Northern Tier/Bissett
A Wilderness Experience
June 26 to July 8, 2002
Troop 30

written by Dr V.
web page design by Timothy B.
ODE TO Northern Tier 2002 by Dr. O.

If by chance my word offends,
Take duct tape and make amends.

Northern Tier Grace
For food, for raiment,
For life and opportunity,
For sun and rain,
For water and portage trails,
For friendship and fellowship,
We thank thee Oh Lord.
Amen
 

Dedicated to Alex F. , interpréte extraordinaire
 

Crew 1 Nicknames

Crew 2 Nicknames

Wednesday, June 26, 2002
    We gathered at the Austin airport, excited yet unsure how the adventure might unfold. We scrambled to squeeze fishing poles into the carriers, racing from one line to the next. We posed for a group photo only to notice Mr. K. being frisked by airport security.  We first flew to Minneapolis, where we met Stephen and Matthew A. As soon as they mentioned they liked the card game Magic, I knew they would get along great with our crew. We arrived in Winnipeg sadly noticing the Texas heat had followed us along.   One taxi got in an accident on the ride from the airport to the motel. Excess speed meets impatient driver.  Luckily, no one was hurt, and the taxi was able to deliver its crew to the motel. Matt H. couldn’t find his luggage at the airport, but it arrived safely at the motel right after dinner. Mr. K., Mr. Ba., Dr. O., and I played keep away with a tennis ball against the boys in the pool. Stephen was shocked the first time he got the ball and promptly suffered a viscous dunking at the hands of Uncle Gary. The adults ruled big time over the kids because only a few of them braved the deep end of the pool. We had dinner at a food court in a nearby mall. The mall stores were closed, so half the group went to an IMAX showing “Ultimate X” and the other half took the number 11 bus up Portage Avenue to a bigger mall. Later in the evening, a drunk marauded around the motel and broke a window in the lobby when he was sent away. Dr. O. decided we would stay in a different motel on our way back. A lot of the boys stayed up late watching TV, while the old people went to bed early. Good-bye pillow and sheets!

Thursday, June 27, 2002
    We got up early and had breakfast in the motel dining room. Mr. Ba. thought it was too expensive, but the boys seemed to like it. The buses picked us up about 9:30am for the trip to the Scout Base Camp in Bissett. You could see the geology shift from the fertile plains to the Precambrian rock that formed rolling hills. This rock is among the oldest on the planet. The land was dotted with lakes that were formed as the glaciers receded. The water from this region generally flows North into the Hudson Bay.  We observed that air was filled with a white fluffy powder. Snow? The locals called it Cottonwood pollen. If it weren’t for the fact that it was 90 degrees, you might think it was snowing in June. We stopped for lunch at Pine Falls. They had Buffalo Burgers on the menu, but I don’t think anyone tried them. We bought our fishing licenses, and Dan enjoyed reading about the fishing regulations in Manitoba. No guns, explosives, or poisons are allowed; didn’t they know we're all from Texas?  The roads shrunk narrower and narrower until there was just a winding dirt path. Just as the road narrowed into nothingness, there was the base camp at Bissett. Had we arrived at the end of civilization? The bugs chased us around as we unpacked and repacked our gear. The swarming black flies were the size of quarters. Their wings were so large you could hear them individually flap. It turns out that mosquitoes drill a tiny hole through your skin quietly sucking out your precious life force, while flies rip the biggest gash it can in your skin with their teeth and hope you bleed. We elected Matt H. as crew leader, picked our nicknames, chose our route, and marked our maps. We were late for dinner, and Alex was hungry, so we ran the kilometer down the street to the little restaurant. I got my only blister of the trip running to dinner in my jungle boots. Crew 1 was just finishing their dinner when we arrived. Our meal was hearty, fresh, and fast. Mr. Br. asked me to buy him a jug of chocolate milk. I didn’t know it at the time, but it turned out to be a very important purchase. On the walk back, Mr. K. stopped in a house that was for sale. It was a beautiful log cabin, a lot prettier than the other houses on the street.  He was intrepid enough to leave his business card. Stephen A. got his blisters playing basketball in his jungle boots. It was hot, there were a lot of bugs, and I didn’t sleep very well.  The scouts enjoyed a bug free, but still oppressively hot, environment by performing the long-lost art of closing their door.  No one slept very well because everyone was anxious about the adventures that awaited us the next day.

