Saturday, June 9, 2012

Mission Bay May 18-19, 2012

Above is our jazzy campsite.  A little tent slot at Campland by the Bay.

"The Barnes Patrol" all packed into one tent.  These guys are a hoot!


After touring the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center we headed to the Bay. We did some swimming, canoeing, and kayaking.

On Saturday we spent all morning in the pool and then after lunch we toured the USS Midway.

So, there are some quick pics to catch us up to June... tomorrow I will post some pics of Horseshoe Meadows/Cottonwood lakes.

Camporee

Here are a few pics to catch up...
In April we went to the High Desert Camporee
Below are Jacob, Tyler, Tofer, Andrew, Keanu, Sam & Adam
with leaders James, Brian, & Jer
We made all our own rope for our "camp gadgets" and took 2nd place best campsite.
 Below is our awesome catapult.  
April 22, 2012


The Scouts returned late last night from the the High Desert Cowboy Camporee. We camped out Friday night but we didn’t see any cowboys. In fact, it was at the Apple Valley Horseman’s center and we didn’t even see any horses. We did horse around a lot, so maybe that’s why they call it that.

We had a great camp spot up the hill on the grass so we got busy setting up camp. Bro. Jorgenson and Bro. Willmott set up the camp kitchen and we started to set up the big tent that the Weijlands sent for us to use. We rolled it out and it looked like a really big tent that all 7 of us could sleep in so we thought it was pretty cool. As we rolled it out on the grass and started to set it up we realized that they forgot to give us the tent poles. So, anyway, it was a nice tent and we slept right next to it under the stars. I think that’s the way the cowboys slept anyway. I don’t think they had really big tents.

Anyway, we got up Saturday morning and got ready for the day. We were supposed to build camp gadgets to practice lashings but first we had to make all our own rope. We spent a long time making a lot of rope and then we finally got to work on our gadgets. We made a tripod to hang our Tang cooler from which was cool because we could just lay on the grass under the cooler and let the Tang pour into our mouths. Then we built a flagpole and also two tripods with a crossbar that held our troop banner. So maybe I should mention that Bro. Jorgenson forgot our Troop flag so we hung up a Troop 159 t-shirt for banner, and ran another t-shirt up the flagpole for our Troop flag. It was really hot so we did a lot of the work under the tables as that was pretty much where the only shade was. Then we had to straighten up camp and put all our gear in a row because they were going to judge the camps and award prizes. Some of the camps were pretty nice with long rows of tents and big kitchen areas and some pretty big camp gadgets like towers and benches and stuff. So we figured we didn’t have much chance to win a ribbon.

After lunch we went on a 5 mile hike and were supposed to follow an orienteering course with a compass. We got lost, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Except that it was really hot.

When we finally got back to camp we had to take apart all our camp gadgets because we needed the rope and poles to build a catapult. Not a cannibal like some of the boys were saying, but a catapult. They are different things. We used 10 poles and all the rope we made to make our catapult, and then we used the catapult to throw water balloons at the other troops and their catapults. We had the best catapult there and had to slow down a little because our water balloons were going all the way over the heads of everyone in the arena and landing about 20 feet beyond the intended target which was Phelan Ward’s troop. We finally got it dialed in and smacked them a bunch of times with the balloons. It was really hot, so they didn’t mind.

After dinner we went to campfire for the awards. There were a lot of big troops there with lots of fancy scout equipment so we were still thinking we didn’t have much of a chance. Most of the awards given were for the Dutch oven cooking but we didn’t do that because Bro. Jorgenson is a backpacker, not a car camper and he doesn’t know how to cook in big heavy cast iron pots. Not that he doesn’t have one… he does, because 1) every good Scouter should have one, and 2) they were on sale at Costco. He just doesn’t know how to use it! Anyway we weren’t paying a lot of attention when they called our Troop number for 2nd best camp at the Cowboy Camporee. Yeah, we were pretty shocked. But we found out later that we got a lot of extra points because we were the only troop to build ALL our camp gadgets with home-made rope. So then we didn’t feel so bad for having to make all that rope. Except that it was really hot.

