By Carol Beckman
The high adventure trip this summer for BSA Troop 1 (Ute District) was a 55 mile backpacking trip on the Ring the Peak trail. The troop has an annual week-long trip.
Six people, three Scouts and three adults, made the trip. On the trip this year, we had Daniel, 13, who had been on the troop’s week-long trip on the hut-to-hut system last summer, Josh, 13, and his dad, Bruce, who had never backpacked before, my son, Greg, 15 and an Eagle Scout, my daughter, Teresa, 18, and so now a registered assistant scoutmaster for the troop, and me.
BSA has a 50-Mile award. Requirements for the award include traveling at least 50 miles without motorized assistance, in five or more days, and doing 10 hours apiece of trail work.
Friends of the Peak had a work weekend scheduled for July 17-18. So the troop scheduled the Ring trip for July 19-23. The Scouts could work with the Friends, then hike the trail, and so earn the 50-Mile patch.
Josh, Bruce, Greg, Teresa, and Carol all worked with the Friends on the Raspberry connection. Then Monday through Friday we hiked the Ring trail, going (according to the Friends’ GPS unit) 8.8, 10.5, 12.2, 11.9, and 12.0, for a total of 55.4 miles.
The new signs marking the Ring the Peak trail were quite helpful. Although the ring is incomplete, so we could only do the C, there was only one spot where we could actually see the Peak. That was from the section of the Mt. Ester Trail we helped FOTP build last year.
