November 4, 2004

November 4, 2004

Trout Lodge

DAY 140

 

Today started out cold and raining, but as the day wore on, the sky slowly cleared, and it warmed a little. Looks like we might have a nice weekend. This weekend's theme here at YMCA Of The Ozarks is "Single Parents Weekend". Should be lots of kids !

We spent much of today hiking. We were joined by our new Workamping neighbours, Sharon and Jack. First, we hiked to the World War One Memorial site way back in the woods here on the YMCA property. It's marked on the topographic map of the property, but nobody here seems to have ever hiked back into the woods to find it. I will be conducting a guided hike to the site on the morning of November 11, then leading a "minute of silence" service there, so it is essential that I know how to get there and back, n'est-ce pas ? We hiked into the woods following the topographic map, and found the site. It was a challenging hike with a lot of up and down. Mind you, one can hardly walk 50 feet on this Ozark Mountain terrain without some up and down.

The World War One Memorial we found was obviously established shortly after World War One. This property was used by the YMCA Of St. Louis since back then. The memorial is a cairn with an inscription, in front of a huge white cross laying prone on the ground, surrounded by a 3 large rings of white stones, ring within ring. The inscription dedicates the memorial to the 90 boys from St. Louis who had attended the YMCA Camp here, that lost their lives in the First World War.

Our second hike destination was East Camp. East Camp is a somewhat isolated component of Camp Lakewood. It is on the other side of Lake Sunnen, and is for the older teenaged campers. The facilities in East Camp are quite rustic. There are a dozen or so large cabins filled with bunk beds. Each cabin has 1 light bulb. No water, no bathrooms, etc.. To get there, the campers must hike in as we did today, but they're carrying all their camp gear. We hiked across the dam / spillway at the north end of Sunnen Lake, and then up 100 steps into the East Camp area. Just before we crossed the dam / spillway, we hiked down into a gully where a very old, small cemetery was visible. We explored in this small cemetery, where the headstones indicated dates of death from mid to late 1800's. Old cemeteries are an interesting glimpse into local history. Some surnames on headstones are the same as the names of local villages, etc..

Our third hike was to Salamander Cave, or Salamander Cave-In, depending on which map you’re looking at. We hiked along a dry creek bed to a cave, or what was left of a cave after it sort of collapsed. Missouri and Kentucky have a lot of cave sites. Caves are not something we’re used to seeing. It was a very interesting experience.

One of the tasks I’ve been asked to do is design a “Questing” hike. Sort of a cross between a scavenger hunt and orienteering, whereby hikers must follow a series of rhyming clues to get from origin to destination. I’m going to design a hike from Trout Lodge all the way to Salamander Cave. The reward will be the destination itself.

DSK