Day 1, Friday, June 28, 2002 (10 km)
    We all got up at 6am and had breakfast at the same restaurant down the street as we had had dinner the night before. Crew 1 left for Scout Lake first, and we waited from 9:30 to 2:30 at the floatplane dock for our plane to return. Matt H caught the first fish, and we argued the whole trip about whether or not it counted, because although the fish came out of the water, it bit through his line and fell back into the water and never landed on the dock. Our delay was explained when the word came later that a floatplane had crashed. Mr. Br. went up in another plane to help locate the crash. It didn’t involve any of our group, and luckily no one was hurt. We learned later that the plane lost oil pressure and landed up-sided-down in a tree. We finally got to Scout Lake at about 3pm. Most of us flew in an Otter, which could carry nine passengers. The other plane, a beaver, was a little plane that only carried three passengers. Crew 1 had already left on their voyage. We picked four canoes and loaded our gear. Mr. Br., Mr. K. and I claimed the boat named Vostok I.  Stephen, Matthew A., and Clayton were in one canoe. Matt H., Dan and Pokey were in another, while JP and Zack rode with Alex. We paddled from 3:45-7pm zigzagging our meandering way to Noname Lake. Our first portage seemed to take a long time because we weren’t sure what we all were to do. We were all happy to learn we could carry the packs and canoes after all. We lined our first rapids too. It was so hot that it was refreshing to cool off in the water. We saw a turtle, a buzzard, and a very pretty sunset. Zack landed the first fish, about a 12-inch Walleye.  We slept very well.
 

Day 2, Saturday, June 29, 2002 (14 km)
    Crew 1 camped on an island very close to our camp. We would have slept longer if we weren’t shamed out of bed by the other crew shouting to us as they shoved off at about 8. We set sail about 9:30 and paddled until about 3pm. There was one portage and we lined through one rapids. The second portage seemed a lot easier than the first. Dan rode with Mr. Br. and me.  Pokey, Matthew and Matt H. rode together. Mr. K. rode with Clayton and Stephen, while JP and Zack continued with Alex. We saw crows, loons, eagles and Indian pictographs. There were a few drops of rain and some thunder in the distance. The temperature cooled a little, and it finally felt like we had left Texas. Some guys at a fish camp at one end of David Lake were about to pull out, and offered us about six big bags of candy and chips. Mr. Br. was very sad we had to turn down their offer for cold beer. We motored on a sugar high all the way across David Lake. After dinner, Dan and I took a canoe out to fish. Dan caught a huge Northern Pike. We pulled it into the canoe. Dan said, “Dad, could you pull the hook out of its mouth?”  I responded, “No way, do you see the size of the teeth on this big boy?” “It needs its teeth to defend its tastiness.” As we argued over which one of us really needed a full set of ten fingers, the fish set itself free in the bottom of the boat. Since we had already had dinner, we decided to set it free. Again, we all slept very well.

Day 3, Sunday, June 30, 2002 (12 km)
    We got up at 6:30, but had to wait for a thunderstorm to pass before setting off at 9:30. There were six portages, one pretty long. We left a T30 by arranging sticks on one portage near some rapids. The other crew found it later in the trip, but Candace was pretty mad at us for defacing her beautiful Canada. Dan caught a walleye during our lunch break. We saw beaver huts, raven, loons, a bald eagle, and heron.  We waited from 3 to 5 pm at one end of Lake Kawaseecheewonk for the winds to die down. I remember sitting on a rock with my eyes closed. The wind and the crashing waves reminded me of the seashore. At 5 we decided to resume the journey.  The winds seemed to pick up as we were crossing the lake. We camped on the other side of the lake in a beautiful campsite at the tip of an island. Mr. K. took a crew out fishing, and we had a huge walleye fish fry for dinner. Clayton gave an uplifting Sunday sermon and prayer. Sleeping was very great that night.  

Day 4, Monday, Canada Day, July 1, 2002 (24 km)
    We got up at 6:30, but we didn’t get off until 9:40. Alex taught us to sing the Canadian national anthem, Oh Canada. We had a full day of paddling with one long portage and many short ones. We lined some rapids and crashed a beaver dam. The boys loved paddling hard and crashing into the beaver dam. The first canoe through usually got out and kicked a few logs off the pile making a path over the dam for the others to follow in greater relaxation. We saw bald eagles and sea gulls. There was a little rain, but the sun came out around 5pm and we stopped to camp around 6pm.  By now we learned how to cook breakfast and dinner. Boil a third of a pot of water, dump, and stir. Alex made fried onions for dessert, but only about half our crew battled the mosquitoes long enough to enjoy them (more for me!)
 

