Tuesday February 24, 2015 the older 11 year old scouts went shopping to Broulim's partly to pass off the First Class requirement but mainly to buy food for the Klondike Derby. Below are the items and menu that we would need for breakfast and dinner. It cost around $120. We figured on 13 boys and 4-5 leaders and fathers that we would have to feed. Ben, Carson, Kaleb, Andrew and Antonio along with me and Zach Waller purchased the groceries. It was a little chaotic but more than half the time I got them to focus on the task. It was a good experience. Some of the boys didn't know how to check prices and try to find the best value for what they were buying. They would typically see the item and throw it in the cart. We traded a few things back and tried to get the most for our money the best we could. I scanned in our menu. Ben was the person writing as we talked about what menu we should do. You can tell it was Ben because of the insertion of Dr. Pepper soda and sweet chili doritoes. Thats pretty much all he wants on a campout. I ended up doing the cost on my phone calculator rather than writing it on our list below.
Friday Feb. 27, 2015 we met at my house at 4:30 pm. Me and Mike drove Carson, Ben, Andrew, Dalton and Chase up to Piney Creek Pass to set up our tents. Ben Kearsley ended up grabbing Antonio, Kaleb and Zach Douglass at the church as his group was meeting there. We got up there about 5:10 and we backed into the last spot that was available. I immediately got out to get the tent set up and realized that I had forgotten the joints to my big wall tent. I jumped back in the truck and hurried as fast as I could to go get them. So much for being a prepared boy scout. I got back just in time to see that another scout troop had backed in and squeezed right into the spot I was thinking of setting up the tent. Luckily we had room next to the other group on the other side which happened to be the Driggs 1st ward. We got the tent up quickly and the stove ready. We put in some large insulated tarps that this ward has kept in the trailer for cold campouts. Once we got the fire going that tent was super toasty the whole time. Bridger Clark spent a little time getting the fire to go but once he got the hang of how it worked it stayed lit the entire time. Trevon, Bridger, Kyle, Evan, Ben, Chase, Antonio, Andrew, Kaleb and Zach all slept in my big wall tent with the toasty stove.
The leader's tent was a little more crowded with a smaller stove. We were able to get 4 of us in there side by side. I was going to bring my cot-tent but I decided I didn't want to dig through the storage for it. Ben Kearsley, Tom Simmons, Scott Stanger and I slept in the leader's tent. Mike brought his younger son Logan and he and Carson slept with Mike in their own tent. Dalton's dad Gilbert came up and set up a small tent as well which they slept in. I believe Brent Douglas slept in his truck and Nick Tonks came up for the evening and then left at bedtime.
We got dinner going and ate Mike's orange chicken with some cheesy bacon potatoes. Unfortunately Mike became famous for his chicken and now it is the most desired campout food. Most of the boys stayed and helped cook but a couple of them barely did anything and went off to play. We might have to do another campout so they can properly get signed off on the cooking portion. The food was good and there was plenty despite my worries of there not being enough. We didn't have a lot of cleanup due to using paper plates and utensils of which I was grateful because the scout troop next to us that had stolen my spot was up doing dishes with a lantern until way late. Holy cow and I though my boys moved slow. (That troop struggled the entire time with cooking and cleanup and then it took them most of the day to get packed back up. The scoutmaster was grumpy too and I heard him yelling at them because they had lost his pocketknife for the third time.)
The campfire was hard to keep hot as it was on ice and sinking slowly into the ground. As it got lower and lower the less warm it was. We had a good time talking for awhile that evening while the boys played on the hill. Some of them went to bed early, and I don't blame them as that tent was warm. I went to bed around midnight, Scott was already asleep and me and Tom talked for awhile. Ben came in a little later as I think he was goofing around with the older boys. I am grateful for my nice warm sleeping bag. I don't think I have ever been cold in it.
We then got up at 7 am ish and pretty soon had breakfast done and cleaned up. We ate sausage, eggs and potatoes all mixed together. We had them on tortillas (thanks to Ben K.) and it was fast and easy to clean up. We had hot chocolate to drink. Again a few of the boys did stellar on cooking and a few of them wandered off quite frequently. A funny side story is when we cracked the eggs in the skillet they immediately froze when they hit the pan. They kept freezing in the air and so I stuck them on a burner until we were ready to cook them. When I first got up I checked the thermometer in my truck and it was 8 degrees above. I was getting a drink out of my water bottle and accidentally splashed some on the window and it immediately froze before it could run down. I think it may have been just a little colder because the way the eggs and the water froze. The pictures below start at breakfast. I had forgotten to take any the night before.
