We had our pre-trip meeting on Thursday evening where we met the participants, went over the trip itinerary, and gave out backpacks. It was interesting to find out that only two of the twelve participants were male, that we had three foreign exchange students, and that most of the participants were freshmen. Most of the participants seemed to not know each other prior to the pre-trip meeting.
Tommy and I met at the outdoor center at 2:45pm on Friday to finalize preparations. We checked the gear that had been set out by the Outdoor Center staff, selected what food to take with us, and then divided all the food, tents, and group gear into 15 piles of approximately equal weight and size. We had two group water pouches (one 6L and one 4L), so those piles were obviously heavier.
As the participants arrived we gave them sleeping bags and pads to add to their packs. Then we told them to each select a pile and also put that into their bag. We departed at 4pm as planned.
Traffic was rough leaving Austin, but the participants in the Suburban I was driving were talkative and seemed to be getting along great considering they had just met. We reached the Fredricksburg Whataburger at 6pm, where we stopped for a quick dinner. I enjoyed some chicken nuggets and fries, and we got back on the road around 6:30pm. After dinner most of the car slept although Sara stayed awake with me and we chatted some. I followed Tommy's Suburban the entire way. Once we reached the park we filled out the after hours registration cards and parked by the trail head for the West Trail. There was a boy scout truck projecting flying eagle designs into the skies using lasers by the trail head, which we though was a bit excessive and certainly not LNT since they were causing light pollution as well as pollution from the gas generator they were running to power the lasers.
Lost Maples SNA trail map
Once we had our packs on, we headed for back country primitive campground E. After hiking 1.73 miles (with one uphill climb), we reached the campground, where we found only one family set up. We selected an area, and then set up our five tents. Tommy led a demonstration on how to set up the 3-person tents, but broke a tent pole while setting up the tent so we took that tent as the 'guide tent'. We helped the participants set up their tents after finishing ours.
Once the tents were set up, we all walked out from under the cedar trees to look up at the stars. It was a new moon and a clear night, so we could see so many stars! Tommy studies astronomy, so he pointed out some constellations. We could also see the Milky Way! This was only the second place I'd been able to see it (the first was Big Bend), so that was pretty near. Eventually some of us walked back to the composting toilet 0.25 miles away, where we ran into some boy scouts who rudely shined their lights into our faces and called us Sasquatch. Not a good way to greet others on the trail. Most of us went to bed around 11am.
Tommy started the night sleeping outside the tent, but he opted to crawl in around 3am since the bugs were too bad outside. This forced Sara to the middle of the tent and me to the right side. When we awoke at 7:30am (after snoozing our 7am alarm since it was still pretty dark out), we noticed that Tommy had a dead mosquito on his face that he had apparently killed during the night! We started packing up and started water boiling. We made some coffee and oatmeal with the hot water. We left camp around 9:30am.
We had a short downhill stretch before walking through Mystic Canyon. After 0.88 miles we reached the turn-off for the 2.37 West Loop Trail. My backpack was substantially heavier Saturday than it had been Friday, since some people in our group did not claim some food items and tent parts when we packed up Saturday morning so the guides were all forced to carry more. Personally I ended up with almost an entire tent (rain fly, tent, stakes), oranges, and cutting boards in addition to my original supplies. Feeling the additional weight, I offered to stay with all fifteen backpacks while the rest of the group went on the loop. I had forgotten my hiking poles at the UT Outdoor Center, so my knees were already getting sore. I talked to the many groups passing by and took some pictures during the hour it took the rest of my group to complete the loop. We had a small snack once they returned, and then hiked the 1.11 miles to the lake at primitive campground C. Once at the lake, we stopped for lunch.
Lunch was pita bread with sausage, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, oranges, and cookies. I sliced the three blocks of cheese and tomatoes while Sara sliced the sausage and a participant sliced the avocados. I only ate cheese and avocado, since I really can not stand pita bread. After lunch we relaxed and some people played with some of the dogs around the camp. We saw some fish and snakes in the pond! As we were getting ready to leave, about three different boy scout troops arrived. This caused us to discuss (1) how some of the troops seem to have a wide range of ages an (2) how we saw so many boyscout troops and boys out with their families but no girl scout troops and fewer girls out with their families.
