Sam

Sam's Throne, Mt. Judea (Judy) Arkansas

March 14th and 15th, 2014

23 souls attended with 2 young ladies present. Oak Grove, Evangel Temple, Central, Ozark has several attendees from these Ranger Groups.

Had folks driving in all the way from Memphis TN to make the trip. Temps were in the 67 to 44 degrees with a wind of 12mph with gusts. Sunny for most of the Friday night and Saturday morning then afternoon it got cloudy.

I have been in Rangers since 1991 and have been taught many things along the lines of first aid and trip preparations and this one time it all paid off. For the first time in 20 some years of 30 outings a year we had to make a splint for a broken ankle using 2 sticks, a blanket and a backpacking seat and some duck tape. We then used the Single person, Two person carries to get the young man out of the woods. A mile of really rough trail. All the years of training paid off. All those years of carrying duck tape paid off. Sometimes when you have carried something hundreds of miles of trails you will ask yourself do you need it? A few things I have removed but some things always make the distance..for just in case.

The Sam's Throne trip is always well attended. The place is a awesome sight to behold. It's rough, it's beautiful and it offers challenges that make us grow.

The group hit the campground with 4 vehicles there. At 8:10 ish we hit the trail about a mile of very rough trail at the end of the trail was a pack hand up to get through a crevice then up on top. Base camp was established with 2 campfires and we were soon all enjoying the warmth of the fires and the beautiful evening at 60 degrees. Perfect. The wind was gusting up on this crag. It's really cool as it's just a big rock that juts up about 20 feet on one side to other sides 100 feet and it's big enough and flat enough for 20 tents.

I came down with no voice and our council fire speakers plane left 45 minutes ahead of schedule so he didn't make it Friday night but came in Saturday morning just in time to help haul the broken ankle boy out. We had 4 father and son teams there and a bunch of youth from Ozark. With no voice we didn't get a council fire going...rarely miss those but it does happen.

Saturday morning fun around the campfire. Perfect weather..everyone telling about that one rock that kept digging them as they slept ... me too. I found it more comphy to get off the pad and lay on the tent floor that had leaves under it.

Gavin created a natural shelter and I was pleased to see that. We are doing that merit in our Rangers and will do a campout over night in a few weeks. Lots of fun and adventure. The rest of the day after the broken ankle rescue we had a Rappelling class and then to the cliff face for 12 folks to rappel. I wanted to thank Damon Sprague for being my interpreter as I couldn't hardly speak.

It's important to listen to rules and to do your best to obey them. When we don't do that we may find ourselves missing out on all kinds of adventure with a broken ankle and a lot of pain and suffering. Gods Word is full of rules. I have learned if we try our best He will help us along the way.

Click on a picture for a larger view. Special thanks to Dan Rockafellow, Damon Sprague and Mark Jones for pictures.