50 Miler: Here is a scan of my 50 miler badge that I earned with Sam and Jacob this summer. It was one of the most difficult backpacks because of the daily rain. We had alot of fun and learned to work as a team.

We decided to leave from our house at 5 am. Unfortuantely my alarm didn't go off and I was startled when I heard a knock on our door at about 4:55 am. I must have taken a shower in 2 minutes! Here is picture of some of the boys in the garage at about 5:00 am.


We drove to the top of Elk Mountain. Here is a picture of our group at the Skyline Trailhead. The trail elevation is at 12,000 feet.


This may be Jacob's last backpack trip before his mission:


Here is a shot of Sam with a grizzly:

After hiking about 7 miles, we were hit with hail about the size of marbles. The hail was crystal clear. I backed into a pine tree next to Sam to avoid the hail. I took one shot of Sam during the storm. Look at the large hail pieces on the ground next to the black rock:


After the hail, it started to rain hard. We prayed to find a camp spot and to not be hit by lightning. We ran and found the answer to our prayers. As we were drying out, the adult leaders were concerned about the kids not being prepared for the wet weather. Some of the kids only had cotton jeans and everyting was soaked. We camped here for two days, in order to dry out:

Finally, we were ready to go again. I brought a 10' by 10' rainfly, that we used to keep dry. Here is a picture of Sam ready to hike again:

Here's a picture of some of the guys ready to hike:


Here is Sam showing his muscles to "Baby D:"


It was clear enought to see Truchas Peak, the second highest peak in NM. We camped at a lake near the peak. Sam and I swam across the lake.


Here's Jacob:


Here are some black clouds:

We found a small airplane wreck on the skyline trail. The wreckage was spread all over the mountain:


We were literally, walking in the clouds:


Check out the fog:


Sam was prepared with his headband:


Jacob has my down coat to keep warm. The fog looks eery:


Cool shot of Jacob:


After hiking about 15 miles we finally found a great camping spot. Here is Patrick Davidson behind a smokeless, sootless fire. This is a picture we used in Patrick's eagle court of honor:


Here is a picture of Sam with Bro. Naegle (the ward clerk) :


Jacob profile before storm:


Getting ready to setup the rainfly


Under the rain fly, Sam is winning a hand of thirteen:


After the rain, some of the boys tossed a few rocks off a cliff. Rock throwing and muscle man posing is one of our favorite activities:

Lower Truchas lake.:


Sam after swimming in upper Truchas lake:


Sam just after hypothermia. I put dry clothes and let him use my coat. I probably saved his life, again:

Upper Truchas lake on Friday morning:

Trying to dry tent. It was too wet to dry our stuff out, so we decided to hike to the cars. 15 miles.

The creek feeding this lake flows under the rocks and you can here it gurgling under rocks.

Me coming out at the end of the 50 mile trail. I was wearing my raincoat since it was drizzling.

Our reward was a dinner at Blake's, a local fast food chain: