Klondike 2016, Feb. 26 and 27

The Klondike for me started about 5 am on Friday morning.  I was asked to do the fire starting event by Ben Kearsley who normally does it and was not going to be there.  I had one of those light bulb turning on moments while lying in bed.  The thing that kind of stunk about that is I didn't have to work much that day and had planned to sleep in.  But the idea persisted and as I rolled it around in my brain while lying there I could not go back to sleep.  Finally about 6:30 I gave up any hope of going back to sleep and started researching on the internet to see if I could find any ideas.  I did find a couple and satisfied there was at least something to go off of I went to sleep again for a little while.  I had a skype meeting from 9-10 with my staff and then some individual issues were solved and by 10:30 I was headed into town.  Before leaving for town I had come up with a list of items to buy.  To make a long story short I searched Ace Hardware, Kings and Broulims and between all three was able to find the adequate materials.

My idea for the fire starting event was this:  To start a fire using primitive techniques but with  steel wool and a magnesium sparker.  To make it more fun and challenging I decided to figure out some way to make a projectile that could be shot from some kind of contraption and hit an object 10 feet away.  They would start the fire and then a string would be attached to my contraption with it cocked and ready to fire.  Once the string was burned through it would trigger the mechanism and fire the projectile.  I had looked at many different types of catapults and guns but I finally settled on a marshmallow gun that I had found on Pinterest.  The only problem with that particular marshmallow gun is that it was made with empty toilet paper rolls.  I don't think that would stand up to a bunch of scouts.  I then devised a way to make it much bigger and stronger using pvc pipe and giant rubber bands and epoxy.  Once I got the necessary items in town it took me 3 tries and different builds to actually get something that would fling a marshmallow far enough..  Again to make a long story short I finished the satisfactory contraption by 2:30.  That only gave me a half hour to get ready as some of the boys were going to show up at my house at 3:00 pm so we could go grocery shopping to fulfill some rank requirements.

Me, Zach, Kiowa, Bowdy, Gabren and Josh went to Broulim's and they did a fantastic job planning and buying food.  They showed good wisdom in their selections and it shows that they had been  taught somewhat by their moms to shop.  They only ran with the carts once or twice which is pretty good for a bunch of active boys.  It only cost $91 this year.  I believe it was around $120 last year.  

We were done by a little before 4:30 and were able to meet up with Tom, Andrew and Chase at Tom's office.  The plan was to leave at 5 all together but Tom's car got a flat tire and so he needed to go get it fixed before coming up.  We crammed all in my pickup except for Andrew as him and Tom would come up later.  Those that did not come were Dalton and Carson and they were missed.

Sundown behind the tents

Before going up the mountain we swung through the church parking lot to meet up with the older boys.  There we met Ryan Webster, Kaleb and Antonio with the trailer.  We drove up to the  parking lot on top of Piney Pass and lo and behold there were a lot of camps set up already.  There were two spots left.  One really slushy and wet and the other muddy and wet.  We pondered a bit and then Ryan had the idea of putting the tents up out on top of the deep snow.  We walked out there and didn't sink much at all.  It also helped that it was beat down a little by snowmobiles.  We started setting up camp and by then Scott Stanger arrived and the tents were done pretty quick.  The boys set their stuff up and were able to get a bunch of sledding down the hill in.  We set the fire up and cooking stuff in the parking lot.  You will see the menu below but for dinner we had it easy and roasted hot dogs and drank lemonade and rootbeer.  Shane Albertson, (Bowdy's dad) came up as well that night and was a great help.  Tom and Andrew were finally able to make it and Andrew had fun on the hill as well.

Look at our muddy parking lot.  Never in the history of Klondike do I remember mud.  Scott and Ryan tending to the fire pit.

We had a fireside at 8 that night and a story told by Meredith Wilson about using a guidebook while mountain climbing.  He related that to using the Holy Spirit as a guide as we go through this life and to get outside and explore rather than playing on devices.  Tom and Andrew then had to go as they had someplace to be over the weekend.  

The main campfire

We went back to our camp and then had a birthday cake for the two birthday boys, Chase and Josh.  Chase turned 12 that night and Josh had turned 11 the day before.  Bummer that Chase is moving up but looking forward to having Josh as a scout for the next year.  The cake was made by Katy and Macey, my daughters, and they had filled the inner section with M&M's.  It was pretty good.

I got the wood stove going for the boys in my wall tent and before long it was dang toasty.  The boys were all in there but they said there was no room for all of them.  So I made them arrange themselves better and there was plenty of room.  The funny thing when I went to wake them up the next morning is that they were all in a ball practically cuddled together in the middle of the tent.  There was room probably for another 5 sleeping bags.  There's a rest of the story here and I  will tell it later.

