One of the big stressors of the summer for Troy (as if there wasn't enough stress already just from the room alone), was planning and executing a backpacking trip for the 12-18 year old young men of our stake. Backpacking can be so wonderful. And it can be so awful, especially with the wrong equipment and/or food. He worked really hard all spring to get information out to the families about what kinds of things they'd need, and tracking down things for people who didn't have them. It took a lot of time and energy. And not everyone got the messages about what would work and what wouldn't. But it all worked out.
One of the last things he did to prepare was to go hike the trail there and back the week before the actual camp so he would really for sure know the way and what pitfalls might be found. And who was the perfect buddy for the day trip? Romney of course.
They left at about 5 in the morning, all saddled up with packs of food and water and trekking poles. And I think they had a total ball together, even though they hiked about 13 miles that day. Here are a ton of photos ....not in the correct order.
The trip with Romney was a great success, and almost prepared Troy for the days with the young men. I think Troy would report that the hardest thing about the trip was being in charge of several young men who were only 12 or 13, had never been backpacking before, and needed to hike six and a half miles up a mountain with a pack and weren't prepared to do it. It took a lot of patience to get them up there. Let's just say that the lead group took about 3 1/2 hours to get to camp, and it took the last group, which Troy was with, almost 8. EIGHT HOURS.
I believe he would report that the best part of camp was seeing boys be out in nature with no screens or video games and just playing. There was very little scheduled time. There wasn't really any place they could go. They just fished and hiked and climbed rocks and pushed down dead tree stumps and hollered a lot. Exactly and precisely what boys need and thrive on.
It took a lot out of Troy, but I know it did a lot for that group of kids.
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