Troop Leader/Advisor Evaluation, Fifty Miler outing to the Emigrant Wilderness, August, 1984.

PLANNING: All planning, except for the route design which was proposed by troop advisor Bob Bourdet, was done by the girls attending a series of seven formal meetings and several informal working sessions. Assignment of t responsibilities was as follows:

On the outing, the troop was organized into two patrols, each completely self-sufficient in terms of equipment, food and shelter, the girl’s (lead by Dorothy) and the men’s. In general, the planning went exceptionally smoothly – everyone accepted tasks willingly and everything was done on time, due in large part to the maturity of the girls participating. Although all route proposals were made by adults, the final selection was made by the girls who had previously laid down a series of criteria which they wanted met. For the first time, the trip included a lay-over day without hiking – a time for relaxation, fishing (unsuccessfully) and "kicking back". We changed our route during the hike, adapting to the extra hours put into some unplanned (and very slow) cross-country hiking caused by our having lost a difficult trail. Having run into this difficulty on the last two "50’s", we anticipated it this year, and agreed in our planning meetings that we would adapt our route if necessary to avoid the forced hike into camp which the "survivors" of the Desolation Wilderness 10 hour hike of 1982 remember so vividly.

All paperwork (application for wilderness permit, parental permission forms. Plan 3 health insurance application, Notification of Intent to Travel and Readiness to Travel, etc.) was submitted by troop advisors.

FOOD: Without a doubt, the food this year was the best of our four "50’s". Denise (with some help from her troop advisor mother and from Cindy’s mom) outdid herself. The menu was varied, quantities wer more than adequate, fruit was used extensively for nearly all hot meals, freeze-dried backpacker’s meals were supplemented by supermarket items, meals were well-balanced – Denise gets an "outstanding" for her effort. The food generated so much interest among the man this year that we plan to take along spices and items such as dried onion flakes and dried mushrooms next year to turn the meals into real treats.

As usual, the girls gathered together shortly before the hike to bundle all food into taped packages, each package being a complete meal for a patrol. In this way, sorting through a backpack full of loose food packages, searching for all the items for your meal, was avoided. Each of us was issued meal packages in rotation, so that at no time during the hike did anyone have to carry more weight in food than did anyone else. Each of us carried a printed copy (miniature, of course, to save weight) of the week’s menu.

On the Thursday evening before we left, we conducted our annual pack inspection of each girl’s pack, making sure that she had everything on the list and nothing else (except for the traditional 6 ounces of "contraband" for which no accounting must be made). All girl’s back’s weighed in between 27 and 30 pounds, the limit set four years ago. The men’s packs weighed in just under 40 pounds, the difference being made up by emergency equipment, larger and heavier clothing, etc.

Our only potential problem this year was in our supply (or lack of it) of toilet paper and sanitary supplies – we came out of the week-long hike with zero supply left of both. We need to increase our allowance of these lightweight items next year.

As part of our medical preparation for this outing (as in years past), each girl and adult was required to participate in a series of prep hikes to toughen our muscles, hearts and lungs. These prep hikes included two 22+ mile weekend hikes at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, a bike outing, a Saturday day-hike at Mount Madonna county park and a series of Wednesday evening hikes up dusty, steep ""Prasek’s Ridge", above Saratoga Springs. These prep hikes, except for the bike outing, were taken with loaded packs. A side benefit of these prep hikes is the opportunity they provide for Cadettes not qualified to go on the "50", an d for young adult graduates of the troop, to participate in a troop activity during the summer.

OTHER IMPRESSIONS: Emigrant Wilderness is a magnificent beautiful place, except for the need to limit the number of backpackers and to eliminate the "horse people" (as has been done in the Desolation Wilderness). The girls worked very well as a team, entirely independent of the troop advisors. All of us seemed to enjoy the unexpected challenge of our cross-country hike, assisted by topo maps, compass, and lines (to lower girls and packs over the many difficult spots). Despite the challenge of that 9 hour day with packs, no girl and no adult complained. We slept b a different lake or stream each night (except for the two days at Long Lake), we enjoyed a campfire (a rare treat for us) each night, we practiced "low impact backpacking", we saw endless wildflowers above 8500 feet, we had good weather – the girls of the "Fighting 253^rd" once again proved the wisdom of Virgil’s insight when he wrote