Foods (boil a third of a pot of water, dump, stir, and eat)
Snack – Gorp, sausage sticks, and dried fruit.
Breakfast – Oatmeal, Red River cereal, hash browns, and granola.
Lunch – Pita, Hudson Bay bread, bagels, cheese, sausage, peanut butter and jelly.
Dinner – Walleye, macaroni, rice, chicken, ham, spam, peas, and dried vegetables.
Dessert – Cheesecake, carrot cake pudding, and fried onions.

Day 5, Tuesday, July 2, 2002 (10 km)
    There was a thunderstorm at night, so we had to get up and put on wet clothes and boots. We paddled from 9-3, and saw red wing black birds, eagles, chipmunks, and sea gulls. As we started across Lake 299, the winds increased. The white caps got larger and larger, and the winds blew the four canoes far apart. The canoe carrying Zack, Matt H., and me suffered three large waves over her bow, and capsized.  Laughing and giggling, Matt and Zack took out their cameras and took each other’s picture. Everything floated, so we inched our way to shore, and dried out on a rock. One canoe was very far up the shore, so Alex led a group to walk up and meet them. Again we waited for the winds to die down. After a couple hours we decided to camp there in the woods. Alex, Dan, Pokey and Mr. K. bushwhacked the canoe and gear back to area where the other three canoes were. Another group set out to find a campsite. They found a huge bed of moss on which to set up the tents. Finally, we found “Grandma’s featherbed.” Stephen, Matthew A., and Clayton’s gear was wet, but luckily we had a few hours of sunlight to dry out.  The place that we finally decided to camp turned out to be a slight adventure because it was a little bit marshy.  If you stood in one place for too long in your tent, there would be a puddle of water.  The key here was even weight distribution, and hope it doesn't rain.

Day 6, Wednesday, July 3, 2002 (32 km)
     We were determined to make up for lost time, so we got up at 6:30 and set sail at 8am. Early in the day Mr. K. caught a Northern Pike, so we knew we were going to have a very good day.  We had a breakfast in the canoes about 9am as we drifted slowly downstream. From 12 to 2 we were stuck in a swamp. It looked like a river on the map! We pushed and pulled the canoes through the mud, but there was no stream left and the swamp became thicker and thicker as the weather became more and more threatening. According to the map, the nearest lake was 4 or 5 clicks away and spending the night in the muck and the possible rain didn’t look like a lot of fun, so decided to turn around. After an hour of pulling our canoes into the swamp, we spent another hour pulling our canoes out of the swamp. The boys named it Caddie Swampus (although there is some discussion about the swamp’s proper name, because Stephen affectionately refers to it as Hell’s Outhouse). We got very muddy, but the boys seemed to laugh a lot, especially at the misfortune of someone stepping on a spot where the ground was not quite solid and sinking in the mud up to his chest.
     Once we were floating again, we quickly paddled into Black Lake. This lake was beautiful with tall pine trees lining its rocky shores. Our original plan was to have a layover day on Black Lake, but we were a couple of days behind on our itinerary. So, we abandoned the thoughts of playing and fishing, replacing them with paddling, pushing, pulling and portaging. We saw another canoe team on the opposite shore, but we motored across the lake without stopping because we were worried about the wind. We had Hudson Bay bread for lunch at about 3pm on the other side of Black Lake. Hudson Bay bread is about 1000 calories per slice and seemed to give us just the boost we needed. Dan called them Super Cookies, and they tasted like it. As we left Black Lake, we saw a huge moose. Three canoes quietly approached the majestic creature in front of us. Behind us was one canoe with Matt H. loudly delivering a humorous nonstop monologue. The moose didn’t appreciate his humor and lumbered into the woods. We also saw red wing black birds, eagles, vultures, and ducks. We got stuck in a second swamp, which was actually thicker than the first. We couldn’t even push the canoes. We saw a line of trees about a half a click ahead, so we sent a search party out to investigate. The swamp grass was so tall it was hard to even see each other. Good news returned, there was a lake ahead. We took a compass bearing, unpacked the canoes, and carried the gear through the mud. The gear was so heavy it was hard to walk, and many times I sank deep into the mud. I’d crawl out of the mud, lift up the pack, and take a more steps. Slowly, the sink-crawl-lift-walk cycle led us to the line of trees. We made two trips, first the packs and shrapnel, then the canoes. The boys named this place Devil’s Buttcrack, because we felt like we were in a jungle in Southeast Asia. After reloading the canoes, it was great to be paddling again. We renamed our crew as “Burly”.  “Hoorah!”
       After another 30 minutes of paddling, we found a campsite at about 9pm. After 13 hours of paddling, pushing, pulling, and portaging our spirits were high, but we were clearly fatigued.  Nobody felt like cooking and cleaning, so we ate gorp and sausage sticks for dinner and fell fast asleep about 10pm.

