Well, the Washington crew is also back from their two week adventure in the Pacific Northwest! Seven scouts and four leaders spent three days exploring Olympic National Park by car, backpacked for 6 days and 61 miles through some of the most isolated parts of the park, and then enjoyed all the Seattle had to offer, from a sunset kayaking trip to the Space Needle to touring a active duty missile destroyer during Fleet Week.

For me, the highlight had to be the backpacking. I’m very proud of everyone who made it through the backpacking (smiling pretty much the whole time). We had bees stings, blisters, bruises, and sunburn. We climbed some big ridges, dodged a wildfire, went for a swim in an ice cold river, balanced on logs across rivers, and a few accidentally went sledding on their packs down a snow bank. We had amazing views from mountain passes, slept next to a river every night (four nights without company!), and went 36 hours without seeing another person.

Olympic National Park, you were an amazing adventure.