Wheeler Backpacking (Day 2; July 15, 2006; Sam's birthday). Here's the Albuquerque Hobbs group at the top of New Mexico (Wheeler Peak, 13,161 ft above sea level). Sam is 17 years old today!
On the summit, the boys were more interested in feeding this Marmot than in doing the "On Target" activity. "On Target" is scouting event where scouts signal each other from one mountain top to another. We chose the highest point in New Mexico. For the"On Target" activity, we used 1 foot by 1 foot mirrors to signal to another scout team on the Sandia Crest near Albuqueruqe NM. Albuqueque is over 100 miles from the trailhead. One of the boys, Dillon, saw two flashes of light on the Sandia Mountain Range. I talked to the other scout leader on the Sandia Crest and he said he saw some small flashes with his binoculars.
On the way back to our camp, we saw a helicopter crash site. A few days before our hike, a police officer that was hiking in the vicinity got lost. A search and rescue team found the officer near horseshoe lake dehydrated and disorientated. Channel four news sent a helicopter to horseshoe lake to get the story. The helicopter had a rough landing because of the thin air at 12,500 feet. The motor lost power and the tail couldn't keep the helicopter stable. The blades hit the ground and the helicopter flipped over. On the way up to the summit, we saw the crash near horseshow lake. The boys and I decided to drop 1000 feet and check out the crash site. Here is Jacob near the Wheeler summit overlooking horseshow lake:

Here's Jacob with his back towards Wheeler Peak:
Here's a few shots of the crashed helicopter. A policeman had camped at the site to prevent people from disturbing the crash site. since the accident investigation had not been performed yet.
Since we hiked so far, we thought we would go to the lake and take a swim. On the way to the lake, Jacob stepped on a tuff of grass and twisted his ankle. Here is a shot of Jacob near a snow bank ready to take a cold swim. We wanted to keep the swelling in his ankle down. Jacob is one tough cookie, he hiked out of the lake basin, back to the camp and all the way home with a twisted ankle. We used my handy neckerchief to tie up his ankle.
Here's us swimming in an ice cold lake! So refreshing!
Three of the boys hiked out faster than the rest and played cards in the truck as they waited for the rest of the crew:
Here is our final three pictures, including Jacob's ankle after returning home:
This was one of the hardest 2 day backpacks we've ever done. We had alot of fun, saw alot of wildlife, and actually earned a Varsity Scout Letter and pin! I think we're ready for the 50 miler in August! We should start hiking all of the state high points! We have NM under our belts!