November 2007 Campout Highlights
Saturday, November 4 through Sunday, November 5th, Troop 792 went on their first real backpacking adventure. Okay, okay, so we were allowed to have one support vehicle to carry water and food. But all but one of us back packed in, and back packed out, carrying all of our tents, sleeping gear, and other standard backpacking gear.
The campout was located at Henry Coe State Park, just east of Morgan Hill, California.
The hike in was about 3 miles. It was a little warm, and this was the first hiking trip ever for some of the scouts, so we took frequent rest stops. Kelin set a brisk pace when we were hiking.
Base Camp
China Hole
China hole is a LONG walk down! And, a LONGER walk up! Actually, it's 1000+ vertical feet below our base camp!
Wildlife
One of the highlights of the trip was the wildlife. Almost as soon as we arrived, a coyote greeted us. No, he didn't attack - he stayed his distance. But, he was clearly not afraid of humans.
We decided Sunday when we left that the coyotes must scavenge food from the camp sites, because a second coyote stayed around camp Sunday until we left, and then made a bee-line to our camp fire to see what we had left (not much).
On the drive in, betwen Morgan Hill and Coe Park, we saw 2 dear by the road, and about 10 wild turkeys in the road! At base camp, a 6 point buck charged in and stole a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was in the campfire circle! After dark, an entire herd of deer decided to graze just out of site of the campfire - but not so far away that the support truck's spotlight wasn't able to show them quite dramatically!
