The Glacier Girls: Area Scouts publish book about nine-day hike

By Josh Eiserike

Published: March 14, 2008

Want to know what you'll smell like after camping and hiking for nine days in Montana, without showers or clean clothes? Oh, and you've also been carrying backpacks that weigh about 40 pounds.

Just ask 18-year-old Samantha Cooke.

"I smelled like toe jam, fungus, dried boogers, three-week-old throw-up and unrefrigerated yogurt, on top of the normal B.O. and sweat," Samantha of Woodbridge, said.

Samantha, now a senior at C. D. Hylton High School, was one of seven area Girl Scouts who camped and hiked in Glacier National Park in late July and early August.

Samantha and the other girls are members of Prince William Older Girl Organization (POGO), teen Girl Scouts from Prince William and Fauquier counties. The girls, known as the POGO Back-packers, kept journals throughout their nine-day trek, and published excerpts in a book, "The Glacier Chronicles: Bear Angst, B.O. and Cell Phone Withdrawal."

"It's the raw truth," Samantha said.

The girls worked together to write the book with guidance from Woodbridge Scout mother Barb Fraze, who edited and compiled the journal entries. Book sales benefit daughter Jen Fraze's next POGO Backpackers trip—a 14-day-stint this summer in Scotland. The girls need to raise $3,000 each to pay for the Scotland trip.

The book includes alternating entries from the seven girls. Two—Amanda Fulk and Allie Cherry—have since moved out of the area. But, the other five—Samantha, Jen, Megan Daniels, Sarah Hutton and Jennefer Kulik—are still around.

Before the trip, some friends at school couldn't understand why these girls would want to give up their comforts to spend more than a week in the wilderness.

"They were like, 'why?,'" Jen said. "Once we explained what was in Montana, it was cool. I was like 'Glacier National Park.' They were like, 'polar bears, cool.'"

For these girls, the initial draw of Glacier National Park wasn't nine days without bathing, deodorant, cell phones or iPods. They wanted to go to Scotland. But, as the book chronicles, their attitudes changed, despite strenuous hikes, uncomfortable living conditions and disagreements amongst themselves.

It was the most extreme camping any of the seven girls had ever done.

"I was really pessimistic about this trip," Jen, a junior at Hylton, said. "I only was there because it was a prerequisite for Scotland, but when I went, it was really amaz-ing."

To prepare for the trip, they camped for a few days in the summer of 2006 at Mt. Rogers in southwest Virginia. They also practiced putting up and taking down camp, which included caching food (hanging it from bags in high places to keep it from bears).

When the seven girls (and four adults chaperones) arrived in Kalispell, Mont, they camped and took day hikes for a couple days to acclimate themselves to the elevation. From there, they split into two groups and set out on different paths for a week and met back only on the last night of the trip, at the campsite.

"We didn't see civilization for a good week," Megan, 15, of Woodbridge, said.

Including the day hikes, the girls probably walked between 60 and 70 miles. One group covered 28 miles in 48 hours and crossed the Continental Divide twice in one day.

"That morning I woke up and I was homesick and I was so tired," said Megan, a sophomore at Osbourn Park High School. She pushed herself that day, to hike up to the Conti-nental Divide, above the tree line. She was rewarded with a spectacular view at the top, where the mountain dropped off to reveal a panorama of mountains and valleys.

"Actually, it was worth it," Megan said. She said she enjoyed the view, but also the sense of accomplishment.

"It looked like something you would see on a postcard," said Jen.

Not everything was so pleasant, though. One night a hiker warned them about nearby bears.

"That was my biggest fear of the whole trip, getting my face ripped off," Megan said.

The next morning the hiker told the girls he'd heard a grizzly near the tent.

"He was serious," said Megan.

"We heard it," Jennefer, 18, of Manassas, said.

The girls never actually saw a bear, but there were plenty of other animals they met along the way—moose, snakes, goats and other small mammals.

Being isolated for long stretches meant sometimes dealing with animals of a different nature—each other.

"We wanted to scratch everyone's eyes out," Jen said.

But, they had a movie player, of sorts. To pass the time on the trail, Samantha recited movies she'd memorized.

"I just happen to know a lot of movies," Samantha said. She started with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, before moving on to others, such as "Shark Tale," "Shrek" and "She's the Man."

"When she did that, it really helped," Jen said. "It took your mind off so much elevation change."

The girls also wrote in their journals and played cards to pass the time.

Samantha said they didn't understand how much of an accomplishment it was until they were home impressing people with their adventures.

"I don't take a lot of pictures, so this (book) is definitely a keepsake for me," Samantha said. "You can do anything you set your mind to. You don't have to be somebody to do something."

After this trip, the girls are now looking forward to a five-day, 72-mile hike in Scotland (plus addi-tional day hikes). This time around, they'll be staying in hostels and carrying less to cover more miles per day.

But, as the girls look forward to Scotland this summer, are there any regrets from the Glacier National Park trip?

"I wanted to pee on the continental divide," Jen said. "I was forbidden to do that."

Staff writer Josh Eiserike can be reached at 703-878-8072 or .