Yesterday the scouts went on a short hike up the mountain behind Wrightwood and collected mistletoe for our camp fundraiser. This Tuesday we will be packing up the mistletoe in preparation for selling it. All boys intending to attend Summer Camp at Camp Whitsett should participate. This coming Saturday December 12, 2009 we will be going to Wall Mart (probably in Orange County, where they have a lot of money) to sell the mistletoe. We will be meeting at the church and leaving at 8:30 and should be back before midnight, probably closer to 3:00pm. Bring a sack lunch or some money to buy some food.

We will be attending Camp Whitsett in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is a premier Scout camp where they don’t want you to sign up for too many merit badges because of all the fun things there are to do. Some of the activities include Canoeing, Kayaking, & White Water Rafting, Archery, Rifle & Shotgun shooting, Mountain biking, Horseback riding, Rock climbing, and Mountain climbing, as well as the traditional Scout Craft and Indian Lore activities.

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It looks like we have four Scout leaders going with us. Bro. Jorgenson will be spending most of his time in the Dutch Oven tent learning how to cook something besides hot dogs and pancakes. Bro. Howe can come with us because he is pretty cool and we need somebody to video us for this blog. Bro. Allebes we're going to put in the Indian Lore tent and tell him he can't come out until he's made moccasins for us all... that should keep him out of our hair for a while. If the Bishop comes we won't have to worry about him, he will be in the Dutch Oven tent offering to sample all the food.

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So, yesterday we also went on a bike ride. We started at Inspiration Point and rode down to the parking lot at Mt. Baden-Powell. From there we rode the dirt road to the campground at Big Rock Creek. This was a wild and crazy ride where we enjoyed activities like trying to fix brakes and flat tires. While at the camp ground we built a fire and ate our sack lunches and had S’mores. Although you had to be careful around the fire because we built a ramp to jump the bikes over it. There was a natural downhill ramp on the side of the hill and it seemed like it would be fun to ride down it. But just riding down didn’t seem like much of a challenge so we thought that jumping over the fire would be the natural thing to do. This seemed like a wholesome and safe activity so our leaders allowed us to do it. After constructing the ramp Brad Quinn displayed his leadership & mountain biking skills by successfully riding the ramp and jumping the fire. Since it was only a little painful, he did it several times. Alex Smith was the next to try. By his second try he was successful. The first try provided much entertainment for the crowd and he was barely even hurt. The only other scout brave enough to take the Troop 159 Mountain Bike Challenge was Jake Howe. He only made one try because by the time he recovered from the first, he notice that his bike did not survive. A bent rear wheel earned him a spot in the chase vehicle for the rest of the day. But it was OK because I think Jake will recover. (On a serious note, Jake went to the emargency room tonight to have his ribs checked... we hope is OK and wish him a speedy recovery)

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If you are interested in the high adventures of Troop 159, please check back here often or search Troop159Wrightwood on YouTube. You can also check the bulletin board in the foyer for current pictures.

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Thanks for listening.

Our Scoutmaster is Jerry Jorgenson and he approved this message.

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We can't put Jakes video on here because we want to send it to America's Funniest Home Videos, and they don't want it on the WEB before it's on the show!