Summer Camp 2010 Blog

Posted by Mark Abell on June 29, 2010

Day 1: Sunday

On Sunday, we arrived at about 1:30pm and the camp staff took us on a walking tour, introducing us to the various areas of camp and to our campsite. In order to work toward our Troop Pride Award, the camp requires that every scout and scouter carry at least one item with them on the tour. The tour took about 3 hours and covered about a mile of trails and a couple hundred feet of elevation gain! We barely touched the surface of the Scout Ranch, since it is so huge! It makes Peaceful Valley look like a pup-tent. The entrance road is over 3 miles long, and takes you about 1/2 way into the camp, with the Scout Ranch on both sides of the road.  If you thought Magness was camp walks-a-lot, it is nothing compared to Ben Delatour.  On Monday, Mr. Abell walked over 8 miles just meandering from area to area to check in on the various programs!

Then it was back to the campsite to identify where the patrols would be, and set up camp, down to the dining hall for flags and dinner.  *Yes, Moms, your boys did eat ;o).* Then, while everyone set up camp, Connor C., Mr. Abell and Mr. Braford had some orientation meetings to attend to. 

At about 8:00 pm, we hustled down to the campfire ring for a staff-led campfire program and comedy act.  Hilarious! We will likely remember bits of various skits for some time to come - like Scott (”Cookie”) the horse wrangler and his “Cat Came Back” skit.  At one point, he was singing about the atom bomb blowing up and right on cue there was a big “BANG” in the background. Most thought it was part of the skit until five more “BANG”s followed. (It was really noisemakers warding off black bears that were sighted on the far side of camp, over 1 mile away. But don’t worry Mom’s and Dad’s, everyone is safe and taking special care to stay with a buddy and keep a clean smellable-free camp.)

After the campfire, the camp staff invited the First Years to go have some cookies and juice, while they challenged the older boys to be role models for scouting. We all joined the First Years for some cookies, then back to our campsite and bed.

Day 2: Monday

Monday started with Troop 16 showing the rest of the camp how flags are done. Our SPL led several boys in the opening flags, and then Ethan M. led us in grace before a breakfast of ham, pancakes, bagels, and cereal. Ahh, the joy on some boys’ faces when they saw the Lucky Charms!

After breakfast, it was back to camp and then off to either Trail to First Class or various Merit Badges. Our oldest boys worked on Communications Merit Badge and then helped the youngest guys during second period with their Trail to First Class clean-up and sign-offs. 

There are too many merit badges to list out, but one in particular comes to mind. Several of our boys are suddenly interested in photography after meeting the young lady that is the photography instructor - Timber! (that’s her name).  Sorry guys - no substitutions.

After a lunch of chicken nuggets, veggies, and salads, it was off to COPE for the older boys and various shooting sports or crafts for most of the rest. Mr. Abell visited COPE as the boys got their COPE nicknames. Brandon A is “Barbie”, Chris M. is “Ken”, Patrick B. is “Squirt”, Nick P. is “Shades”, Connor Ca. is “Grumpy” and Paul B. is “Smiley”.

Then, after all the Merit Badges, the boys returned to camp and played games, whittled with their new knives from the Trading Post, ate some candy, or generally hung out.

Meanwhile Mr. Abell, Mr. Braford, Mr. Carlson, and Mr. See hit the trail on horseback with their boys and Chris H. After a 3 mile ride, they arrived at a group of Teepees, enjoyed a chili dinner, and then slept out under the stars.

Back at camp, the boys enjoyed two back-to-back campfire programs led by Chris M. and Brendon H.

Day 3: Tuesday

Upon arriving back at camp, Mr. Abell was advised of the fun time that everyone has been having.

The overnight trail ride arrived back in camp at around 7:30 am, just in time to hoof it back to the campsite, drop gear, grab the Class A Uniforms and get back down to the Dining Hall for a breakfast of eggs, sausage, cereals, bagels, bread with peanut butter and jelly, juice, milk, and coffee (thanks to Mr. Siebring). I think I will head back to camp now and enjoy some of the afternoon camp program and maybe sample some dutch oven cooking at the Chuckwagon. So far, this has been a stress-free trip, with a great program run by great folks. Tonight, some of our guys will head off to the Monster Overnighter on top of Monster Mountain, under the stars.

Upon returning to camp, I visited the Craft Area, where several of our guys were working on Woodworking, Leatherworking, and Basketry Merit Badges, then up to Archery to watch some of our boys learn the basic safety requirements. Then we headed back to camp and relaxed as the boys played games: Egyptian, Wall Ball, and Baseball in the campsite. Dinner was nachos with all the fixings.  After dinner, we returned to camp to more games, then an evening campfire led by Connor Ca.  New and unique skits were the theme, including some by the parents.  Mr. Abell handed out some fun items, including some new pocketknives, knife sharpeners, “Poof” balls, and “Aero” Frisbees - one to each boy.

Day 4: Wednesday

Wednesday began with the return of our guys from the overnight trip up to the top of Monster, who said they had a great time. Then it was time to head to the Dining Hall for our daily flag ceremony. As part of the daily flag ceremonies, the camp takes roll and when the troop name is called, they respond with a unique yell or call. Some of the more memorable calls this week were “Oooh - Raah”, “We will, We will Rock You!”, “We are the Champions, We are the Champions, No room for Losers, ’cause we are the Champions of the World”, and this morning’s included Jordan A. stepping forward and yelling “I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me” and then the rest of Troop 16 responded with “He’s just a poor boy from a poor family…” Each day, a different troop received the “spirit stick” based on their cheer. That day, we took the spirit stick home.