As I was helping them get to bed a good majority of them couldn't find certain items.  I'd like a nickel for every time a boy asked me if I had seen their gloves or something.  Funny how they think I can keep track of all that stuff.  :)

The thing that I have never experienced at a Klondike is being able to go to bed about 10 pm.  Ryan, Shane, Scott and I arranged ourselves into the teepee tent provided by Jeff Jeppeson.  I felt like I slept pretty good even though it took me quite awhile to get to sleep.  Even though the boys chatter almost all night it doesn't really bother me.  Its a good sound.  A bunch of happy boys in a tent having a good time in a clean environment while doing a worthwhile program.  It makes me happy I am part of it.

About 5:45 am.  I couldn't sleep any more and got up.  What a beautiful morning.

The trailer just before sunrise

The other thing I have never experienced at a Klondike is how warm it was.  I was almost hot in my sleeping bag.  I woke up around 5:15 and then laid in my bag for a half hour before I gave up, got dressed and went outside.  It was really pretty and still and very peaceful.  I took a neat picture of the moon up over the tent.  It was a very nice sunrise as I started building a fire and  getting ready for the fire starting session I was in charge of.

Sunrise on the tents

The funny story of the trip was when I went to wake up the boys they were all huddled in the center of the tent.  Well it turns out that they had thought they had heard wolves the night before and so it scared them a little.  (I heard coyotes but I didn't hear any wolves.)  So sometime in the night they all got up and did their number one's all around the tent because they thought that would scare off any wolves.  They made a lot of yellow puddles.  Then they proceeded to huddle together in terror.  When I went to wake them up I thought dang those boys really had to go but it turns out they had a little more motivation other than just having to go.

We started our Mountain Man breakfast and we encouraged the boys to get packed up.  Its always nice to have everything put away before the Klondike starts so that we can just leave when its all done.  The boys did pretty good sticking with cooking and then when we got to a point that Scott could manage we went up and I helped them stuff all their amazingly difficult bags into their stuff sacks.  Boy there were some doozies.  We then ate breakfast and then right after we were done we finished putting the camp away.

Josh, Chase, Scott, Bowdy, Ryan and Shane.  Sorry I got Ryan and Shane picking up wood.  By the way thanks for helping me there.

Beautiful sunrise over the camp

Josh, Zach, Scott, Bowdy, Kiowa, Ryan and Shane

The Klondike started at 9 am.  Ryan was in charge of the knots.  Usually I follow the boys around and take a lot of pictures but where I was doing the firestarting I didn't get to take very many pictures.   I was a little bummed about that as I didn't get a photo of everybody.  Sorry moms. 

The video below shows me, Katy and Quinn testing my fire starting contraption.

Burned steel wool.  See the dark blue areas.  It would be hard to get this to work at this point.

The marshmallow gun

 Shane helped me with the fire starting and did a fantastic job.  He was a real help the whole time. The first group that came through did not do so hot and were unsuccessful getting the fire going.  The second group that came through was our troop and they were so close but didn't quite get the fire going.  The third group got the fire going and were able to shoot the marshmallow gun.  They got an extra 10 points because of where they hit the target.  The 4th and last group was my old troop, Troop 81.  They really rocked it. They all worked as a team and planned it out well.  They got the fire going really quick and was able to shoot the gun a few times.  They ended up winning the Klondike overall and our guys were 5th or 6th.  We still got a nice big cast iron skillet which is not too bad.  They did really good as the majority were 11 year old scouts.  The Driggs first ward were all a little older and more experienced and had accumulated some good skills.  Aaron Jenkins and Jon Jensen were their leaders and should be commended for the excellent teaching.

At the end we were all given donuts and sodas and we said farewell to another year down.

The sledding hill.

Assignments and Menu

Fly Fishing Campout at Teton Valley Lodge May 8 and 9, 2015

Teton Valley Lodge (www.tetonvalleylodge.com) hosted our whole district this last weekend at their fishing pond just south of the lodge.  The owners are Matt and Brian Berry, a couple of great guys.  They set it up so the boys could earn their fly fishing and fishing merit badges.  The plan was to arrive in the evening and set up camp and then the next morning have stations where the scouts could rotate through and learn different aspects of fly fishing.

I set it up to meet at my house at 4:00 pm on Friday.  Unfortunately, Dalton and Andrew did not come.  Chase met me at my house and a little later Carson with his dad, Mike and brother Logan came.  Zach had a family event and would come up later.  As I was gathering up stuff it was raining a little and I hoped it wasn't going to rain a lot later, like the clouds were saying.  I wrapped stuff up in a tarp and away we went.  Mike had to get something in town so he went to Victor and said we would meet him at the pond. 

