I went with W on our third backpacking trip with his Boy Scout troop. It was to Little Jimmy, in the San Gabriel Mountains. It’s our third intro to backpacking trip with this troop, and of the three, it was probably the easiest: 2.1 miles from parking to destination, about 800 ft elevation change.
That doesn’t mean it was easy, though. At least not for me.
We got a ride with Bill, who is our troop’s tour coordinator. His son was unable to go at the last minute. We were also supposed to give a ride to L, one of W’s patrolmates and also schoolmate, but he also cancelled at the last minute. W was disappointed — as was I — because nobody else from his patrol went on the trip.
Fred, one of the dads and ASMs, had one of soles on one of his hiking boots fall off at the heel during the hike up, so he took off his socks and put them on the outside. That didn’t work long afterward, when someone finally found some duct tape in their packs. The duct tape wasn’t a permanent solution, either.
After we set up our tent at the camping site and had some sandwiches for lunch, W, exhausted, took a nap.
Mid-afternoon, most of us hiked from our campsite to Mt. Islip, where we got a panoramic view all the way from Los Angeles in the south to the desert to the north. W and the other boys found a geocache at the peak and left messages.
The dads got a group photo, and one dad joked “This is the saving-my-marriage photo!” (e.g. proving he really was out backpacking with his son).
The return on Sunday was much easier — downhill most of the way, though my joints took a pounding. We got cans of root beer at the end, which was like ambrosia after that trip.