After lunch we struggled up a 0.35 mile steep trail to the plateau overlooking our lunch spot. This was a tough climb! We stopped for pictures at an overlook, and then continued 1.37 miles to primitive camp ground A. We had to endure a short but steep downhill segment shortly before camp, and rested in a grassy meadow for a short while after the downhill stretch. Then we completed a short hike to primitive camp ground A, where we picked a grassy area near the trail to set up camp. Sara and I quickly put up our tent, and then most of the group walked to a stream on the other side of the camp ground to filter enough water to fill both water bags and all the personal water containers. The guys used the older filter to fill the water bags while the girls took turns pumping, holding the input tube in the water, and holding the output tube in each personal water bottle. I spent the majority of the time holding the output tube. It took us about 45 minutes to fill all the containers.
Once back at the camp ground, Tommy and I started cooking dinner while Sara rested after taking Benadryl for her mild rash and itching. Sara, Tommy, and I thought the macaroni and cheese dinner turned out great - box mac and cheese is a comfort food - but unfortunately most of the participants did not seem to enjoy it. After dinner most of us hurried back up the steep trail to the plateau overlooking the lake and primitive camp ground C to watch the sunset. Only about a third of our group made it in time to see the sunset, but the sky was pretty even after sunset. After enjoying the views, we all made our way back down the trail in the dark using our headlamps. Most of the group stayed up for a few more hours sitting in a circle and telling 'scary' stories. We had a great group!
The next morning we had oatmeal, bagels, coffee, oranges, and hot cocoa (as in, adding hot water to cocoa powder - thanks Tommy!). I noticed a trash bag hanging from a tree, and although I did not think we had brought any trash bags, decided to throw trash into it after noticing Sara put trash into it. Later Ian saw someone else putting orange peels into it and realized that we had mistakenly been using his clothing trash bag as a real trash bag. Learning lesson: do not hang your clothing in a trash bag from a tree and not expect others to throw trash into it. He took it well, but insisted on throwing away everything - clothing included - once we reached the dumpster at the trail head.
We had a quick hike out after breakfast. While the group waited with Sara at a picnic table and used the bathroom at the trail head, Tommy and I walked to the parking lot near the other trail head to retrieve the vehicles.
We had planned to stop at the Stonehenge II replica in Hunt, TX on the way home. However, no one had enough cell service to get good directions before the turn off, so we decided to follow the printed directions home after stopping for some snacks at a gas station.
It's an interesting experience now that I'm forming some strong opinions about ecological, sustainable, and ethical outdoor practices and tourism because I struggle with how to approach situations where I'm talking with people who are doing things I do not agree with seemingly because they do not know any better. I find myself struggling to find a good, non-confrontational response and instead just remain silent. How do I find my voice without causing conflict and upsetting people? How do I present my opinions in a compelling manner? A few examples from this weekend: Sara saying how great a 'snake farm' that we passed on I-35 was, two participants pooping in the woods instead of in the nearby composting toilet (one because they said the toilet smelled too bad, another because they claimed they could not find the toilet), people talking about how great riding camels and elephants were on trips abroad, and both participants and other campers getting too close to/poking at crawdads and snakes. As a guide I feel like it's my responsibility to educate people, but at the same time I do not want to upset anyone. It's tough.
Guiding lessons learned / Pro tips:
- Tent demos are great, since they both teach the participants, decrease frustration, and speed up the process of setting up tents
- When backpacking, carefully allocate items across participants
- Separate food items across people by breakfast/lunch/dinner?
- Try to separate tents/group gear evenly
- Make sure to only take gear and food that we need
- Tell participants why surveys are important
- Bring some extra large zip lock bags and a few trash bags
- Repackage much more food in the OC before leaving to cut down on size and trash
- Actively find ways to bring LNT into discussions more
Stick insect on my tent
Our group taking a break in Mystic Canyon
Near the turn-off for the West Loop Trail
The group overlooking the valley and primitive campground C
Overlooking the valley and primitive campground C
One of the few trees that was changing colors during our visit
