Thoughts and reflections/Troop Historian (hikes and more)

April 2021

Duncan Knob hike (preparation for Philmont). April 2021, by Harold Heller (for photos, please view attached word document). 

Earlier this Month, the Troop embarked on a journey atop Duncan Knob in Luray, Virginia.  I asked our Troop’s Duncan Knob experts (the scouts who participated in the hikes) to answer some questions about the treacherous journey. 

  “We all arrived at the parking lot around 8:30 and started the hike at 9.  The beginning of the trail was very flat and easy with a couple of switchbacks and creak crossings. The people at the front of the hike learned very soon that they would have to stop every once in a while to let the hikers behind catch up.  After about 3 miles we arrived at what looked like a very big campsite that could fit our whole troop, so we pitched our tents and dropped off some of the load for the big climb ahead.  It wasn’t long until we had to take a right onto the blue trail, which had the hardest climb of the day.  The climb would be as high as two Washington monuments in just a quarter of a mile. We took breaks every 200 yards for people to catch their breath.”

  “We took a 15 minute break near the summit for everyone to drink some water.  When we reconvened, we headed up the white trail. The only thing in the way of us getting to the top of the mountain was a huge rock scramble.”

“I started up the rocks very slowly choosing my footing carefully because some of them would move, and using my hands when I needed extra stability.  When I got to the top of Duncan Knob the view was amazing”

 “The breeze was refreshing after the long hike up. Everyone ate their lunches at the top and gathered for a group photo.” Before we left, some scouts found a very small cave which led to another great view and a baby sweetgum tree, which we happily broke the branches off to smell its wonderful ‘root beer’ aroma.”

 “After lunch we headed down the boulders at a slower and steadier pace because going down was much harder than going up. Then we got to the bottom of the trail and all regrouped to start heading down the hill. The front of the line's pace became very fast and they had to stop frequently. Also as we walked down we started to see less and less rocks. The front of the group also started to sing different songs which helped keep spirits up. The sea shanty got stuck in my head for the next day.   When we arrived at our last big decline and before we descended we realized that many scouts were out of water. I donated half a liter of water and others donated as well. Then we started the decline. It felt a little relaxing to be going downhill because I was using less energy and not sweating as much. But this part of the trail was more open to sunlight so we had to be careful to not get sunburned by using sunscreen or covering up with long sleeves. The ground started to get flatter and we could hear the stream a bit better, meaning we were getting closer to our campsite.”

 “When we got to the campsite, most of the scouts were without water. Thankfully, some of them had water filters. We then cooked dinner and sat by the campfire to do ‘Rose, Bud, Thorn’ (Scouts say what they liked about the hike, what they are excited for in the future, and what they could have done better) and vote for who would lead us at Philmont (Congrats Matteo).

 It started to rain at 8pm, so we went to our tents early.  It rained all night and my gear got soaked. When I woke up, I noticed everyone had the same problem. Every tent was in a puddle of water.” We cooked breakfast and grudgingly put on our wet packs and headed back to parking lot.”

 Once we made it back onto the trail we noticed that it had turned into a giant stream. It was good I had waterproof boots and everybody else did too. We got very muddy because there was no way to avoid the water. We just had to walk through it. Next, there was a creak crossing but the dilemma was that it had flooded overnight and the stepping stones we used to cross the first time were fully submerged. Collin then found a tree trunk crossing upstream with a rope attached for stability to cross and everyone used that to get across dry. The rest of the way the trail was just very muddy until we arrived at the parking lot.”

“Something different I will do on future hikes is bring a larger rain tarp and more water, since my three liters of water ran out during the hike.  All in all, it was a great experience.”