Ok, I have a confession to make. For three years now, the Scoutmaster and the Outdoor Coordinator have had a super secret outing planned. If ever there was a storm that dropped snow on Mt. St. Helena on a Wednesday or Thursday, we were going to call everyone up and see who could go and who could drive and head to the peak that weekend. For three years it never happened. Then, when we scheduled a Mt. St. Helena hike, it snowed!
Go figure.
The outing started poorly. The storm had also left behind freezing temperatures and wet pavement in the valley floor, which is a poor combination. There was ice everywhere including on the troop trailer. We had to get a hair dryer to thaw the locks on the trailer so we could hook it up! For once, we didn’t care if people were late to the take off as we were warned by Mr. Morris (a firefighter) that there were accidents all over the place due to black ice. So we delayed as long as we could before we took off. The roads were icy, but had been sanded, so we just took our time and had no problem crossing the mountains to the the Napa Valley. We dropped the trailer at Boothe Napa Valley State Park and headed for the mountain. 
The parking lot was icy which seemed promising as we headed up the hill to the peak. Little more was found in the first part and we had lunch in our shirt sleeves at the climbing rock half way to the peak. About half way up though, the snow started and we were hiking in it the rest of the way. At first it was icy and treacherous, but soon it turned into a fine powder that was great to hike in.
The troop made it to the top, but the late start started to tell. We only had about 20 minutes to play in the snow before we had to head back down. Then things started to go awry. The late start combined with the slow pace up the hill put us behind schedule. As the afternoon progressed the group got further and further behind schedule. Worse yet, now that the afternoon sun was no longer showing on the roads, the partially melted snow turned to ice and the way became treacherous. Just about everyone slipped and fell on the way down.
The troop did make it down, but by the time we arrived at the parking lot, it was dark on that side of the mountain. We loaded up and headed back to camp to set up and cook in the dark. A roaring fire and lanterns made that an easy task though. Then it was off to bed.
The next morning it was 27 degrees out. Brrrrrrr! It did give everyone great incentive to make breakfast, clean up and break camp so we could get back into the nice warm cars for the trip home.
One neat note, this was the first time that some of our scouts had ever seen snow!
Leaders: Mr. Polkinghorn, Mr. Peacock, Mr. Frazee, Mrs. Lara, Mr. St. John
Lessons Learned: Get an early start. The sun goes down early on the parking lot side of the mountain. The group campsite is about 100' from the parking lot. It has 4 large grills.
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