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[at-l] Thunder Swamp Trail Report

OK gang.  I am going to put my money where my mouth is .  A trip 
report.  Thunder Swamp trail is located in Delaware State Forest 
which is in the Poconos/  It is a very rocky loop trail approximately 
20 miles long.

On March 27th we took a group of scouts to Risica Falls Boy Scout 
Reservation where we spent the night.  Unfortunately a group of 
scouts arrived around 10:30 and made a racket until 1:00 am.  I 
reallu did not get much sslleep that night.

The next morning we divided up the food and had brakfast.  Oatmeal.  
I hate oatmeal so I gave mine away and pulled out two packets of 
instant grits from my backpack.  I had some butter in my cooler and 
had an enjoyable meal with hot coffee afterwards.  We were packed up 
by 7:30 and on the road to the trail head.  Though it had been cold 
the previous night the day promised to be sunny and hot.

The trail began a gentle descent to Saw Creek.  The creek was as wide 
as river in several places.  Lots of nice rapids and water falls.  We 
took our first major break by a nice fall.  For some reason the boys 
wanted to throw large pieces of wood into the falls and watch them go 
down strea.  A no-no in my book.

Shortly after that things started to fall to pieces for me.  A 
headache started.  It was due to several factors; lack of sleep, heat 
and dehydration.  I increase my water intake and start popping Advil, 
but to no avail.  Finally at the lunch break I took a nap which 
helped a little.  At the last water stop I knew I was in trouble.  
The trail conditions had deteriorated into a poorly marked rocky 
trail and it was kicking everyones rear end..

One of the Scouts had to leave early for a previous commitment and I 
decided to bail out with him.  Ironically the final two miles of the 
trail were in very good shape and we covered it in 40 minutes.  I 
felt bad about bailing out after 10 miles.  I had 1 1/2 hour drive in 
an airconditioned van.  After agood shower and supper I felt pretty 
good.  THe next morning was rough, but the coffe finally kicked in.

As I was a major portion of the transportation home I drove back to 
the trail head.  Imagine my surprise when I saw the cars missing and 
some of the scouts were in the parking lot.  They had a hard time 
finding a decent camping site the night before and ended up sleeping 
on rocks.  No one got a lot of sleep.  In addition the trail became 
very rugged/  The trail came close to the road so everyone bailed 
out.  The adult leaders droped their packs hand hiked back to the 
cars (3 miles).  They were shuttling boys and equippmewnt whe I 
arrived.  They had covered only 5 miles on the second day.

Needless to say we all learned a numer of lessons from this 
adventure.  The most import thing I learned was even though there 
were not any major climbs (the trail could be described as rolling) a 
trail can still be rocky and rugged.  Also 80 F is still 80 F even in 
March.

Bob Dudley
Grey Owl
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