Day 7, Thursday, the Fourth of July (17 km)
     We were still tired, so we got up at 7:30am. Mr. Br. attached a flag to a long stick and raised it high in our campsite. He told the story of how he found the little flag in a parking lot in North Carolina, tucked it in his helmet, and carried it with him during his tour of duty in the Gulf War. We proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance. We had oatmeal for breakfast and set sail at 10am. He mounted the colors on the Vostok, which we renamed our flagship. Our Canadian host seemed to encourage our patriotism. Our first portage was the longest of the trip, about a kilometer. Dan and I got lost, but Clayton came and rescued us. I had to set the canoe down twice to rest, but we made it across in one pass. At this point in the journey the crew seemed to enjoy the portages, because each one was different and posed unique challenges to conquer. For example, we couldn’t find the entry point of one portage, so we paddled around to a different lake to try another route. That route with blocked, so we paddled back to look some more. Clayton and Mr. K. got out and scouted. They found the next lake but no trail. So we bushwhacked, making our own trail. I made a lot of noise scraping the canoe through the woods. I learned a valuable lesson while wedged soundly between two unfortunately close trees on the path: canoes can’t squeeze, but trees do bend. Again, I seemed to be constantly lost, “Clayton, Dan, anybody out there?” It's hard to see where you're going with a canoe on your head. Dan’s fishing pole lost some line, but we all made it safely. Mr. K. caught two Northern Pikes. The first pike jumped right out of the water trying to bite his lure. It looked like the fish was going to jump into the boat and bite Clayton. “Get the net, get the net!!”
   We paddled and pushed through another swamp. We saw herring, eagles, and loon. We watched one herring swoop down and snatch a fish right out of the water. We broke through six or seven beaver dams. One dam was six feet tall. After looking over the dam, Alex paddled his canoe back into the deep water, turned facing the dam, commanded his crew to paddle hard and rammed it. I guess he had experience enough to know they weren’t going to go flying over the six-foot drop. One by one we slowly lifted the canoes over the dam. The river channel got very narrow and the swamp grass was extremely tall. It was like a huge maze, twisting and turning. There were many forks in the channel, causing great debate deciding whether to turn left or right. A couple of boys were certain we were traveling in circles. The grass was so tall and the channel so twisty that we often couldn’t see the other canoes. The compass was very helpful because we knew we wanted to be traveling west. Amidst the tall swamp grass I posed this question to the boys, “When we escape this place, what food would you like to eat?” A large number recorded McDonalds as their number one longing. Me, I just wanted a shower and a nap. A huge tree had fallen across the channel blocking the way. Alex was in the lead boat and got out his saw. JP and Zack got out too and were slowly breaking off small pieces of the tree.  It was after six, and I was tired and hungry. I jumped out of Vostok, waded through the stream up to the front of the canoe line, pulled the tree trunk out of the ground, snapped the huge tree in two places, tossed its shattered remains into the bushes, turned to the crew, and said, “Alright, let’s go.” There were many little beaver dams that we could get up speed and bust right through. “Ramming speed!” As the river channel got wider, we paddled faster. We made it into David Lake about 9pm. For the second night in a row we were too tired for a hot dinner. We gobbled gorp, sausage sticks, hot apple cider, and hot chocolate. I only had one pair of dry socks left and no dry underwear. I realized this day how great our interpreter was. He was knowledgeable enough to keep us safe and on schedule, while allowing us to experience a true wilderness experience. 