After breakfast, it was off to Trail to First Class or Merit Badges. Then lunch. Then more Merit Badges or C.O.P.E. (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) for the older guys. The adults tried to attend an afternoon COPE program, but it was cancelled due to lightning in the air, so we went  back to camp and then to the Chuckwagon for a little snack and a game of Cribbage, or four. Then Mr. Abell ran a couple of Scoutmaster Conferences.

After Merit Badges, we had dinner, and then it was time for another campfire, this time led by Paul B. After some skits and fun, including the “Ever Tried to Clean a Scout?” skit by Mr. Abell and Mrs. Veto, we retired a flag.

Day 5: Thursday

Today is the last day for the normal program, and will end with some of our guys going out on a “Camping” and “Wilderness Survival” overnight. The day began with the usual cheer and flags, breakfast and morning merit badges. Then lunch, and off to afternoon merit badges.

The afternoon brought a big rain shower that lasted into the evening. Once again, the older boys and the adults headed over to the COPE course, but the rain showers closed the course. The adults still did some teambuilding events. Mr. Abell is now known as “Boss Man”, Mr. Braford as “Sleepy”, Mr. Mead as “Rocky”, Mr. Carlson as “Washington”, Mr. See as “No Clue”, and Mr. Siebring as “Cookie”.  We will try again on Friday afternoon to get on the “High COPE” course.

On Thursday evening, after dinner, we returned to camp for some evening games, some treats from the Chuckwagon, and a rather wet and rainy campfire program of scary stories led by Brandon A. Fittingly, Chris M. started us off with a campfire story that began “It was a dark and stormy night…”. Some of the highlights of the evening included Kyle F.’s rendition of the Stalker. I think his reading of “Big Purple Lips and Long Skinny Fingers” will stick in many of our minds for years to come. The program culminated with Mr. Braford telling the story of “The Prospector of Ben Delatour” who came to camp every 49 years on July 1st to kill 4 boy scouts  (hey, it just happens to be July 1, 49 years to the day since his last visit); and with Mr. Abell reading a hand-written story from a journal detailing the “final weeks of his great-great uncle’s life” after he visited a forbidden mausoleaum and was haunted by the man lying in its sarcophogus. Between them, some of the boys were pretty scared at first, but we helped them get over it by reassuring them that they were just stories. In the morning, all of them seemed to think it was a pretty cool campfire.

Final Full Day: Friday

On Friday, after flags and breakfast, the boys went about 30 different directions to work to clean up merit badges or make up some missed time on the high COPE course. The high COPE course consists of a series of challenges that take place high above the ground with the boys wearing harnesses for safety. It begins with the “Two Wire” where the boys walk up a wire with their hands on the support wire above them and their feet on a wire below them. Then it’s on to “The Old Man Shuffle”: two poles about 20 feet off the ground, but this time they can’t touch the overhead wire, so they shuffle across and look like an old man shuffling across the floor. Next is a “Monkey Bridge” which takes them still higher, followed by the “Balance Beam”, a single pole between two trees which is especially challenging since you have to disconnect and reconnect your support harness carabiners one at a time to get around some fixed links in the overhead wire. After the Balance Beam, you cross a “High Wire” with two ropes for support. The challenge here is that the rope and wire are loose and the rope is connected to a swiveling board at one end, so it moves up and down freely. Next is the most challenging event, the “X-Cross” where two ropes cross from high to low or low to high. You start with your feet on the low rope and your hands on the high rope, but as you approach the middle, you have both hands and feet at the same level and have to switch which rope your hands and feet are on so you can finish the other half. If not proven otherwise, Mr. Abell would say this is impossible. Next came the “Skywalk”: a series of boards connected to an overhead wire by ropes that you have to work across, one at a time - right foot to first board without doing the splits, left foot to second board, etc. Then there were a couple of other challenges and finally a free rappel back to the ground.

After lunch, some of the boys participated in the “scout olympics”, an event where boys teamed up in a relay race which included a canoe race up and down the lake, followed by a run to the rifle range (about 1/4 mile uphill), where the shooter had to shoot 3 rounds into a dime sized pattern, and finally a return run back to the lake.  One of our teams placed second overall.

Others enjoyed games back at camp while the adults ran off to COPE for their turn at the high COPE area.  That afternoon, Mr. Abell treated all the boys to an ice cream or a candy bar at the trading post to thank them for a wonderful week.

Upon their return from COPE, Mr. Abell ran several more Scoutmaster Conferences, and the other adults ran some Boards of Review. Ultimately, we had 7 Scoutmaster Conferences and six Boards of Review before time ran out.

Some families arrived that afternoon to join us for Friday Dinner. Just as we arrived for dinner, it began to rain pretty hard, but it only lasted about 1 1/2 hours. After a dinner of burgers or grilled chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, and macaroni salad, we returned to our campsite and then went down to the camp-wide closing campfire.  Our guys had put together a rendition of “Harry Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise” which was a real hit.

 This week was a huge success with everyone having a ton of fun with lots of merit badges achieved (as many as 4) and a fair amount of rank advancement. While many of the trail to first class boys did not advance in rank at camp, they are set up for some quick advancement if they remain focused. (Parents, that’s a hint to check their books and encourage them to keep on task now that we have returned.)

Some of the pictures are now posted online and can be found here.