Farewell

From the driving, fishing, and camping to seeing a wreck and Mr. Davey stopping a bunch with his “truck issues,” we had a lot of fun. This was an amazing experience. People reading this blog have not realized the sights and scenes we have seen in person. One thing that we recommend when you come to Colorado is to bring warm clothing don’t let the pictures fool ya it is freezing but memorable. Now we are on the road again this time not to Colorful Colorado but to home. Don’t worry, we will visit again trust us. Thanks for being able to share the experience with us. This is where the road ends on our long memorable trip. Good bye Colorful Colorado we will be back soon.

Last night camping

It was rather a cold night even though it is summer it got down to about 40 degrees but not as bad as how cold it was in Colorado. We got there about 8:00 p.m. but the people who went to Pikes Peak got back at 10:15 p.m. Of course to celebrate a great experience and fun time some kids stayed up late (12:00) and went wild. Jumping up and down in their sleeping bags and yelling. Even though the people who were trying to sleep were fed up with it they under stood that the very next day they would see their family and were excited. When we woke up it was hard Jack came through the camp site yelling “WAKE UP, IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP.” Everyone was annoyed and hates to hear that. We were planning to leave around 6:30 and guess what……….. WE DID IT. We actually left on time. After eating Cheerio’s and Raisin Bran of course. We headed out for the last drive of this trip.

Ugh Flat Tire

Ok here is what happened to Mr. Davey we were driving down the highway when all of a sudden the trailer felt like it hit a bump. Mr. Davey pulls over and takes a look at it. First tire looked fine second did too. Then he went around the other side a saw what the problem was. The tread on the tire was worn down. It ended up flying up and hit the light out above it. See we do have some of issues with the trailer. Well hopefully there should be no more.

On Top Of the World

Going up to Pikes Peak was one of the greatest sights you can ever see. Traveling up to an elevation of 14,110 feet, when you’re used to 750 feet is a huge difference. The oxygen is so little that just walking up to the gift shop can catch you out of breath. Only 10 of us went up the mountain; Tory Campbell, Tyler Spitz, Sam Rose, Aaron Phillips, Matt Kleinsorge, Bobby Wickwire, Nathan Weber, Dylan Magaster, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Bay, oh, and of course you can’t forget Armando. When we finally made it to the top the sight was amazing. And when you looked over the edge, the only thing that gets your adrenaline running more is the drive up and down the narrow path. Of course we also played hacky sack at 14,110 feet. A new troop record! And for all the people that didn’t go or weren’t able to, we strongly recommend it.

Crossing the Continental Divide’s

We are very lucky to have been able to cross the Continental Divide more than once. One time it was in Cottonwood Pass the other was Monarch Pass. It was really cool and nifty. Armando had fun with us. He got some pictures with us. The thing was we did not like crossing it when we had to leave.

The right way

Ed’s Backup

Ed’s Got No Gas, That’s a first

Well this was quite a story. Mr. Davey was driven down the road and Mr. Davey pulled to the side of the road and he got out and Jack said over the 2 way radio. It seems Mr. Davey is almost out of gas and can’t reach the gas station, we still don’t know what were going to do. He has a spare gas can and filled up just enough to reach the next gas station. This isn’t the first time its happened either; once on the way up here and once on the way back.

Friday the 13th...It Happened in Front of Us!

We left Garden of the Gods, after eating another meal of cold cut sandwiches, and were on our way to Colby when we started having the truck trouble. Mr. Davey pulled the truck onto the shoulder and got ready to hop out to see what the noise was, when across the barrier a tanker truck merged into the adjacent lane forcing a sedan up against the barrier. The sedan slid about 50 feet before teetering to a stop atop the barrier. Mr. Meier jumped out to go help muttering something about being boy scouts, having first aid training, and how lucky it was he had his CPR mask with him. As it turned out no one got hurt, so as soon as Mr. Davey and Mr. Hill made a temporary repair to the truck we got Mr. Meier back in the truck and pulled out. In the end the only thing that came of the accident was one shaken woman driver, a totaled sedan, a good blog story and a tanker truck driver…whose insurance rates just went up.

Breakdown

Remember when we told you that Mr. Davey’s truck slid into a ditch and messed up the muffler. Well we thought that it would not really hurt the truck and we would make it home. Of course we were wrong. About 12 miles from the Garden of the Gods Mr. Davey heard something from the back. At first he thought it was in the trailer and something was loose. So he went back and made sure that it was ok. It looked like it was fine so we took off. About another mile down the road he heard it again so he checked it again it still looked ok so took off one more time. Another mile down the road it was another stop this time Mr. Hill and Mr. Davey went under the truck to see what the issue was. They found that the heat shield was rubbing up against something and was cutting it in half so they had to find a wire of some sort to hold the muffler back. After 20 minutes we found one and helped it out a little. Finally we were on the road again.

Big Old Rocks

At the Garden of the Gods, there were rocks, big rocks, and grass! It was a blast! There were big red rocks, and the grass was plentiful and green as can be. Jared, Jack, and Matt walked around the Garden of the Gods. The rocks were named too, The Kissing Camels, White Rock, and Balanced Rock. Sam Rose found out who won the NBA finals, and that Big Brown came last in the Horse Derby. We ever found out where those big red rocks came from. It was great how big those rocks were and we learn so much from it! I hope we can do it again!!!!!

Last Meal

For our last meal we had a lot of meat. Mike, the cowboy and Patch the dog, came and ate with us. We had all the meats from steak to ribs and chicken. As a side we had green beans. It was the tastiest meals we have had in a long time. Thanks to Mr. Hill and Matt K. the meat was cooked well done and perfect. MMMMM it was scrumptious.

