Last night, we had an awesome lightning storm here in Minnesota. Once the front moved through, I watched that back side of the storm for 1/2 hour. It was the first time I've seen a storm go through with absolutely clear skies directly behind it - no lingering clouds at all, just twinkling stars and the back side of a huge thunderhead exploding with lightning about 15 miles away. Very Cool! Weird thing was that there was no thunder at all, it was completely quiet with no wind.

Anyway, I read that some scouts at Philmont had a run-in with lightning while hiking on Baldy Mountain and 11 got medical attention. They were all fine and rejoined their crews. Sounds to me like they were very fortunate.

Last year, we turned back from our summit hike on a troop backpacking trip due to encroaching storms. It's never the wrong choice to turn back - it may not be popular, but its always safer.
If it's just rain, I don't mind scouts getting wet and muddy. But, having the chance of lightning when we're above timberline makes me very nervous - since I'm 6-2, I'm usually the tallest target around. :-)

Scout On

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