The 39th Annual Battered Boot Night Hike: According to Praire Dog

First, we were told that we had to get up at some insane hour! When wake up was called, nobody wanted to wake up at 5:30am! We were rushed to eat breakfast, and in the car by 7:00. It was a 3 hour drive to Kimberly, and the ride was spent playing cards and talking! When we arrived at someone’s house at around 10:00, and relaxed in the living room, and ate these fruit that looked like over sized oranges, but tasted like a cross between a grapefruit and an orange. And another fruit that looked like a kumquat, but the inside tasted like lemonade! Soon we were on our way to the night hike.

We arrived right before opening started, and were given the history and rules of the hike. We learned that the hike occurs once a year and is a competition between scout groups. You are marked on the things you chose to bring the hike, the route you choose to take, the log you created about the hike, and the time it took you to finish it (and whether you finish it at all!). We arrived there 7 hours before the hike even started, so we talked to other South African scout/guide groups and started our map! Our group was called the Prairie Dogs, and the other 2 were the Beavers and Moose! All Canadian animals!

We were the last 3 groups to leave at 8:20, but all three of us had different routes! My group’s first checkpoint was Echo, and it took us a total of five hours to find it! And we only found it because we were led there by another group! There were so many thorn bushes, rocks, and tall grass to walk though at night with our bags! We were soooo scratched up by the thorns!! We were the only group too make it back before 6:00 in the morning! One group arrived at around 7:00, and the other group spent the night under the stars because they were lost!!