Jan28th19 - GoMani/KB GitHub Wiki

Scout Hiking @ Sanborn Park

After Akhil's Tamil class @ DeAnza college, We rushed back to home. We quickly finished our lunch at home.There we go ! , we are on our way to Sanborn .

It was a 15 minutes journey from our home at Saratoga Road. We crossed the colorful Saratoga Downtown ,decorated with lights on our way. We reached the park around 12.40 pm.I was imagining a $3 entrance fee to the park. Usually I dont carry money on my wallet. Thanks to the purchase of mattress we did couple of days ago, I had some money left on the wallet.Surprisingly the park had an entrance fee of $6, later I realized it was worth.

We really don't know where our den has laid their camp. we just parked close to the entrance.There was no signal at my phone and I don't have anybodys phone number either. Then our eyes went on looking is there any group of children wearing scout uniform. Hurray!! We found some blue colors moving here and there and doing come cooking. Yes, the boys planned to cook some food before they hike. Since there is no vegetarian option, we wanted to skip that part. we joined the group and went with usual greetings with known faces. They were eating the Roman cup noodles, they cooked. We were offered to take the food. Akhil took some corn and I enjoyed some cut apples.

After the lunch, we started our hike. We planned a 3 mile hike. Someone was saying the hike is little flat and no elevation. Oh, I thought it would be boring, but I love to walk on the trails on natures. I love the aroma of fresh air on the forest , the calmness and enjoy watching the ecosystem.

Boys have chosen their buddies on the walk. They took the role for leader, first aid and caboose.We have been taught the whistle code. One blow indicates we need to stop and three means we need help. We started walking on the muddy trail. Surprisingly the trail had little elevation and some narrow paths for an adventurous hike.There were some little streams making a nice sound. We saw a banana slug. Finding a banana slug has become custom on scout hiking and boys enjoy that.

The boys were asked to find new things on their way. Someone showed us the poisonous oak. I heard if we touch it starts itching and causes burn. We kept walking for an hour and took couple of breaks for water and rest. The best advise here is never walk on the last of the group. The first part reaches early and take a rest on the break until the last part of the group.So the last person never gets enough time to take break.After reaching close to one and half miles , we decided to return.

Usually these trails have loop so that we keep walking and reach the place where we started. But we had not completed that distance. At the end of return, it was the time for pictures.Boys as usual used the trees to show their origin.On the camping area, we planned for a dinner. It was a hobo pack. We wrapped the veggies and put it on the fire to cook. Also, there was a demo on making cobble cake on cast iron. The preparation involved mixing 7up with cake mix and making a batter. Looked scary, but once it was made the boys enjoyed cake and it all gone in a minute. Nothing left on the oven.

We came to the end of session, yes it was den's meeting note and then boys cleaned the place. We need to leave place cleaner than what was left. Finally we said bye to friends . It was a wonderful trip.We enjoyed it thoroughly.