End of Year Campout

The end of year camp out was held at Raccoon Creek State Park this year.  The temps were pretty good, only going down to about 30 overnight.  The evening meal was attended by a few adults who did not spend the night.  The steaks were tender and juicy.  The potatoes we marvelous, baked in the coals of the fire.  With butter and sour cream awaiting the steaming potato, it made a nice complement to the steak.  Of course we had to have onions and mushrooms sauteed in butter to add to the steak.  For dessert we made fruit mountain pies.

We awoke in the morning and began eating breakfast which consisted of home fries, sausage and pancakes.  The food this year was outstanding.

After breakfast we began the contest of lighting a fire with one match.  The prize was a "share" of my leftover Halloween candy.  All scouts who could light the fire got a share.  This year, only one scout was able to do it - Nick McBride.  Here are some of the photos:

Sitting around the morning fire L-R: Nate Biernesser, David Biernesser, Alex Neeley, Nick McBride, Jake LaFond, Eli LaFond.  Grand Barber is in the background cooking breakfast.

 

Just a glimpse of the partially eaten pancake and homefries and sausage.

Here I am assisting with breakfast serving up a pancake to Nate McBride.

Alex Neeley is completing the lay of his fire.  His fire was a little flat and had nowhere to go.  We did a slight adjustment after he was done and it burned well.  He got partial points.

Nate McBride got a little bit of flame, but it never caught the wood on fire.

Grant Barber laid a pretty good fire but had trouble lighting a match.  Next year we will have lessons in lighting matches.

Here is Nick McBride lighting his fire.  Good job!

Eli LaFond created a log cabin type fire but could not get his lit match to his tinder very well.

Nate Biernesser tried his best to coax the flame, but it never got going.

Nate is deciding what to get ... He had first choice.

We awarded partial credit for good efforts and also for the cleanup process around camp.

Eli ended up with a bag of Twix.  I wonder if he shared?

Fall Court of Honor.

We had a first.  At the Court of Honor at the end of August, I was able to get rid of ALL the awards.  Usually one or two people do not show up and I have to save the awards until the next Court of Honor.  For the August ceremony everyone showed up and all was given out.

We had another Court of honor at the end of November and we went back to the usual practice of not everyone showing up.  We now have three life scouts: Brett, Tyler and Justin.  My money is on Justin to make it to Eagle first even though he just earned his Life rank at the end of September.  Brett and Tyler have had theirs for a couple of years now.

2011 Summer Camp - Muskingum

I gave my camera to some of the boys to get some shots that perhaps I would not be able to get.  Most I had to ditch because ... well ... they are not in the best of taste.  However, here are some of their better shots.

Here I am with Nate Hartung, one of the leaders from Butler, waiting in the chow line.

Dan Merrill, Kyle Carter and Patrick Hughes, semi working on merit badges.

Okay, give me my camera back.  I have had enough of this.

One of the boys lost Tyler's dragon fly lure so I tied him a new one.

This is Caleb trying to catch a few.  Alex caught the most for the week getting 78 fish.  Everything is catch and release in the lake at camp.

As part of the week the boys did a service project for the camp.  Here the older youth are digging a ditch to prevent the road from eroding further.

Lake Games are always fun at the end of the week.  Here they have to either jump or duck.

Alex is trying to throw something wet into another row boat.

Renting the Golf Cart was the best idea ever - now if only I could get the youth out of the cart.

2011 Tennesee Trip - Friday

Friday we had big plans.  We were going to hike to Mount LeCont, an 11 mile round trip hike.  The youth, however, talked us into cutting the day short so they could go on the water slide and go swimming back at camp.  We caved to pressure and they only hiked to Alum Cave, about halfway up the mountain.  The scenery was spectacular as usual.

The first mile or so you are hiking near this stream coming down out of the mountains.

This is either Rhoda Dendren or Mountain Laurel.  The blossoms were pretty.

The trail offered many vistas as we neared Alum Cave.

There were many views from the trail - too many to post here.

This is Alum Cave.  Not really a cave, but an overhang.

The are is very steep.  LR: Zach, Anthony, Justin, Tyler, Quintin, Brett, Connor, Bryan.

Once you find a flat spot you can relax a little more.

You can even act goofy on the flat areas.

 

Some of the trail is tricky with stair cut into the rock.

Back at camp, the pool was a popular activity.  The boys swam almost every night.  The young girls who were also in the campground with their families had to check out the guys - and being guys, they completely ignored the girls.

The water slide brought smiles to their faces.

I had to sneak in some fly fishing.  Tyler and Connor came along.

This is the Little Pigeon Creek, coming out of the Greenbriar area of the park, a little west of Gatlinburg.

Tyler and Connor were working an area below some rapids.

Fish weren't the only thing in the creek that day.

All and all it was a very good week.

For Quint, this is his final trip as a youth - maybe in the future we will use him as a leader.  Thanks for the memories Quintin.

2011 Smokies Trip - Thursday

Thursday was our rest day - to a certain extent.  We got up late and went rafting.  Later on we went to Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg.

Justin, Quintin and Tyler visit prior to the rafting trip.  I think they were trying to scare Justin.

Here is boat 1: Steve, Quint (looking scared), Kerry, Tyler, Connor, and Justin.

Justin! are you worried?  Close your mouth.

I think Justin was screaming the whole time.

This is boat 2 - Brett looks happy for now.

L-R: Zach, Bryan, Brett, Dan, Anthony and me.  Maybe Brett's happiness is fading away.

Brett is not so happy here.  Why the eyes shut?

Again the crew in the Aquarium.

Front: Anthony, Justin, Zach

Back: Bryan, Tyler, Quint, Brett, Connor

In the aquarium there were lots of things to see and do.  Quint - pull up your pants.

There were a lot of weird exhibits that you could crawl inside of.  Here Connor is in the midst of one.

Tyler and Quintin squeezed into the penguin exhibit to get a close up view.

I had to get into the act also.

The tanks were colossal with large sharks swimming by all the time.

Steve and his son Justin pose for a moment.

I got Tyler and his father Kerry to pose also.  I cannot thank enough the fathers for their help on the trip.  They had fun too.  Both said they would return with their families.