A. Scout

Monday, March 5, 2012

Mammal Study


In February we went to the San Bernardino County Museum and earned the Mammal Study Merit Badge



 It was pretty cool since we got to tour part of the Museum and see all the stuffed mammals!



Here's the crew that went and earned the badge in 3 hours!

Adam, Jacob, Tyler, Keanu, Jared, Dallas, Sam.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Devils Punchbowl January 13-14, 2012


We had 12 Scouts and 8 leaders show for the outing. Sometimes I don't know who has more fun!
 First hike of the year!  We're starting off 2012 with a hike to Devil's Punchbowl. It's really just a big hole in the ground, but I guess in the summer it's hot or something. Anyway, someone gave it that name for some reason, I'm sure.  It's actually pretty impressive and inspired an original joke from Adam. It goes something like this: The Devil thought he'd make a big hole so he made Devil's Punchbowl, but Chuck Norris thought he'd show him how it's done so he made the Gulf of Mexico.  hahahaha   Well, it was something like that. I can't believe I forgot the exact words, Adam told it to me about 6 times!

 So here we are gathered around the fire which we only jumped over a few times.  After Andrew fell in we had them stop.  We didn't want anyone else to get hurt. We had tin foil dinners and had a good time talking into the night.
 Andrew, Logan, Tofer, Adam, Jacob, Keanu, Sam

 6 miles, from Southfork campground to Devil's Chair and then to the Nature center at Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area. Not a bad hike. Nobody passed out or anything. Well, Keanu kind of fell over exhausted but that's not like he was injured or anything.  He was fine after he laid on the ground and rested a few minutes.

Here we are at Devil's Chair.  It's actually just a rock. Pretty much everything around here is just rock. That's the San Andreas fault you can see behind us. That's a crack in the rock.

So, next month is Snow Camp... assuming we get any snow. If we don't we'll just have a regular dirt camp. We hope to ride the chairlift at Mountain High and then hike over to Blueridge Campground and ride the lift back down the next day.  So we'll see how that goes! 

Friday, December 23, 2011

Summer Camps

Merry Christmas to BSA Troop 159!


Here are some dates for summer 2012. Along with our regular camp outs on the second weekend of each month, here are some super activities to ad to your wish list:

June 28,29,30 Monache Meadows
This is a High Sierra high adventure camp with 4 wheel drives. Also invited are mountain bikes, horses, fishing poles and day packs. We will be camping, riding, hiking, fishing, exploring, eating and taking naps (me!) in this beautiful paradise. Click HERE for more pics.

Horseshoe Meadows June 6,7,8,9, 2012 .
The Varsity and Venture Scouts will head into the High Sierras again for a 3 (or 4) day backpack trip into the Golden Trout Wilderness area (guess what's for supper!?). If we feel adventurous we just may bag Mt. Whitney on the way out! Anyone feel like hiking to 14,500'? Click HERE for more pics.

Scout Camp at Camp Emerson July 9-14
The 12 & 13 year olds will head to Scout Camp at Camp Emerson in Idylwild to work on rank advancement and merit badges (we want the badges!).   Anyone else that wants to work on merit badges may come if they want to. For info on Camp Emerson click HERE.

Channel Islands National Park August 8-9-10-11.
I've wanted to do this for years, so here it is!  We will go to the least visited National Park in the country. We will rent kayaks, head over on the ferry and spend a few days kayaking, exploring, and snorkeling in this awesome park right here in Southern California.  You've got to see this to believe it! Click HERE.
Paddle On!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Sycamore Flats 12-10-2011

Cold but no wind!  We made tin foil dinners & we got to have another "Retire a Flag" ceremony and paid tribute to America's Veterans

Da Quinns
Tanner, Brad, Ken

3 of the 5 Barnes cousins... the other 2 were too fast and got away...
Aaron, Robbie, Tyler

The Winns and friend
Jared, Dallas, Sam

Keanu & Jacob

James, Jer

We gathered mistletoe to sell for our fund raiser.  I think that is Aaron way up there.

Calico 11-11-11 (Not a Scout trip)

The wind was very cold. We had a big fire. Most of the boys jumped over it and most of them didn't singe their hair.

Had a quick breakfast in the morning and then went shootin'.