Backpacking Trip

Yesterday, my Philmont crew and I went to San Gorgino Mountain, just south of Big Bear, for our last Philmont Training hike. We are going to Philmont from July 12th to July 27th next month. Anyway, it was about a 1 hour 15 minute drive from Cerritos to that area. Getting into the trailhead wasn't easy as we had to drive through this dirt road full of rocks. It was rocky and bumpy, back and forth. We were at 6,000 feet elevation.

We started our hike. Our plan was to hike 7 miles up to 10,000 feet to our campground and view the peaks there but we soon abandonded tht plan. Instead, we hiked only 4.5 miles for numerous of reasons. First, it was all uphill. And we were at a high altitude, meaning we would be short on breath. We took a break every 5 minutes. Second, one of our adults had a bummed knee that was still healing. So we took it easy for him. Third, nobody had a mood for the hike. We all were very tired and didn't have our legs. But we made it all uphill to our campsite, taking 5 hours total including lunch.

Our campground was at Jackstraw Springs and we set up camp. It wasn't too bad as there were pretty good campsites. I tented with Eric P. and that was pretty cool. We filtered water from the nearby spring and cooked dinner. It was freeze dry food so what we had to do was only boil water. We went to sleep at around 9 PM after playing some cards.

Today it was all downhill. It was really easy, 4.5 miles coming down. We had less stops and completed it in just over 2 hours. That was cool as we got home around after noon. The bad part was it was really rocky and I kind of sprained my ankle again. I was breaking in my new boots and used them. Really comfortable. My right ankle wasn't 100 % as I sprained it last week and I turned it again today. I also turned my left ankle a bit but that isn't as bad. I will be soar for a few days. I was really stinky and came home and showered. Did that feel good.

Tomorrow at 11, I am leaving for Catalina Island for boy scouts summer camp at Cherry Valley. It will be very fun as it is close to the ocean. I will be staying there for 6 nights and come back on Saturday. So no blogs for 6 days. I have to finish packing my stuff. I will take lots of pictures at Catalina Island, my second time there.