By Guest Columnist Tommy Carroll
Boy Scouts of America High Adventure Troop 321 from Long Beach spent part of their summer travelling to Washington and backpacking on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Troop 321 scouts met at First Methodist Church at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday morning to embark on their journey by caravaning to the Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans, where they caught a non-stop flight to Seattle.
In Seattle, the scouts were met by their own bus, a converted school bus named Scoutship Integrity. One of the leaders and his wife had driven out a couple weeks in advance in order to be able to meet them there and do some reconnaissance for the trip. The troop traveled to Camp Sheppard, near Enumclaw, Washington, where they were greeted by the Camp Director. Scouts were then shown their camp area and shown all the features for bear-proofing the campsite, which would come in handy later.
The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,650 miles long. It begins at the U.S.-Mexico border and ends on the Canadian side of the U.S.-Canadian border. Divided into thirty sections, it travels through the states of California, Oregon and Washington.
After an acclamation day at Base Camp Sheppard, the troop divided into backpackers and day-hikers. The backpackers, or “Rainier Walkers,” were transported to the White Pass Trailhead on the Pacific Crest Trail, the southern end of Section “I” of the trail. Other scouts from the troop, the “Olympians,” continued base camping from Camp Sheppard and took daily excursions to the nearby Cascades.
This area is known as the “Land of 1,000 Lakes.” It contains marshes in the hilly/mountainous area created from melting snow in the summer. The trekkers found a beautiful mountain meadow with signs of elk and bear. It was bordered on one side by a mountain stream and on another by a snow-melt lake. The scouts filtered water from the stream, swam in the lake and then prepared dinner before turning in for the evening.
The second and third mornings on the trail were greeted by calls from elk. Although bear signs were everywhere, the troop neither saw nor heard any on the trail. The scouts traveled through Mount Rainier National Park and were greeted with incredible views of the mountain. Mountain streams and lakes, rocks, flora, giant fir trees, majestic views of valleys and snow drifts were common on the trail.
The Rainier Walkers finished their trek at the Rainier National Park trail bridge at Yakima Pass. They then rejoined the other group, the Olympians, there and together returned to Base Camp Sheppard.
While the Rainier Walkers were on their trek, the Olympians made several excursions in the surrounding Cascade Mountains and on Mount Rainier proper. Upon returning to camp, the campers were greeted by a bear in camp! A six-foot-tall juvenile bear had sampled the food in the ice chests in the base camp and left enormous claw and teeth marks in one of the troop’s ice chests!
Additional nearby excursions from Camp Sheppard into Mount Rainier National Park and onto Mount Rainier allowed the troop to hike to the base of Comet Falls, an enormous waterfall on Mount Rainier, as well as tour the Mount Rainier visitor Center at Paradise Valley and fish for trout in the Paradise River.
The troop then traveled to Mount Saint Helens, where they hiked the eastern side on an overlook that gave them a view of the magma dome and Spirit Lake, which was displaced by the lava flow from the eruption of the volcano in 1980.
From Mount Saint Helens, the troop headed to the Pacific Coast to base camp in a campground in a small village named Pacific Beach. The campground was on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and many of the scouts were able to go splash in the surf of the Pacific Ocean for the first time in their lives.
After Pacific Beach, the troop traveled to Cape Flattery, where they hiked the trail to the point overlook and took a picture at the most northwestern point of the contiguous states. From there, they took the troop bus to the ferry and traveled to Seattle, where they took a windshield tour of the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums, the Boeing factory and the World Headquarters for Starbucks Coffee.
The troop wrapped up their trip by staying in an Airbnb home, where they could hang up their tents to dry and basecamp again while making a final excursion out to a local water park.
Scouts from Troop 321 hail from Diamondhead, Poplarville, Gulfport, Ocean Springs and Long Beach.
See an expanded article that details the scouts’ adventures – plus more photos! – online at www.LongBeachBreeze.com.
