The following images were taken on June 24-27, while the guys were deep in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. We climbed Bake Mountain on Thursday, June 25, and Novarupta on Friday, June 26. Baked Mountain was a challenge, but the guys never slowed down, and together we hiked up past the research station and along the crest of the mountain, all the way to the summit. WOW! What a view it was from there!
On June 26 we all left camp and hiked across the valley and explored Mount Novarupta, following the footsteps of the famous National Geographic explorers R.F. Griggs and C.N. Fenner. We went to the top, ate lunch, and even found the infamous "signature rock" where the explorer C.N. Fenner carved his initials into the mountain during the 1923 expedition. Details and a few photos from that original expedition can be found here---->1923 EXPEDITION
For meals, we ate well, and thanks to an airplane delivery we enjoyed a dinner of baked ham and mashed potatoes, combined with a Mountain House meal of Sweet & Sour Pork. For breakfast the next morning we ate corned beef hash with freeze dried eggs. Oh yeah, and due to some hard working scouts and a special 'geo cache' they discovered, we had almost more M&M's than we could eat. Almost, but somehow we managed to consume them all. As always, we operated in independent patrols, cooking our own food and taking care of one another. The weather was a challenge at times, but we lived our motto, "be prepared", and with a smile on our faces we handled high winds, pounding rain, and even a couple of hail storms to top it all off. Ah, but as the weather does in Alaska, the sun came out too at times, and we never slowed down and never stopped exploring. In short, we had a blast. Enjoy the images. More will be posted soon.
