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Goat Creek Hike
The Mount Hood National Forest's Salmon River
Trail (which leads to Goat Creek) takes hikers on a journey through
a mossy, old-growth forest next to the scenic Salmon River. Our
intended Leave No Trace camping site lies about 2 miles along this
trail from the trail head which we intended to hike at dusk. Once
the weekend arrived, nature had other plans for us. A large rain
storm hit the area Friday afternoon dumping inches of rain upon the
mountain slopes with little hope of ending by our planned departure
time. Mr. Vermillion thus postponed our departure until Saturday
morning so that we would not have to hike in the rain.
By Saturday morning most of the rain showers had
slowed; however, more rain was expected and the freezing level had
dropped to just 5,000 feet (elevation at the camp site was 3,900
feet). Instead of canceling the outing we decided to setup a base
camp at a campground near the trail head and then if the weather
cooperated we could still hike portions of the trail. Here are some
pictures of this outing.
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Every hike has
to start out with a meeting place... |
| ...and a good
breakfast to build up that energy so that we can complete
the hike. |
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The beginnings
of base camp. |
| C.J. and Nick
setting up their tent. |
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Once camp was
setup, we had a flag raising ceremony. |
| Thanks C.J.
for your presentation on Leave No Trace! Now we can all
respect the wilderness areas we hike through. |
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C.J., Russel,
Mr. Pollard, and
Dr. DesJardins went with Bryan on a five mile hike to
complete one of the requirements for Bryan's 2nd class rank.
And...congratulations Bryan for completing all of your
remaining requirements for your Tenderfoot rank! |
| With no clean
water available we needed to filter water for drinking and
cooking. |
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Chow time...can
Mr. Vermillion cook that?
He did and it tasted excellent! |
| Somehow
everyone found room for dessert. |
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In keeping with
tradition, each scout and adult that participates in a
Troop 542 backpack outing receives a bell to hang on their
backpack. Pictured here is the bell for Goat Creek 2004. |
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