Me and Chase showed up to the Berry's pond only to find lots more rain and gooey sticky mud in almost a boggy field of grass.  The only other scout troop that was there was the cranky scout master's group (see my notes in the Klondike Derby blog).  He was parked about 30 feet off the lip off the road and into the field.  The problem with that position was that I had to angle off the lip to go around him and because of that I hit a bunch of major goo and almost slid into him.  Luckily I got it in 4 wheel in time and punched it into reverse.  Chase was glad we were in a Chevy.  (Haha Nick.) After I got back up on the road the cranky scoutmaster came out and started calling me Bryan and asked where they should set up camp.  I told him anywhere out there and pointed to the field.  Not sure why he was calling me Bryan except maybe he thought I was Brian Berry.

Me and Chase pulled out on the field and on the opposite side of Mr. Crankypants.  I was so tired of him constantly chewing out his scouts at the Klondike that I didn't want to be anywhere near him. Unfortunately, because we were the only troops there for about a half hour I had to listen to him boss his boys around.  Once other troops showed up and filled in the gaps I didn't hear him anymore.

Chase is such a fine young man.  We had that wall tent up before the regular scout troop showed up.  I couldn't have had a better helper.  Mike and Carson were there by then and got their tent up.  Once the regular scout troop under Ben showed up we got camp set up for real.  We got a canopy up next to the trailer and kept out of the rain until it let up.  Then we got a fire going and set up the cooking gear.  Those that came with Ben were Scott another leader, Ben, Kaleb, Trevon, Kyle and Evan (the twins), and Jaron.  Ben brought his youngest son Kason as well.  The boys went off fishing and were having a good time.  

After awhile Kason, (a 7 year old) who had been down by the pond, came up and asked me if I would like to go fishing with him.  I said sure and to let me get my pole.  He told me he knew of a really good spot and that you could see the fish in the water.  I went down there with him to his special spot and unfortunately there were a lot of boys with sticks trying to hit the fish.  He fished there for a minute and then I said I bet we would have more luck if went went over a little ways.  Sure enough as soon as we got over a little ways Kason spotted a fin sticking out of the water.  He said "There's a fish!".  I told him to just cast over it and then reel the worm toward it.  Lo and behold he cast it just right and nailed the fish.  He was super excited and was walking back really fast at the same time reeling really fast.  The fish shot out of the pond like a torpedo.  It came off the hook mid air and landed about 20 feet from the bank.  Pretty funny.  But he was a proud young man.  Later after he had cooked his fish he was going around and offering it to everybody.  The boys and I ate it all up.

We had a quick meeting with all the scouts and the leaders.  We talked about roses and thorns in our lives and were challenged to think how to make thorns into roses.

Beautiful sunset

We had a nice evening as the rain stopped, and there was a pretty sunset.  For dinner we roasted hot dogs and ate chips.  The older boys had stew and tinfoil dinners.  After dinner the boys went fishing and I got the wall tent situated.  The fire was nice and warm.  Logan wanted to tend it so I let him.  I spread the tarp out and then we set up the leader tent.  Zach and Chase both caught a big fish that night.  Kason and Zach had put their fish in tinfoil in the fire.  Chase put his to cook in a pan on some coals by the fire and went off fishing again.  Later he came back and wanted to eat it.  By then it was fully dark.  He asked me how do you know if its done?  I said if the skin comes off easy.  He pulled the skin off and then pulled a piece of meat and stuck it in his mouth.  "It's kinda chewy" he said.  I said, "Well it had been in the pan cooking for a long time, maybe we overcooked it."  He gets another bite.  "Yeah its chewy".  I say "Lemme look at it".  I pull out the light on my phone and shine it on the fish in his hands.  Blaring at me was a pink, slimy, raw, bony huge hunk of fish!  It was chewy because it hadn't cooked a  bit.  Gahhhyuck!  The coals the fish was on were long dead.  Later I asked him if it tasted any different.  He said "No it was just chewy".  That story just earned him the nickname. "ChewyChase".  We first started calling him SushiChase but it doesn't have the ring that Chewy Chase does.

Zach's fish

Later, and this was a lot later, probably around 11 pm.  Chase comes running into camp with his friend.  "I just caught the biggest fish ever!".  Sure enough him and his friend had a huge fish suspended between two sticks while each was holding one stick.  It looked like a monster up next to the boys.  I measured it to be 21 inches.  I asked him if he caught it with his pole.  He said, "No I just knocked it out with a stick and pulled it up on the bank."  That would explain the missing eye.

I caught the biggest fish ever!!

We got everybody to bed and situated finally about midnite.  About 5:45 am as I was dead asleep I dreamed that somebody was stuck in the mud.  The twins' mom was talking to Ben through the tent asking for help.  She had to get them as they had some event to go to but had gotten stuck in the muddy goop in the process.  I halfway thought about going out to help but Ben, Scott and I believe Mike were out there.  I figured they were big enough boys to take care of the problem so I tried to sleep a little longer.  Sorry if that makes anybody mad.  Unfortunately I couldn't and so gave up later and came out.  By then the stuck car was long gone though.

