Awesome Windcave Hike

The scouts showed up at my house at 8 am this morning and we met for a brief time and discussed maps and using a compass.  I then gave them a list of animals and animal signs such as tracks or sounds that they needed to find in order to pass off one of the requirements.  Those who came were Kaleb, Tucker, Ben and Andrew.  Andrew and Ben brought their fathers Tom and Wayne, respectively. The pace we set was good and we went up in a decent amount of time.  The only injury right off the bat was Tucker tripping and hitting his knee but it was nothing.  Later Andrew had a sore spot starting on his ankle and we stopped and put moleskin on it.  That solved the problem.  Coming down, some of the boys had sore feet but overall we still made a good pace.  The highlight was throwing rocks over cliffs, but I think they liked the cave and waterfalls as well.  Another highlight was picking honeysuckle flowers and sucking the nectar out of them. 

Overlooking what I call the bread rock.  It looks like a loaf of bread with a slice of bread that has been cut and is laying on its side.  I have pictures of it in my other blog.  Tom is on the left, then Ben, Andrew, Tucker and Kaleb.

Not sure what Kaleb is doing here but maybe there was a pretty girl behind me and he got shy all of a sudden.

Just hiking up the trail

We come to the overlook where you can see the cave in the background.  There's a nice drop-off overlooking the valley we came up and the boys got a kick out of throwing rocks.  It was quite the drop below us so the rock throwing was good.

Not sure what Kaleb is doing here.  Maybe pretending he's a bigfoot?  Andrew in the background getting some moleskin on the sore spot

Tucker taking a shower. 

It was fun sticking our head in the waterfall.  Later when we came back down the water had stopped.  I believe this waterfall comes from snow melt and so I am wondering if the snow finished melting today.

Tucker, Kaleb and Andrew



Steep scramble to the mouth of the cave.  Ben and Tucker ahead of me and you can see Tom up to the right.  Wayne Andrew and Kaleb are way up there.

Tucker and Ben about to go in

Is it scary in there???

Wayne and Ben in the opening

Deeper in the cave

Tucker

Ben, Andrew and Wayne.  This is the spot where there is only a little hole to squeeze through.  It had a nice cold wind coming out of it.  It was a good place to rest.  There were drops hitting us from cracks in the ceiling.

This is how dark the cave was without any light.



Kaleb looks like a miner 49er.

Ben sitting by the little opening.  Andrew is next to him

Tucker coming out the little windy hole.  It hurt to crawl through that on our knees but once through it opened up a little.  We didn't go much further than that.

Tom coming out of the hole.  Sorry the photo is fuzzy.

Tucker and Andrew beyond the little hole we crawled through

This crack is as far as we went

The shiny wall

Tucker might need glasses here with his focusing.

Now he got it.  Me in the crack

Going to eat lunch by this waterfall.  The boys are trying to figure out how to cross the little stream.

This is a beautiful waterfall.

Tucker the great explorer.  Andrew looking over the edge.  This is where we ate lunch.

Not sure what Kaleb is doing again.  Maybe being a bigfoot?

Throwing rocks over the edge.

Lots of pretty flowers

Ben speeding away.

Ben picking flowers for his mom.  (Actually he was picking some honeysuckle to suck on and had a big bouquet of them)

One last rock throw over the edge as we head down.

Taking a nice cooling shower in the overhang waterfall.

Crossing the waterfall stream.  It was a little challenging.

Throwing rocks over the edge.

Overall it was a very enjoyable hike.  I enjoy these boys tremendously and wish that Antonio and Carson could have come.  I hope they learned a little about maps and compasses and a little more about wildlife, trees and plants.