After breakfast we cleaned up our camp and got the stuff packed and tents put away. We were done way before any other troop and ready to start the training and tests before 9 am. And I'm talking way before. It was painful to watch some troops get organized. I'm not bragging but I am sure glad we have good organization and good boys willing to help out.
About 9 am they organized us and started the derby. We went to first aid first. The boys learned what can cause rapid death like heart attacks, choking, injuries etc. They got to bandage up a pretend victim. The next station was knot tying and knowing the scout oath, law etc. They got points for each knots they tied and if they could recite the scout oath, law, motto and slogan. Some of the boys had started learning the outdoor code but didn't know it good enough. I was impressed with some of the knots the boys came up with. Ryan Webster was in charge of this section. We then went to the dogsled race. Zach is the smallest and so got to ride. They all ran hard pushing and pulling the sled and we got done in 3:30. One troop with some really tall boys beat us by a whole minute. The final station was fire building. We had to build a fire quickly and whatever troop built the fire the tallest won. We had to work as a team. We had a decent fire going but some other leader told the boys to raise the fire with their hands to get it really high. I don't think that was proper but everybody thought it was funny. Later another troop put a ladder against a snowbank and climbed up it holding the fire. They certainly outdid us. I think we would have gotten better points if we had just done it right though.
We ended up getting 4th overall in the derby and the prize was a solar powered lantern. It might be really cool. They gave us some donuts, pop and congratulations at the end and then we all went home. I think the boys had a lot of fun as well as learning a few new things. Hopefully they will remember this experience and also be a little tougher and better for it. I can't wait for the next one. Well maybe I don't look as forward to it as I do the summer campouts but hey its still fun.
Check out the photos and the videos at the end.
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| Hi Dalton |
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| Ben doesn't like his picture taken |
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| Carson, Mike, Dalton and Andrew |
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| Inside my tent with the stove. You can see the coals |
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| Kaleb, Carson, Mike and Andrew. |
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| Bridger |
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| Zach and Scott. Zach likes to cook at home and did an excellent job cooking. |
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| Chase, Brent, Andrew, Tom and Ben |
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| Chase, Logan and Ben |
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| I think those twizzlers were quite frozen |
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| And now we see Trevon |
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| Antonio on the left |
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| Kyle or Evan, Trevon, Kyle or Evan, Bridger and Ben |
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| Starting First Aid |
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| Andrew and Ben left behind on the Klondike sled race. I have a video of the actual race at the end. |
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| Trevon and Kyle or Evan just after the sled race. We did it in about 3:30 minutes. |
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| Wonder what Chase did to his forehead |
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| Ben and Zach model our sled made by Ryan Webster. Its light as a feather. |
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| Firebuilding. Bridger, Ben, Carson, Chase, Logan, Zach, Andrew and Antonio |
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| Bridger taking charge. We have to see who can build the highest fire. |
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| Mike says this fire is a lot warmer than the one we had last night. |
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| Blaine and Aaron from Driggs 1st, troop 81, watch our troops antics. |
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| playing on the hill |
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| Dalton and Carson |
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| Gilbert, Dalton's dad. |
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| Caught Logan just right here. |
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| Peekaboo |
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| haha he didn't know I waited for him to look up |
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| This is the hill where fun and crashing took place. |
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| Bridger and Antonio |
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| I love the way the older and younger boys get along in this troop. |
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| Not sure who this kid was. He was so far away when I took it that I thought it was one of ours. |
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| Overlooking the camp. We are in the big parking lot on Pine Creek Pass. |
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| Kaleb and Chase plotting something |
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| Zach and Ben |
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| Antonio and Trevon. Trevon taking a plunge here. |
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| Zach and the unknown kid. They were a long ways from my camera and I'm surprised it zoomed this well. |
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| Driggs 1st ward at the sled race |
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| Trevon photobombing |
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| These guys thought they would be smart and raise their fire higher than anybody. I don't think it counted. |
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| Requirements for the 1st class rank that we will mostly pass off this time. |
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| A selfie I took since I always forget to include a photo of me in this. |
The first video is of them coming back on the dog sled race