Gear
Jungle boots – Boots with holes in the bottom to let the water in and out.
PFG – Performance fishing gear, clothes that dry quickly.
PFD – Everyone must wear a personal floatation device while on the water.
Paddle – A Canadian treats it like a Texan treats his horse.
Grey whale – A backpack to hold one tent and the personal gear of three people.
Green pig – A backpack to hold food, trash, or cooking gear.
Mosquito nets – A wonderful invention to fend off the blood drilling army.
Shrapnel – All the little things that might get left and slow down a portage.
Canoe – Something that is much easier to paddle than to carry.

Punch lines of favorite jokes
“He’s so fat, it takes two trips to haul butt.”
“There are three types of people. Some people learn by observing, others learn by listening, while others must learn by peeing on the electric fence for themselves.”
“Yahr, it was my first day with the hook.”
“Dad, you silly, someone stole our tent!”
Canadian, “Yes, but I’m a lighthouse.”
“Got any food?”
“Mosquitoes win the war”

Day 8, Friday, July 5 (21 km yielding a trip total of 140 km, or about 88 miles)
     We got up at 7:30am and had our hot dinner for breakfast. You know the drill: boil a third of a pot of water, dump, stir, and eat. We paddled from 10 am to 6:30pm on our way back to Scout Lake. It rained hard most of the day, as we battled a strong head wind. I was glad we had the rain gear handy.  It was very windy crossing Noname Lake, as visions of Lake 299 raced through my mind. We stopped for lunch on the island where Crew 1 camped the first night. I sat in the middle this day and quickly learned how hard it is to paddle from the middle seat. I almost caught a walleye. I lifted it out of the water, but lost it before I could get it in the boat. We had to stop twice because of the lightning. A great “Big Booty” battled raged with Clayton spending the most time as Big Booty. I seemed to lose each time I was number six. “No, not number six!” We beat a deep circle in the wet grass where we played as the lightning danced around us. We all started picking on Clayton, he finally messed up, and Zack became Big Booty.   Before we could start another round, Mr. Br. announced our 30 minutes were up, and we declared Zack the winner. During the second time we waited because of thunder, we played a geography game where one person said a geographical place (city, state, country, lake etc.) and the next person in the circle had to think of another place that had a first letter matching the last letter of the previous place. Pity Pokey, who followed after Zack when he mentioned Dimebox.  How many geographical locations do you know that begin with X?  We saw ducks, sea gulls, hawk, and beaver.  We attacked our last portage with both efficiency and sadness. I was so reluctant to have it end, that I ran back and carried a second canoe across. At 6:30 we rolled into Scout Lake, tired, but still joking around.

Favorite quotes
Mr. K. “Get the net! Get the net!”
Mr. Br. “Got any food?” (to a new group just setting out)
Dr. V. “Give me six”
Clayton K. “Aaah, something bit me!”
All “Hoorah”
All “Ramming speed!”
Dan V. “Tastes like squirrel”
Matt H. “Alex, sing the Saskatchewan pirate song again, please”
Zack G. “Uncle Gary, you’re insane.” (with the happy/sad face)
Dan V. “Take this you swamp!”
Dr. V. “My feet were getting hot anyway”
All “Roses”
Matt A. “Goopy bread” (Hudson Bay Bread)
Mr. D. “Do you know how to field dress a moose?”
Alex .F “It’s all good”
Dan V. “Unhook this pike for me.”
Matt A. “This is the best day of my life” (Devil’s Buttcrack)
Stephen A. “My World” by Trout Fishing in America
Mr. K. “It’s time for some Big Booty action”
Zack G. “Psychoscout will rise again.”
Matt H. “Clayton, help me out of this swamp hole”
All “Burly”
Dr. V. “No, not number six”
Alex F. “Nice day, eh?”
Zack G. “Aah, I’m going to eat you.”
Dan V. “Dad, you’re a beast!”
Dr. V.  “Clayton, where’s the trail? I’m lost again.”

