Calico 2010

I have asked Scouts several times what their favorite camp out is and every time they say Calico!

We set up a little shooting range and the boys try to hit some targets.

This is desert camping. One boy said "not much grows out here does it?"

And he was surely right!

But that means you don't have to worry about starting a forest fire!

I think this was a kid from the neighboring campsite.

We had some adventure 4 wheeling.

And exploring.

The December camp out to Crystal Cove was rained out. Not that the rain would have bothered us that much, but the campground closed. I guess they don't like wet campers. I told them we had Scouts and the rain didn't matter to us, but the reservation lady said we would get wet, so we couldn't go.

We'll try again in January. If we have snow, we'll do a snow camp. That is if they don't close the campground because we might get snow on us. If we don't have snow, we'll go to plan B. Which I don't remember what it was. But we'll let you know!

Check your email for an invitation to view all the Scout Albums on Snapfish.

Fifty (50!) Mile Bike Ride October 8-9, 2010

Heading out early from Hwy 2 down Hwy 39.

This was the fun part, 25 miles downhill!

Regroup for a picture at mile 12.

On the road again.

At about 20 miles. Stopped at the wrong parking lot... bike riders don't look at maps!

50 miles! Santa Fe Springs Park, at about the 5 & 605... it would be 15 more to the beach. Anybody up for that?

Too tired to ride around to the entrance... it was over the fence, bikes and all.

Waiting for all the rides.

Bro. Willmott and his chase truck.

Aaron, Robbie and Brandon took the chase truck to the beach for a dip.

Logan and Jared (and Jared's dad, Bryan) were the only ones who rode the bikes all the way to the beach...65 miles!

The final reward.

To see all the pictures of the 50 mile bike ride on Snapfish, click HERE.

Cabin Flats Sept 10-11, 2010

We hiked in to Cabin Flats in the evening. While we were hiking down the 3 mile trail, it got dark. We took a break and looked down and there was a pile of bear scat. Then we hiked a little quicker.

We made camp and had hot dogs for dinner. Our scoutmaster said since we saw evidence of a bear, we should hang our food up in a tree in a bear bag. But instead we just left stuff all over camp. We figured that if the bear had plenty to eat, he would not eat us. He didn't come around so we didn't get to test our theory, but my guess is we'll try it again on the next trip. Here is Mt. Baden-Powell in the morning. We climbed this last month.

Tanner Q is famous for his french toast.

It's a lot to carry on a backpack trip, but it's sure good to eat.

Here's the crew. Brigham, Logan, Robbie, Tanner, Garrett, Cody, and Jared. We're all here because the bear didn't eat any of us. Maybe Buck scared him away like he scared Ken Quinn. Ken hiked down with us in the evening and had to hike out late at night so he could work on Saturday. He met Brigham hiking in with Buck and saw Buck first. Late at night, in the woods alone, with no moonlight, and evidence of bears around, Ken was a little nervous. Then Buck shows up with glowing eyes and coming right for him. At first Ken thought it was a wolf, then realized there are no wolves in the area... so after a little shot of adrenalin, Ken saw Brigham and figured it was just his dog. Nice to have a friendly dog around instead of a wild animal that wants to eat you.

So, we did a little camping merit badge, capture the flag and then got ready to hike out.

And we chased Buck around a bit.

In 1997 a fire went thru here and burned the outhouse... it was called The Charmin Fire. Anybody else see the irony in that?

So, the thing about a 3 mile downhill hike in, is that you then have a 3 mile uphill hike out. We didn't think this was the funnest part of the trip.

And it pretty much looks like some of us need some backpacking gear for Christmas.
Click here for the deal of the day!

So, this ended up a pretty good trip. Not quite as good as climbing a mountain, but it was green with a nice stream, and wild animals around.

And we get to tease Ken about the wolves, so that's cool.

Court Of Honor is Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 7:30pm right after Scouts. Make sure you are there, it could be interesting and we have lots of badges!

Click HERE for all the pics of Cabin Flats on Snapfish.

Mt. Baden-Powell August 13-14, 2010

2 miles up, camping under the stars and watching the meteor shower.

Almost 3 miles up with a view of Palmdale

On the top of Mt. Baden-Powell... named for the founder of the Boy Scouts!

Only 4 boys made it (and one guest, and the Elders) but we had a good hike!

View of Baldy from BP

Heading back down

Click HERE to see all the pictures of Baden-Powell on Snapfish

Camp Whitsett July 24-31, 2010

Troop 159 had a great time at Scout Camp!

On the way to Camp Whitsett we found a place to slide and cool off. We only had one little injury which you can see if you click on the link at the end of this blog to see all the pictures.

First day: The Polar Bear Swim... they called it the otter swim or the beaver swim, I don't think they actually knew what to call it. We called it the Polar Bear Swim because it's a cooler name and the water was cold! And yes, before we swam, they made us pat our head and rub our tummy. Very funny... can you do it?

Went for a short bike ride one day at lunch time. Not very challenging for the young guys (if you know what I mean).

Lots of time spent in camp doing projects or playing card games.



Old Sioux. Our home for a week. Kind of looks like Wrightwood, doesn't it?



Alex, Brad, Jake, Devin, Daniel & Allen went off to do high adventure. Their program was cut short by a fire nearby, but they still did cycling, hiking, rock climbing, COPE, and the High Ropes. Oh, and one afternoon of water polo. Woo hoo!



The whole group that stayed to do merit badges got a lot accomplished. Here they are all doing the Tracking merit badge. This is an old one that had been discontinued but brought back for just this year, the 100th anniversary of Scouting in America. It used to be called Stalking, but they made it more PC for 2010.

So, I have to get in the picture once in a while!

We all threw the tomahawk.

It gets crazy waiting for lunch.

These guys all actually got up at 4:30 to climb Sentinel Peak to watch the sunrise. Some of them even look happy about it. The camp staff didn't show up to lead us so we went anyway. Here I see 4, maybe 4 1/2 smiles, 1 guy cross-eye tired, 1 still asleep, and the rest just dazed... great stuff! (Click on the pic to make it bigger)

We don't need no stinking staff leaders!

This is the peak. It was only about a mile hike, but fun.

Here is the whole group in our new class B uniform shirts. Um, and by-the-way, these are $8.50 each... I either need the money or the shirt back. I know we sprang these on you at the last minute but they were great for camp. If you want to keep them, bring me the money... if you don't want them, launder them and turn them back in please. If you didn't get one and want one, call me.

Here is the sign Brigham painted while we were there. He painted it green (it was just bare) and painted the awesome scout fleur de lis... it was just a plain yellow weathered fleur before Brigham got to it. The camp was pretty impressed and said if we would paint some more signs, we could come up in the off-season and have the whole camp to ourselves... maybe even stay in the staff cabins. Sounds like we might work something out! Thanks, Brigham!

Scout On!

Click HERE to see all the pictures of Camp Whitsett on Snapfish.