Winter in Pine Forest 2011

Cerving Girl teaching the kids (and grownups) how to use the skis.

What has quickly became my favorite event of the year hit yesterday. Cervine Girl's Winter in Pine forest event.  At the scout camp up Payson Canyon there is a ton of fun to be had.

The BSA (thanks to Cervine Girl) lets us use cross country skis and snowshoes to head out to Pine forest.  It is a great trip. 

Getting ready for the tripAfter a brief instruction on the use of the skis, how to get in and out, and some tips on how to keep out of trouble on the trail we headed off.

The trip to pine forest is not very long.  I would guess it is a half mile to the forest and the snow was really sticky so there was not a lot of sliding, just walking on the skis. 

A few took the time to grab a number of Baldin Eagles caches that were along the way.  He has a pretty well known cache series of puzzles in the hills around the camp. So when we left the camp gates we were taking the time to grab them and hunt for Stopping for a Baldin Eagle Cachethem.  One was never found, but most likely because it was under 3+ feet of snow.  Poking with ski poles found the other when people heard the "thump" of hitting the plastic containers.

There were a number of smaller kids this year than I remember in the years past.  I wish that I had thought ahead and brought my kids on the trip as well.  The weather was warm and it was snowing the entire time.

Ski cachin' in style... with a tie. All in all it was a blast, after a long trip caching, and talking we worked our way back to the kitchen. 

There we had Hot Chocolate and doughnuts waiting for us. So it was really fun to sit around and visit with people that had gotten ahead of us on the trail, or behind us as they arrived.

I had one other thought.  It was at this event last year that I told people that I was the reviewer,  catching everyone off guard. 

So it was interesting to think what I had been involved in since that time, and the changes in geocaching.

I will write the changes that I have seen soon, and toss in some thoughts on them.

Thanks for everyone and your support.  It makes all the work worth the effort.

 For more pictures from the event visit the set on Flickr.