Ray would ferry the first boatload of scouts to the cabin and Jim would stay with the second load, I would take my 2 troop leaders Kyle and Mitch in on foot with just basic gear, our packs could go in the boat. We would avoid a third trip this way, which would have been in complete darkness and rough water. We got the first group of scouts into the boat and could see that we could accomodate the second load upon Scouter Ray's return, Ray shoved off and Mitch, Kyle and I started out. Just as we were leaving, Scouter Jim broke out some candy bars and started passing them around to the scouts to help bouy their spirits and give them a little quick energy, I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Scouter Jim" I asked "What type of candy bars are those?"
"Snickers" he said, I could have killed him!
"Jim!" I yelled "Throw Those Away!"
Scouter Jim started to ask "why?", but I grabbed the bag of 'Snickers' out of his hand and threw it as far into the river as I could, then I grabbed my scout who is deathly allergic to peanuts and drew him away from the group. In the growing dark my peanut allergy scout, Daniel might have unsuspectingly bitten into one of those 'Snickers' and died.
"Scouter Jim" I said in a calm but dangerous tone "Did I not explain to you at the planning meeting that Daniel has a dangerous allergy to peanuts and that he only has an hour to get to hospital if he eats any peanuts??"
"We didn't bring any peanuts" said Scouter Jim.
"What the HELL do think a Snickers bar is made with? - PEANUTS!!"
I am very protective of my scouts and this jackass had just endangered one of them, I didn't throw him in the river but I REALLY wanted to. I made everyone go through their packs to make sure the were no other peanut products and by the time we were done I had half a dozen candy bars and a box of 'crunch and munch' to give as an offering to the river. I'd have to check Jim's troop supplies when I got to the cabin.
My troop leaders and I donned our headlamps and head back up the hill to the trail, leaving the other scouts and Scouter Jim to wait for Scouter Ray to return in the boat. It was 7 pm - raining hard and full dark.