Kawida Lodge - Spring Fellowship - March 20 - 22, 2015

Location - Camp McKee, Kentucky
Weather - 35 at night - 55 to 60 during the day - no rain
Clothing - moderate warm clothing
Sleeping bag - Slumberjack XL Bag - 0 degrees.
Camping pad - Thermarest Prolite
Shoes - old tennis shoes
Main Activity - hiking
Nights Camping - 2

Kawida Lodge - Spring Fellowship 2015 was nice.  Thomas and I arrived at Camp McKee around 6 PM on Friday afternoon, March 20.  On the way there, we had a deep discussion about why we camp, and our purpose of attending OA events.  We both cried a little bit.  Right before we pulled in to the Camp McKee Campground, I talked to Thomas about how I feel like I'm creating memories in him that he will cherish long after I'm dead and gone.

We used the Blue Tent.  I last used the tent at 2014 summer camp at Camp Friedlander in Ohio.  I had forgotten that I broke a part of the tent.  One of the pegs is missing on the front part of the tent.  This is the part where the tent pole goes in to make the tent stand up.  We set the tent up in front of Stamler Hall.

The temperature got down to about 35 degrees that night.  We both put cots in the tent.  I also used a little trick that I won't be using very often.  I had my gas heater with me, and we used it in the tent to warm the tent up at night before we got in our bags, and in the morning before we got out of our bags.  The bag I use in the beginning of the year.

After breakfast Thomas and I decided to go hiking.  He was missing a 10 mile hike with his Philmont Crew that day, so I decided that we would hike 10 miles so he could meet that requirement.

This is behind Stamler Hall.  We collected our gear before the hike, and made sure we had everything we needed.  10 essentials are important for a hike.  We had all of them with the exception of a map.  We didn't need a map since we have been to every corner of Camp McKee many times.

This was the part that we called "Our Summit" on Pioneer Mountain Trail.  The trail was extremely muddy since it had rained a lot in the previous week, so this was as far as we hiked on this side of the trail.

This is the other side of Pioneer Mountain Trail behind the Offutt Shelters.  We did not cross this creek.  See the PMT marker on the tree?  Those are along the trail.  When I was in Scouts in 1984, I hiked this trail.  The markers were painted on the trees.  Some of these markers are still visible on the trail.  Thomas and I took over 22,000 steps on this day - 15 miles total.  10 mile hike followed by 5 miles general waling around.

This is near the end of the morning hike.  The OA Slab is behind us.

The night ended with a Brotherhood Conversion at Alowatt's place that hasn't been used since the late 80s or early 90s.  If I had been inducted into the OA as a youth, it would have happened there.  After the Brotherhood Ceremony, there was another ceremony, but I volunteered to make sure the fire was completely out.  I had no idea how to get there, so I asked the two Scouts who went through the ceremony to lead me to the spot.

Thomas and I slept the second night in the tent same as the first night.  In the morning, we left before breakfast.  We arrived back home in Frankfort by 11.