It's that time of year again where us adult leaders get to enjoy an unpaid week away from our families and home to be spent in the glorious mosquito-ridden wilderness sleeping on the ground in tents and sleeping bags, being daily covered in dust and dirt and inflicted with perpetual cuts and bruises all while having the calling to watch over other people's 11-13 year old boys in hopes of instilling them with a respect for nature, a sense of duty towards God and country, and the worth and satisfaction of hard work. We also challenge them to overcome fears, develop skills and to endure hardships. We hope to inspire them to serve others, make new friendships and develop their testimonies, but if all else fails at least they will learn how to shoot a 22! Yes, I'm talking about Scout Camp. But, I have to tell you, it is worth every sacrifice, every sore muscle and waking up with a kinked neck to spend time with some of the most valiant young men this world has ever known!
This year was unique because we actually left Sunday afternoon, instead of early Monday morning. This was because our camp this year was at Camp Loll, located in South Yellowstone. The anticipated drive was about six and a half hours with check in between eight and noon--with a first come first choice registration process, so instead of waking up and driving at four in the morning only to still get last choice of schedules and activities we elected to leave a day early.
We camped outside of Ashton, Idaho at Warm River Campground in the Targhee National Forest. We arrived at dusk, quickly set up camp and began making dinner as the sun completely set. The boys were all riled up and excited for a week away from parents and with their friends. Unfortunately, we were camped in a small family campground with small and tightly situated camp sites and a 10:30 pm curfew. When I say unfortunately, I'm speaking unfortunate for the families all around us, because tried and threatened as we did, there was nothing to quiet these boys. About every 20 minutes a neighboring camper would yell, "Be quiet, were trying to sleep over here" or "Our kids can't sleep, keep it down". To our continual embarrassment, each of the leaders took turns yelling "Time to settle down" of "That's enough, go to bed" and as Scoutmaster I had to repeatedly get out of my tent and tell the boys face to face, to go to sleep, but to no avail. At one point in complete frustration, I actually stood in their doorway for almost thirty minutes on the clearly misguided assumption that if they were quiet long enough the boys might actually get bored and fall asleep. However, no sooner than 30 seconds after I left did the chatter and giggling start right back up again! It was well after 1 am, more than three hours of nonsense--we were exhausted, embarrassed, and felt highly disrespected. After countless exhortations from us leaders, they eventually fell asleep.
The next morning came too quickly, but we were not about to let the boys sleep in and miss the consequence of going to bed so late. We woke them up at 6:45 am and took the boys on a walk and sat down together and talked about the events the night before. To their surprise, we weren't upset at the younger scouts who made most of the noise the night before, we were disappointed that the older scouts did nothing throughout the whole ordeal. They are supposed to be their leaders and examples. By saying nothing then they were condoning their actions and setting up the adult leaders to be the bad guys. We discussed respect and responsibility. We talked about being one as a troop and in the priesthood. We are all responsible for the whole and the whole is responsible for one. We then passed out our scout t-shirts for camp and each commited to 'be one' with the troop.
After loading up, the boys went around to the neighboring campsites and apologized for keeping them up the night before, which I was really impressed with since it was the boys idea to apologize. We then began the long and rough dirt road toward camp. With little to no signage we promptly passed our turnoff and had to back track losing about an hour, but we finally made it. We signed up for classes and activities and set up camp.
We stayed in the 'Crow' campsite. Our first challenge at camp was the swim check. The reason this was a challenge was because the water was freezing! When we jumped in it was so cold that it took our breath away and we could hardly breath. Many of the boys (and leaders) wanted to desperately get out, however, they persevered and successfully completed their tests. I was so proud of all the boys.
The next day (Tuesday the 9th) after Merit Badge classes the older boys and Hunter went to the rock climbing wall and learned how to repel. It's a scary thing to walk off the edge of a cliff and hope that you won't fall to your death below. One after another they conquered their fears and proceeded slowly down the rock face to safety below. Brother Jeff Erickson, Travis Willey and myself also braved the cliff.
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| 'Fishless' Bridge |
Wednesday (the 10th) was designated as Camp Hike day where as a troop we can select from one of several nearby hikes. Historically our troop has always done the Union Falls hike a long ~16 mile hike in South Yellowstone to Union Falls and the heated Scout Pools, a natural swimming hole heated by thermal currents, but learning that many of the boys have never been to Yellowstone National Park we elected to make that our troop activity.
We spent the entire day exploring the lower loop of Yellowstone. The highlights of the day were visiting 'fishless' fish bridge, hiking to the bottom of the Lower Falls, swimming and playing in a river at a rest stop between Norris and Madison junctions, and finally seeing Old Faithful.
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| Keith and Walker |
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| Troop 981 at the lower falls |
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| Swimming in a river in Yellowstone |
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| Ice-Cream at Old Faithful |
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| Oh the wait! |
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| Cameron burns his hair in fire explosion |
We got home late, missed flag ceremony, almost missed dinner, but still had time to play games around the campfire. One of the things we have been trying to encourage and foster was unity. This was accomplished by working together, cooking and cleaning together, sleeping together and playing together. Some of the boys favorites are Capture the flag, Mafia, and 'Big Buda'.
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| Campfire games--Mafia & Big Budda |
Thursday (the 11th) was back to the regular schedule. With a lot of free time daily, the boys and leaders spent their time either at the shooting ranges or on a project wether wood carving, boondoggling, or making bead necklaces. We encountered some excitement today as Cameron Cooper carelessly cut his left hand while woodcarving. It was real deep and wide requiring sutures. Luckily, Keith White, jr. came prepared with an entire surgical kit. The two of us cleaned and sutured Cameron back together and then we gave him a priesthood blessing. While tragic, it once again served to bring our troop closer and reinforce our dependance on God. Due to his injury we cancelled our canoe overnighter.
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| Endless wood projects and sharp knives |
Friday (the 12th) was the last day of merit badges. After lunch as a troop we braved the Polar Bear Plunge. Which consisted of sitting under a ice cold waterfall for 10 seconds (none of which you are able to breath). Everyone did it. In fact, I later learned that Kyle Boehlen, Ridge Lewis and my Christian. Had later gone up there again and not only repeated the challenge, but found two other spots close by to up the ante of the challenge! That evening we played capture the flag for several hours and once again missed flag ceremony, so we elected to do our own closing campfire. At the beginning of the week each scout and leader received a totem--a leather patch with a string that can hold beads which are earned by attending and participating in events throughout the week. Since our troop did a lot of independent activities we did not earn several of the beads, so I thought it appropriate to honor the things that we did accomplish together this week and so I purchased several colors of beads from the trading post and presented them to the boys at our campfire. The beads represented Courage (Swim test, Polar Bear, Injuries), Fun (Camp fire games, Swimming, Playing), Unity (Troop games, Working together, Yellowstone), Being Valiant (Not Honorable--Valiant!), Faith (Prayers, Priesthood, Gospel living, Testimonies).
Saturday (the 13th) we woke up took down camp and began our journey home. We drove south through Wyoming past the Grand Tetons (amazing beautiful) and Jackson (quaint ski town like Park City) and then down through Logan, Utah. It took us about two hours more driving this way, but it was so gorgeous. We got home late, dirty and exhausted having had a wonderful week!
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| Grand Tetons |
I just read through this, I miss you guys!!!!
ReplyDelete-Kyle