Where did we hike?

That was the question Cal, Tory, Sean and Tyler had by the end of the climb. We started our hike at 11:01 in the morning. Are goal was to climb Fair View Peak which is the second tallest mountain in our area. We started our hike on a road leading us up the mountain. We were hiking along and came across a stream that ran down Henry Mountain which is right next to Fair View Peak. A little farther up the road turned in to a creek. Water was gushing down the road making a stream carrying away the lose dirt. We hiked on whatever looked to be the driest spot on the road until we came to a beaver dam that was made across the road. It had broken so the water was running throw the opening. Farther up we came upon the site of the peak and “man” was it high. The stream we were following had snow all along the bank. But as we came to a ravine with a few scattered trees, we noticed that the peak we where hiking wasn’t Fair View Peak, it was Henry Peak. We took out the map and saw that there was a hill to the other side of the ravine allowing us to cross over to Fair View. But the map is not the same as what it looks like in real life. The hill was steep and it took a good 20 minutes to climb 150 feet. At the top of the hill we saw the other peak. It was at least 2 miles away. We ate lunch at 1:20 on the top of that hill. During that time we decided to climb the last half of Henry’s Peak. So we started hiking up on a road leading us through flat spots until we came to a hill. The hill had the same incline as the one before lunch but not as tall so we decided to take the challenge. We climbed the hill very slowly and when we came to the top we saw snow banks that where 3 feet high and 7 feet wide. And these banks were in strips so we had about 2 feet of dry land before him next. This was surprisingly one of the shortest distances of that terrain we came to that day. When we rounded a curve in the road we saw the peak. But before we could reach it we had two more obstacles. For our first obstacle, we had to hike over a quarter mile in snow where only 15 feet of trees were sticking out of the snow. Every now and then we hit a lose spot of snow and we would fall waist deep in the snow and hearts pounding from fear we would fall clear through. We came to our second obstacle which was a side of the mountain that was all rock for about another 800 feet to the top. As we climb we stopped every 100 feet to catch our breath. At the top there was a 30 foot face of rock that we had to climb. As we got to the top, we were met with a 40 mph wind blast. Henry’s Peak stands at about 13,200 feet so we saw all around as stood in awe. We saw nothing but a mountain range covered in snow. We saw 2 other peaks that were only within 20 minutes so we walked to each with ease. As we came to the last peak we saw a way down that wasn’t as steep. We walked down to the tree line and saw something that was too good. In front of us was an endless sight of a winter wonderland. Surrounding the trees was a 4-foot snow bank. We fell through snow banks so often that it became a blessing that you could finally stand on it. Mr. Spitz and Mr. Campbell fell once and it took them 3 minutes to dig there way out. When we finally got out of the blanket of snow we were met with a hill that was on the other side of the ravine as the first. The only problem was that it was bigger. It took us half an hour to get down this hill and at the bottom we were on the road we started on. When we got back to the van we were exhausted. It was 8:30 p.m. We hiked a total of 9.5 hours. Just because we were done with the hike didn’t mean we wanted to learn more about our experience. On our last night in base camp, we had the local rancher come and eat with us. That’s when we learned that it wasn’t Henry’s Peak that we climbed it was Cross Peak. Cross Peak stands at 12,459 feet in elevation. That’s why the question, where did we hike?

Cowboy Mike

He was a nice man with a great attitude. He came and visited us for our last dinner in Colorado. His dog Patch came with him too in fact Patch goes everywhere with him. Cowboy Mike lives in the valley of where we were camping his house looks like he built it by himself. He has a few horses I don’t know about cows. After he came and ate dinner with us he ended up taking 4 bags of meat back home. Don’t forget about the bone for Patch.

Rocky Mountain Rock Climbing

Only two of us went rock climbing. It was a fun experience for them. They climbed pretty darn high. It was really hard and tiring too. For three hours they kept this up. It was kind of cool because they came back really tired. Although very tiring it was a blast.

Fishing with Fishes

The fishing was excellent. Plenty of fish in the Taylor Reservoir. At least 30 fish this trip. Cody held the record for the most fish caught on this trip at least 10 in a row. Mr. Bay holds the record for the longest on this trip a 20 incher. Mr. Hill was close behind with an 18 incher. Not much people went fishing but whoever did caught at least one. It was a blast.

Horseback Riding

When we went to a horse’s farm we saw a couple goats and a dog named Lille. But that’s not important, we saw about 20 horses and lots of farmhands. The farmhands got each of us a horse and we saddled up and followed the horse in front of us. My horses’ name was Merlyn, and I got us stopped like 2 times, once for my saddle slipping, then for my wallet falling out of my pocket. Joe’s horse also ran up off the terrain and went into the field because the horse in the back of him decided to back up into his butt and he didn’t like to be manhandled so he ran into the field. It was a slow smooth course through the valley and it was a good time.

Taylor Park

When we first arrived at Taylor Park we were all excited and ready to go camping. Down where we were supposed to be camping was a little issue. A big snow bank was in the way. Our scout leader, Mr. Davey, took his truck and decided to see if he could get through. As he was passing through the tires started to slip and spin all of a sudden the truck’s rear end moved and fell into the ditch, almost flipping. About 30 minutes later we got the truck unstuck with a messed up muffler. We felt that maybe staying at that campsite was a bad idea so we found another one that was good to stay at. It was easier to get too. Because of all that trouble we did not get to go fishing. Oh well maybe the next day. Armando had a lot of fun too.