Why go on a 30 Miler?

Everything! The dirt, sunsets/rises, the scenery, but especially the people. For the whole week you look at the same 10 people, yet even at our worst, they are all still your friends. Oh - and the shower after is probably the best shower you could possibly ever have.

Tina SPL 1995

This years 30 Miler took place in the southern Yosemite and Emigrant Wilderness areas. The total distance actually covered with full packs was about 30 miles with additional miles covered by some of the scouts during day hikes without packs.

Preparation for this annual event included 25 (minimum) prep hike miles (with packs) selected from about 80 scheduled miles and one prep camp at Salt Springs Reservoir in the Sierras near Mokulmne Wilderness.

This hike preceeded our troop's Fifty Miler by two weeks. As a result much of the food planning and equipment inventory was done in conjunction with the Fifty Miler.

Financially we nearly broke even with a gain of $38.44 which will be placed in the troop account to help offset the loss incurred by this year's 50 Miler (the funds from the two Milers were commingled providing little distinction between the two).

On the hike, all went well and it was enjoyed by all. We had no injuries to report.

The planning paid off and very few suggestions for improvement will be passed on to next year's group.

All of the scouts have been polled and all enjoyed the outing and are looking forward to next years Milers.

ROUTE

The hike was designed to be sufficiently rigorous to push the scouts close to their limits of strength for short periods of time during each hiking day. Three of the eight days were cross country hiking days and three were trail hiking days. Most days covered about 5 miles however we had some very short hikes from one lake to another. We never encountered a situation where a scout didn't want to continue with a hike but they were always happy when we reached our destination. The effort expended during the hikes was commensurate with that of the prep hikes, however, our prep hikes were on improved trails or dirt roads that didn't prepare the scouts for the rocky, more difficult to walk, wilderness trails and cross country.

I recommend this hike for future years where the scouts are as strong and skilled as the ones this year. This trip should be advertised as a moderately difficult Thirty Miler through very beautiful country. The two layover days were welcome and should not be eliminated for future hikes on this same trail however, if Cherry Creek is not part of the trip (as it was eliminated this year due to unsafe high water) an additional lake, Spotted Fawn or Many Islands, should be included.

The Yosemite and Emigrant Wilderness areas were finally selected after considering many other areas. The criteria for selection included:

1) Route not to exceed 8,000 feet if possible and not to have camps located over 8,000 feet in order to minimize the possibility of altitude sickness which is more likely for young women entering puberty.

2) Keep the driving time to a minimum.

3) Provide alternate paths that may provide more or less rigorous hikes depending on the scout's performance.

4) Water available at each camp.

The lower Emigrant and Yosemite met all of these requirements.

Certain modifications were made to the proposed route due to conditions observed on the trail. There were two major considerations that had to be taken into account while on the trail. The snow was late to melt and could have caused a safety hazard if we were forced to negotiate it in rough terrain. The second was the high water level of Cherry Creek in the narrow canyon. Receiving daily report from the InterNet prior to the trip and frequent updates from the local rangers gave us a good insight as to what to expect on the trail but the best information came from first hand observations. When we approached the Cherry Creek Canyon we determined that the hike down that canyon would be unsafe and that Kibbie Ridge was nearly snow free, providing a good alternate path home. This was the only intentional change of the route. As noted in the Chronology, we stayed at an un-named lake the second night rather than Flora Lake due to a navigational error and the lack of energy to continue.

Map of the 1995 Emigrant & Yosemite Miler
Elevation plot for the 1995 Thirty Miler
Chronology of the 1995 Thirty Miler - by Heber
The scout's evaluation of the Thirty miler
Trip Journal provided by the scout's