Coupeville Scouts tackle 10-mile mountain trek, bomber crash site

After a night in 40-degree temperatures and a day of climbing more than 2,000 feet, the Coupeville Scouts came out of the Buckhorn Wilderness with sore legs, stronger trail skills and a closer look at one of the Olympic Peninsula’s most unusual historic sites. The group covered 10 miles on the Tubal Cain Mine and Tull Canyon route, where an abandoned mine and a B-17 crash site turned the outing into a lesson in endurance, outdoor safety and teamwork.

Allie Powers, who had just finished the school year as a key defensive player on the Coupeville High School softball team that reached state, served as senior patrol leader for the trek. She was joined by incoming freshmen Zariyah Allen, Claire Lachnit and Anna Powers, with Anna and Claire handling meal planning for the group. Daniel Powers, a middle school student who is considering following his sister’s path as a cross-country runner, also made the climb.

The troop’s lineup stretched beyond Island County. Ghengis and Tiberius Carrol were visiting from Florida Troop 313, and Scoutmasters Kelly Powers and Matt Lachnit were along for the trip. The mix of local athletes, younger Scouts and adult leaders gave the hike a built-in lesson in leadership, with the older Scouts taking on more responsibility for pacing, food and decision-making as the trail steepened.

The route led the group into the Tubal Cain Mine area in the Buckhorn Wilderness of Olympic National Forest, a place known for its early-20th-century mining history and for wreckage from a B-17 that crashed there in January 1952. Trail guides say the plane was on a search-and-rescue mission and was returning to McChord Air Force Base when it went down. Visitors are asked to leave wreckage and artifacts in place so the historic site can be experienced by future hikers.

Washington Trails Association lists the Tubal Cain Mine hike at 7.2 miles roundtrip with 1,600 feet of elevation gain, but broader trail descriptions place the surrounding system at nearly 20 miles. That helps explain how a youth outing there could stretch to 10 miles and more than 2,000 feet of climbing, especially with side trips to the mine remnants and crash site. The Scouts also went into the cave of a deserted mine, adding another layer of outdoor caution to a trip that already demanded steady footing and attention to the terrain.

The troop is already planning a longer three-day trip in the same region, a sign that this was only one chapter in a summer program built around the woods, the history and the kind of self-reliance that sticks with young people long after the trail dust comes off.