The Mind of Mr. M

First, let me say that they all came back home alive. I can't tell you that I was prepared for the experience of snow camping. I have never done it before, let alone be responsible for someone else's children while snow camping. It was far better than I expected. Here is a picture of me scouted up...and the expression is, "what was I thinking?"




First it was cold...it got down to 7 degrees at the location we were camping and the kicker is we all slept outside. Yep, not in tents, not in vehicles but out under a clear night sky in the Utah mountains up above Heber City. If I sound a little proud, it is because I am. The boys that went up ranged in age from 12 to 16 and it was COLD!! I can honestly say that I have never been that cold in my life and part of the reason for that is my inexperience led me to assume that plain boots were good enough.

When we got there we set up camp. They had the roads plowed but everything else was under snow. Here is a picture of the dusk arrival.

You can see in the background, the frozen Jordanelle Reservoir. There are a couple other bodies of water on the way up that actually had people out ice-fishing on them.

As far as setting up camp, everything was covered in snow. We actually had to shovel out the one picnic table and cabana we were going to eat at. The picture below is our bed.


I slept to the far left. One thing was for sure, we had good food and tons of it. For dinner we had foil dinners that the boys got to make themselves. I had cut up all the vegetables and such before we left and used a food storage sealer to pack it all up...it was a good thing too because I don't think a single one of us would have taken off our gloves to cut anything up. In the morning we had breakfast burritos....nothing is better than campfire hashbrowns...the cut up cubes, not the shredded stuff. After freezing all night, those seemed to warm everyone right up.

After breakfast, the boys got to go hang out with all the other scouts from around the area playing games and other stuff. This is a picture of all but two of the boys that went...with the steam coming off the water behind them. They were good sports.

Ok, so now for the moment that tied it all together for me...

When I was a kid I told my mom that I wanted to be an astronomer. I loved the stars and constellations. It made me feel like I was part of something big. I can fondly recall laying on my back looking up at the stars and wondering if there was someone out there that was looking back at me.

So...there I was last night freezing my butt off. All the kids were wrapped up in their bags. I did one last round to make sure they were all alive and warm. Then I climbed into my bag and tucked my frozen right foot up under my left knee. Pulled my beanie down snug, and cinched up my coat's hood around my head. Pulled a canvas tarp up over me and my sleeping bag, leaving only my eyes exposed. Exhaled a sigh of relief and there in that seven degree weather as my glasses started to un-fog was the most beautiful sky I had ever seen and for a moment I was a kid again...and it crossed my mind, I wonder if there is a Scoutmaster out there staring back a me. ;-D