Weekly Mileage #82 and Wood Badge #2

Wood Badge ax and log totem and the McLaren tartan

This last week was another busy one, but this coming one should be a bit calmer.

I took Sunshine in for a checkup. She needed an updated physical so she can get a couple more teeth pulled- they just aren't falling out and there's no space in her mouth. She's in the bottom 3% for height, which is lower than it was at her last appointment, which has the doctor a bit worried. She has to go in for a height/weight check in 6 months so we can monitor where she's at. She's at an age where we can do something if she's not growing as expected, but if we wait a couple years, that won't be the case.

I had an appointment with my orthopedic doc and he said I can start weaning off the boot, but only on flat, stable surfaces at first. I thought about bringing a shoe to wear at the indoor portions of Wood Badge, but just opted to wear the boot the entire time. I'd be tempted not to put the boot back on, but the camp is hilly and very rocky and not at all what I should be walking on without the boot.

We haven't been able to pinpoint any other reason for my constant exhaustion, so I was referred to a sleep lab. I had that appointment last week, and I now have an appointment for an overnight sleep study in December. Depending on what that finds, I may or may not stay at the sleep lab for a daytime narcolepsy study after the overnight portion.

Wood Badge prep continued last week as well. I worked on my ticket, fleshing out the details for each goal. I went grocery shopping for our food (we cooked our own meals this weekend, and I volunteered to do the shopping for my patrol to make sure everything was gluten free). I tidied up my uniform patches and re-hemmed my pants (they were too long and seriously bugging me). I packed all my gear. And I worked on the display for our group presentation.

The second session of Wood Badge was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We had to arrive even earlier this weekend, so I was up at 3:15 am, loading the car and heading out. We camped at campsites with tent platforms, but we provided our own tents and did our own cooking.

my little corner of our campsite

Since I was camping without little ones, I decided to give hammock sleeping a try. Of course, the forecast was calling for colder weather than we've had yet this season, so I had to make sure I was properly prepared. I had a mosquito net, rain fly, hammock quilt (hangs under the outside of the hammock, like a taco shell, for warmth), a sleeping pad, and my sleeping bag. As my troop guide said, it's an awful lot of gear for something that's supposed to be simple and easy.

from outside in: mosquito netting, hammock quilt, hammock, sleeping pad (not visible), sleeping bag. Not set up yet: the rain fly to cover everything.

I also brought my tent for my gear and as a backup sleeping location. This proved to be a very good decision, as Saturday night we were hit with rain, high winds, and temps in the high 30s. I ended up quickly grabbing my sleeping bag, pad, and quilt and running for the tent as the rain pelted down. If it had been just rain or just wind, I wouldn't have gone into the tent, but I decided my chances of getting wet  on a cold night were just too high with both wind and rain.

embers from our campfire, shortly before the rain started pelting down, driving us into our tents

It's been 20+ years since I last successfully went tent camping in the cold, but I stayed warm all night and slept pretty well. Mr M and I had an unsuccessful attempt at camping at the Grand Canyon in December a number of years ago. We froze and ended up sitting in the car, waiting for the sun to rise so we could take a few pictures before getting back on the road.

This weekend was much calmer than the first weekend, which was nice. We were still busy, but we also had more time with our patrols during meal prep and such, so our schedule wasn't quite as full.

Friday we did a lot of walking between our campsite and the indoor learning center. Combined with the very early morning and lack of sleep from not being able to fall asleep, despite getting to bed at a decent hour, and I was very tired. Not as tired as I was on Friday of the first weekend, but it was a close second.

I'm not counting hiking around camp as actual hikes, since the distance is broken up by classes and meals, rather than being uninterrupted. I am still counting the mileage in my tally, though.

Now that the Wood Badge training sessions are over, I can take a deep breath and get caught up on some of the things that got pushed to the back burner during the last two and a half weeks. I've got my plan of action for my 5 ticket items and should be able to have them finished by this summer, if not sooner.

My patrol, with our course director (in red), at the end of Wood Badge. I don't think any of us were truly warm all over until we drove home in our heated vehicles. It was a cold day!

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2 miles walked around stores
Friday- 6.5 miles hiked around camp
Saturday- 2.6 miles hiked around camp
Sunday- 2 miles hiked around camp
total- 13.1 miles

22 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

315.84 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
583.68 miles total