Day 9, Saturday, July 6 (layover)
     We got up late and had a lazy breakfast. I made cowboy coffee and talked JP, Pokey, Matthew A., and Stephen into trying it with hot chocolate. Mr. Br. roared all morning about the buzz he got off my magic brew. We took turns helping the staff repair and catalog the canoes. Crew 1 raced into camp about 1pm to a thunderously warm welcome. Stories were exaggerated as they were told and retold.  Dan, Matthew A., Mr. K., and I went out in canoes and fished for three hours. Matthew, Dan and I each caught one walleye. This was the only day Mr. K. didn’t catch any fish, so Matthew decided he’d bring Uncle Gary back. Dan’s fish was about 16 inches long. We bought another fish, smaller than the ones we had caught but equally tasty, from Brent for a few small Canadian coins, and Mr. K. filleted the four fish. We had a very tasty fish fry. A big stump jumped out and kicked Pokey in the shins. As he bent over in agony, his walleye bounced on the ground. All I could do was to scream at the poor child already wrenching in pain. But Dan knew better, he dropped to the ground like he was covering up a hand grenade, brushed the dirt off the big piece of walleye, turned and “grred” at the crowd, and quickly gobbled his catch.
     We had a combined group meeting out by the docks.  Alex and Candice had many competitions including who could grow the longest leg hair and who could wear the most life jackets.  Alex could wear seven life jackets, but Candice grew more hair. Mr. K. sang a few songs. Stephen brought the house down with his redneck poem “Twas the Night After Christmas”. Dan and I did a skit about camping. Lots of nice things were said about the interpreters, although I thought Ryan was a little rude to Candice. Alex explained later that their joking was all in good fun. Still, I think Candice should have strapped a PFD on Ryan and tossed him into the lake. Mr. Br. recounted the story of his little flag, adding its new adventures of the last couple of days. As Alex would say, “It’s all very good.” Alex made us cheesecake for dessert.  For one last time, we slept very well.

Day 10, Sunday, July 7
     We got up at 6am, packed up, made cowboy coffee, had breakfast, and waited for the floatplanes. A flock of kingfishers moved into our campsite to clean the bits of food we left on the ground.  Dan and I were on the second to last plane.  Takeoffs and landings were surprisingly smooth. When we got back to base camp we cleaned the gear, took a shower, bought another set of maps, and went to lunch at the San Antonio Hotel. We had cheeseburgers, fries and coleslaw.  We had delicious chocolate sundaes for dessert. Dessert was so tasty that I talked the waiter into giving all at our table a second sundae, then I left him a $5 tip.  Alex and Candice gave us our coveted Northern Tier-Bissett patches, and we gave them Troop 30 T-shirts.  After a tearful goodbye, we boarded the bus for our trip back to Winnipeg. On the way back, we saw a large moose in the road blocking traffic and a herd of bison on a farm. After unloading our gear at the motel, the bus dropped us off at a fancy steak restaurant. There was an urgent need for McDonalds in some of the boys, so a few of us opted for a simpler fare. When we got back to the hotel, I had my second shower of the day.

Monday, July 8
     We got up at 7:45am, and had breakfast at the motel. Half of us walked to the zoo and the other half went shopping at the mall. This zoo was the original home of a bear named Winni-The-Poo. One of the female gibbons followed Clark back and forth in her cage. We played Frisbee in the parking lot. Some of us had ice cream for lunch; it was delicious. At the airport, we played “Big Booty” waiting in the US Customs area. We got a lot of strange looks from people. Dan and I had ice cream again for dinner. Austin Texas welcomed us home with a huge thunderstorm.

Canadian Phrases
Eh? – Ending a sentence in hopes of a positive reply.
Toque – A beany hat.
Click – A kilometer distance.
Pop – Soda.
Minibears – Chipmunks or squirrels.
Portage – Carrying stuff that ought to be floating.
Happy spoon – Taking turns eating with a spoon until the pot is clean.
It’s all good – Optimistic and polite response to adversity.
Tad – A little bit.

Favorite moments
Mr. K. Scouting out a trail with Clayton
Mr. Br. Camping on the island in Lake Kawaseecheewonk
Dr. V. Fishing with Dan
Clayton K. Being with his dad
Matthew A. The swamps, fishing with Uncle Gary, talking during dinner
Stephen A. Hell’s Outhouse
Dan V. Catching the really big Northern Pike
Matt H. The swamps and eating Walleye
Zack G. Swamping the canoe in Lake 299
Pokey Getting out of Devil’s Butt crack
JP B. The whole trip
Alex F. The most difficult trek he has ever led (until the next one)
Mr. D. Lying on the rocks visiting with everybody at the end of the day
 Tenting with my 16 year old, because the mosquitoes obligated him to talk