Five Miles of Smiles (and more)

A five-mile hike is one of the requirements for advancement — and we have the perfect place for it!

Strawtown Koteewi Park is a great park northeast of town with walking trails, Indian artifacts, a nature center, camping, fishing, zip lines, horseback riding, archery… We recommend Koteewi for a lot of outdoor fun.

We met on a Saturday morning and got our compasses and maps and even bags for trash. Ginny had some camp songs for the trail, and there was a lot of enthusiasm. But picking up trash and having fun also means you might take a wrong turn…

Don’t worry, it’s hard to get lost. We backtracked and got back on the trail and back to our adventure.

We found a lot of evidence of wildlife in the area — we saw deer tracks, heard various birds, found snails and bugs, and even startled a snake (or maybe it startled us).

The Koteewi trails are three miles for the southern loop and two miles for the northern loop (maybe 2.5). We started with the southern loop, then gathered at the parking lot for snacks and a bathroom break, then hit the northern loop. It’s true, that second trail was a little rough — everyone was getting tired, and we learned the challenges of chafing.

The weather was perfect, though, warm enough to take off a jacket, cool enough not to get too hot. And the sun was just what we needed to have a perfect day.

After the hike, we took a picture of the scouts who did an amazing job and succeeded — that’s everyone! Then we signed off some advancement requirements in everyone’s books. It was a great day.

Tags: Flamingo Patrol, Hiking, Scouts BSA