Cubs 17 January 2026

Cubs Hostel Hike 2026 🥾

On the morning of Saturday 17th of January, 54 Cubs and 8 Leaders made their way down to Knockree Hostel in Wicklow for the annual Cubs Hostel Hike.

The weather was not looking good as we arrived at Knockree around 10:45am, as there was low cloud in the area and heavy persistent rain falling. The prospect of spending a five or six hours hiking in heavy and wet conditions was not very appealing.

However, by the time we all checked in, completed our gear check, the clouds had lifted and the rain had thankfully eased off. So we set off on the hike in relatively pleasant conditions (for January that is).

After a few hours of hiking, and only one wrong turn later, we made our way across the Glencree River and up in through Crone Woods. We took a break for our lunch at a small clearing in the forest. Over lunch the leaders assessed the weather and made the decision to push on, and see if we could make the summit of Maulin (weather permitting).

The Cubs were determined and pushed on upwards, past Powerscourt Waterfall, which was looking very impressive and in full flow. Eventually leaving the shelter of the woods and up to the open mountains. Thankfully, the rain was still holding off so we pushed on with a goal of making it to the summit of Maulin.

Surprisingly to us all, the skys had somewhat cleared as we made our way to the top of Maulin. Underfoot conditions were heavy and there was lots of standing water, but we pressed on with our goal in mind.

By 3pm, we all made it to the summit of Maulin, a place we had not expected to see when we first arrived in Knockree earlier that morning. This was a great achievement for all the Cubs as conditions were not easy and we even got some sleet and snow at the summit. We also met with some former Eagle Scouts from Los Angeles at the summit who were very impressed with our Dunboyne Cubs who were out hiking on a hardy January Saturday afternoon.

After a quick stay at the summit, it was time to start making our way down and back to the warmth of the hostel.

In all we completed a 13.5Km hike taking in the Maulin, Crone Woods and Knockree.

Two of our leaders, Sinead (Tues Cubs) and Eoin (Thursday Cubs) had returned earlier from the hike to make a head start on preparing dinner for the Cubs and Leaders. By the time we made it back to the hostel, just as dusk was falling, it was a quick turn round for the Cubs to get out of their wet hiking gear and into warm dry clothes and tuck into some delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. 🍝

After dinner, the Cubs settled into their dorms for some well deserved down time. All in all, it was a really successful day and night.

Later on, some of the older Cubs and Leaders played a high stakes game of cards with precious sweets on the line. Thankfully for all, the Cubs won the game and the sweets, to the absolute delight and relief of all the Cubs.

Sunday morning came around and all Cubs were up for 8am to pack up and tidy their dorm rooms. Leave no trace is the mantra whether camping in the outdoors or staying in a hostel. After breakfast, it was soon time to check-out and pick up by parents.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and successful hostel hike by the Cubs. Huge congrats to all who participated.