Camp Constantin

Summer camp is long over and school has started. It has been such a busy summer that I have not had the time to sit and update my blog. Here are some of the many pictures of Camp Constantin. After blogging mutliple times on the same subject I thought I would try this collage so I could display more pictures and do one post.

Beloved took 5 merit badge classes - Camping, Canoeing, Wilderness Survival, Archery and Photography. Some of the photos here are his. One of the requirements for the photography MB is taking 20 photos, print and display them. He completed 4 at camp - the camping MB has one requirement left - cooking meals for his patrol.

I didn't get pictures of the one place I should have - at the top of Johnson's Peak. This is a 5 mile hike. There is the most incredible view of Camp Constantin, Camp Grady Spruce and Possum Kingdom Lake. If you survive to the top then you're rewarded with the local legend of gold found and lost.

In the bottom row of photos, coming through the trees, is a picture of JC. Now this young man talked me into going on this hike. He said all week Mrs. J you will just love this. Its a great hike, the view is incredible. What this young rascal didn't tell me was it was 5 miles - no big deal really.

You start out in front of the camp office and head out on a pleasant hike, everyone is laughing, talking and even jogging. When you come to the cut off to begin your acsent everyone is stopped and told to drink some water and given some safety rules about sliding and falling rocks. I begin to get an idea I might have bit off more than I could chew.

The trail is narrow and we go in single file and then you round the corner and look straight up. This was the moment my young guide had waited for - the look on my face of "You got to be kidding!" I had my trusty hiking staff and I set myself to the task of climbing. Reader, I tell you by the time I had made it to the first plateau I was huffing and puffing, my left arm had gone completely numb, and when I sat down for a rest I became dizzy. . . and I am out of water!

Now mind you the rest of the group appears to be a herd of mountain sheep. The one thing I wasn't doing was confessing my distress - I could just imagine the 100 or so scouts I was with practicing first aid on me and what they might do to get me off this "little" peak. My guide had plenty of water which he shared generously. Beloved was with me, well he would get way ahead and then come back and check on me. My trusty and tricky young guide, God bless him, stayed with me.

When I began this climb I was worried about my knees, but my knees were fine it was my lungs that were going to explode. I am stubborn though and kept breathing er...hyperventilating my way to the top. We did come to nice easy trails and get a little break, but then there were rocks to crawl over. When I finally made it to the top and heard the legend and saw the view I knew it was all good. As I was sitting looking at the view I realized I had not brought my camera. Honestly, though I don't think I could have carried it - it may have been what killed me.

So if you want to see the view, put on your hiking boots, grab your water bottle and head out to Camp Constantin - there is a trip every week. Take me a picture or two when you get there.