We got through a good breakfast of hash browns, sausage and egg breakfast burrito and pancakes.  We quickly put our camp away to be ready for the classes at 9 am.  We were done in plenty of time so the boys got to fish more.  A little after 9 we gathered with all the scouts again and they lined us out into stations.  As there were six troops and six stations, we got to stay with our own troop.  We started out with a Fish and Game officer and he taught the boys how to read the rules and regulations and how to know what was legal and not legal.  It was a very good exercise.  Now they should always know how to figure out the laws and rules for each body of water they fish.  

Mikes tent with another troop in the background

Fish and Game guy handing out rules and regs

Station two was casting with a fly rod.  They lined out behind a line of tape and each were given a fly rod to practice with.  They were taught how to cast and how to let line out.  After practicing for awhile the guides measured how far each boy could cast.  We had some good casters.

Station three was learning how to tie an artificial fly.  They tied a zebra midge.  This was done up at the lodge in their shop at some tables the guides had set up.

(From now on I'll leave all the photos til the end)

Station four was actually trying to catch a fish with a fly.  The boys lined up along the edge of the pond and tried their luck at casting the fly.  Within minutes Kaleb was excitingly reeling in a fish.  Strangely enough he was backing up and reeling as fast as he could like his brother Kason did the night before.  It was hilarious.  I was telling him to slow down.  The fish popped up on the bank and fortunately it didn't come out like a torpedo but the pole snapped right after the fish landed.  I looked at the break and fortunately it wasn't Kaleb's fault as there was a big ding where the pole had snapped.  Dings like that usually happen when rods bang together when people aren't watching where they are casting.  And then when you get some tension on the pole it snaps.  I didn't see anybody in our group do that so it must have been one of the previous groups.  That fish had a ton of eggs.  Trevon hooked a nice fish but it got off right about when it got to the bank.  He was quite bummed.  Carson caught a nice fish as well and was able to land it just fine.  I'm not sure if any of the other boys caught one at that station.  They were a little frustrated trying to cast the fly as the guides had tied on some heavy wet flies.  I hate casting those and they make the cast awful clunky so I know what the boys were going through.

Station five was learning fishing lots.  They learned two of the most important in fly fishing.  The first was the improved clinch knot which is used to attach the fly to the tippet.  The other was the surgeon's knot which attaches two pieces of line together.  This is a useful knot for attaching slightly different sized lines together, such as when you are building your leader.  Personally, I prefer the blood knot because I think it goes through the guides better, but the surgeon's knot is definitely easier to tie.

Station six was first aid.  So how do you perform first aid on  somebody who has a fish hook in the eye?  You cut out a hole in a paper cup, stick it over the eye and then tape it so the eye and the object cannot move.  You also tape the other eye because if the other eye is looking around, the injured eye moves with it and could cause lots of damage.  Immobilize both eyes and get them to the emergency room.  They also learned how to use an epi-pen in case of bee stings or other anaphylactic type reactions.  He went over some other outdoor case scenarios for which first aid would be required.  

After station six, we said goodbye and drove home.  A great thanks to the Berry's for a well thought out event.  A great thanks to the guides and all those who helped make it great.  Teton Valley Lodge has always been a great support for scouting.  All the more reason to fish with them.  I also appreciate Mike who never fails to come on a campout and is very helpful.  Thanks to Ben and Scott who are excellent Boy Scout leaders. 

Please enjoy the pictures and feel free to make comments.  I hope all the boys and their families and leaders can use these to keep the memories alive.  I went on countless scout camping trips as a youth, leader and staff at a major Scout Camp.  I barely took a few photos and wrote nothing down. I wish I had done something like this as the memories slowly fade.

Sunset after about 5 minutes

Toasty fire and the chewy fish to the right of the fire in a pot on some coals.  You can kinda see why it was raw.

Getting situated

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I love the look on all their faces, especially "ChewyChase"

Joking around the campfire

Who will eat this eyeball?

Station 1, Fish and Game rules and regs

Station 2, Fly rod casting

Station 3, tying flies

Station 4, Casting for actual fish

Kaleb after he stopped backing up.  Look at that nice bend in the rod.

Beautiful pond

A guide shows him how to hold the fish while photographing his beauty.

Carson proudly displays his rainbow.

All lined up on the bank

A guide showing how its done

Trevon has one on!

Thats as close as it got.  It dropped off right after I snapped the photo

Pretty picture with a fly line on the right.

Station 5, Tying fishing knots

Kaleb proudly displays his fish.  Notice how the belly has shrunk a little after losing some eggs.  It was a very fat egg filled momma

Clouds to the east

Station 6, First Aid