To the quartz! Let's get rich! Who is that dude on the rocks?

On Thursday, the all-day Discovery Groups departed from camp at about 0930. The rumors of foul weather turned out to be just that–rumors. We were accompanied by occasional snow flurries and overcast skies, but there were many times when the sun burst through to warm us up.

Even though we had a modified schedule in anticipation of cold temperatures, it was actually about the same temperature or a little warmer even than the day before. In other words, it was an excellent day for outdoor activities.

I set out with the prospectors and Mr. Scott went with us for the first half hour or so. He took some good pictures and maybe some of them will find their way into the yearbook.

Quartz!

Up to Little Blue.

Did you know that a recent scientific breakthrough has led to the discovery that quartz is a source of clean energy and its value has increased by 100 times over night? That’s right. Better go get some!

We found a field that was rich in pure white chunks of quartz and started collecting it to get rich quick. Unfortunately the land belonged to a crazy prospector and we had to negotiate a deal. These were some hard bargaining prospectors and we worked out an agreement to where the crazy dude would get 30% of all the money we made from selling the quartz we found (the best any previous group did was 40%).

Hiking up to the Crystal Beds

After that is was a short hike up toward the trail known as Little Blue, where we learned the story of Shady Pete and his hidden gold. On the way over to the Interbarn, where lunch awaited, we looked for that 30-in diameter stump with 108 rings by which Pete’s treasure was buried, but nobody found it.

We hung out by the Interbarn for a while and then went inside for a few short skits on what it must have been like to be a prospector. Most of them seemed inspired by the Shady Pete story in one way or another.

After that we headed over to a nice rock outcropping and had a fun lunch by a roaring fire. It is wonderful how simple things like bagels, lunch meat, cheese, peanut butter and jelly, apples and granola bars can taste out on the trail.

Self explanatory!

Digging for perfect crystals of pure quartz

After lunch we headed out on our longest hike of the day. It took about 25 minutes to work our way back West and get up hill to the crystal beds. The crystal hunting was good. With a few snow flakes falling around us, we scraped our way through the dirt and just about everyone found a decent example of a pure quartz crystal to take back with them.

We made it back to camp by about 1445 for a bit of cabin time and then some outdoor recreation. It was a good time for the teachers to catch a nap or a quick shower.

More Quotes

“Dude! You got a bony butt!”

A girl fell in a creek and the teacher asked,”What’s it smell like?

Girl: “Butt!”

Boy: “How would you know?”

Girl: “I live with my brother.”

Skit Night

Thursday evening, the cabins put on 2-5 minute skits. Columbine’s was especially creative. They set up staged “photographs” of various high trails events. Two narrators bantered on animatedly before lowering a white sheet that revealed each “photograph” that was posed by the other cabin members. Very cool.

Another good one was the massive ninja fight staged by the kids and counselors of Cedar Lodge. After nearly everyone was killed, two remaining ninjas entered into a protracted sword duel (with plastic light sabers) featuring slow motion kung fu action, until: “Hey, look! It’s Justin Bieber!”, at which time the combatants paused to gaze in wonder and amazement as the young heart throb sauntered about the stage looking good. Then the fight resumed until the fighters’ mutual vanquishing.

To bed and get ready to go tomorrow!