Freeze Out!

What goes around comes around, and once again I am in Scouts, this time as the Assistant Scoutmaster for the 12-13 year-olds.  

As W. Somerset Maugham once said, "Tradition is a guide and not a jailer."  However, you just gotta do some of the things that have stood out in the past, including making Scouts really non-dangerously cold on the annual Freeze Out!

This year we opted for Hawksbill Mountain on the edge of Linville Gorge, one of the more picturesque places in North Carolina.

It took the usual hour or so to hike to the top from the road, and all seemed great as the temperature wandered around in the 30's and 40's when the sun was up.

And then the sun went down.

And so did the temperature - down to 10 degrees, and the wind kicked in around midnight.  When I got up at 2 AM to check on my young charges, I found three of them still yucking it up in their tent.  The fourth frightened me by not answering for a minute, but he woke up and said he was warm.  The other adult had opted to sleep in a hammock, but admitted in the morning that he got a bit woozie when the wind picked up.
The next morning was very cold,

and we packed up and headed down the mountain.  

The guys voted for 'brunch' at Chick-Fil-A instead of trying to cook something on top of the windy mountain.  Sheesh!

Anyway, back to going outdoors with the Young Men.  Stay tuned for more adventures.

And meanwhile, we hope your electric blanket is working.
Dave