Goblin Valley Campout: Need To Know Information

We're looking forward to going to Goblin Valley State Park on Friday, March 9th through Saturday, March 10th. The full moon is on Thursday, March 8th so we should have plenty of moonlight for night games in one of the most unique landscapes in the world. The only thing that can "bust" this adventure is if there is rain/snow or just extreme overcast on Friday night.

Friday: Leave @ 4pm SHARP from the church parking lot. We will try and carpool to keep the vehicle count below 8. Bring some $$$ for fast food in Price or bring your own dinner that doesn't need cooking.

The 10 Day Forecast as of 3/2/12 is on Friday: Partly Cloudy with a low of 29 degrees, and Saturday is forecast to be sunny. It should as good as we can possibly ask for in early March.

Plan to carpool as much as possible because we are limited to only 8 cars in the group camp and a maximum of 35 people. Each car will need to pay an entrance fee as well, which was $7 per car last year.

The State Park entrance gate is approximately 50 miles from Green River, UT so plan accordingly to arrive before the gate closes at 10pm. I would recommend arriving even earlier in case there are off-season hours that might mean an earlier closure.
In the past I've seen terrible weather conditions over Soldier Summit only to find beautiful weather once I past south of I-70, so be prepared for any weather.
As of the posting of this information, we still have room for about 8 more people, so if you haven't signed up officially, we need to know if you plan to come with us. We hope to reach our maximum of 35 people.

Remember, this is open to all Young Men ages 12-18, and 11 year olds if accompanied by their father.

Provide your own dinner for Friday night, and Troop 757 will be providing a pancake breakfast in the morning for those who don't plan to make an early morning departure to hike or explore. Bring your own snacks and/or lunch as we are a long way from any food establishments.

There are tons of things to do in the Goblin Valley area. Consider the following adventures:

Hike Bell and Little Wild Horse slot canyons: A popular 9 mile loop hike.

Explore all three sections of Goblin Valley: This is accessed right next to our group campsite. The following link takes you to an excellent brochure about the park:

http://static.stateparks.utah.gov/docs/GoblinValleyBrochure.pdf

Technical Hike and Rappel Blue John Canyon: This will require a very early start and a brutal 12-15 hour hike through the same canyon Aron Ralston cut off his arm to survive. This is a hike Colby Thomas has done twice, but anyone attempting this will be going at their own risk and is not sponsored by the scouts or the Church.

Hike a 7 mile round trip to the Great Gallery in Canyonlands National Park. This hike is the final section of the Blue John Hike but is in wide open canyon country to one of the most spectacular Rock Art panels in the world.

Eat at Ray's Tavern in Green River. Boasting some of the best burgers in Utah and some great old photographs from the early days of white water rafting in that area. Just be sure to skip the "tavern" part of Ray's!

Drive the long loop down to Hanksville, then west through Capitol Reef Nat'l Park, and then up near Fish Lake and down to Richfield before heading home.

If you have any questions, please contact Chris by email @ chris@deserttoad.net.

February Camp @ Willow Park in Lehi

Our February camp out this year was one of our traditional cold camps at Willow Park in Lehi. In contrast to our November camp at Willow Park that had strong freezing winds, rain, and snow, the weather was excellent this time. At least we didn't have much in the way of winds to make things uncomfortable.

Instead, we had calm weather and crystal clear skies. But that meant it got very cold and very frosty throughout the night.

Our camp was in the northwestern corner of the park by one of the group pavillions. Sometime over the last few months they created three new small camps near the pavillion. We were anticipating that there would be a bunch of scout troops and a full park. But there were only 2, maybe 3 troops in the whole park and no one else camping that we could tell.

After setting up tents, the scouts were able to start a fire using flint and steel. We've become so reliant on lighting our fires matchless, we found a number of times we've forgotten to bring matches altogether. We did have matches to light the lantern this time however.

Everyone cooked their dinner over the fire or used hot water. We saw everything from elaborate foil dinners to hot dogs roasted over the coals. Richard likes to cook his dogs very well-done and we've determined his new name is Burn Master Black Smith, or BMBS for short.

The scouts played night games until about 10 o'clock while the leaders sat around a very hot campfire. The night got progressively colder and frost was forming on everything well before getting in our tents.

Ben lost all the air in his mattress in the middle of the night and his two Yorkies were shivering, so he took them home and came back to camp around 7:30am. The rest of enjoyed breakfast over the fire. But the usual routine for Max P and Max M was to have Pop Tarts and Cold Cereal respectively.

The sun was a welcome sight in the morning and rapidly dried everything out that it touched. The temperature was in the very low 20's and my camera decided to not cooperate in the cold, so we only have pictures of the evening activities.

After breakfast, everyone enjoyed throwing rocks the canal that ran along the north side of the camp and into the Jordan River. Everyone got lots of mud on their feet, but enjoyed trying the break the ice that had formed in the canal.

We packed up and were on the road around 10:30am and were all home by noon to warm showers and warm houses.

Fishnig for Scouts or Scouting for Fish?

One of the things we've decided to focus on this year is swimming. Mainly because our weeklong camp will be at Camp Hunt which is located on the west side of Bear Lake. Because an aquatics camp presents an excellent opportunity to earn many of the "water based" merit badges, we felt it would be wise to have the scouts as comfortable as possible in the water.

So once a month, starting in February, we have planned to go swimming for our scout night activity. This last week we went to Mount Jordan Middle School Pool and the scouts focused on either water based rank advnacements or the Swimming Merit Badge.

Some of the boys practices water rescue techniques, swimming 75 feet using multiple swim strokes, and being able to float in place as a resting technique.

The scouts working on the Swimming Merit Badge focused on being able to jump in the deep end of the pool fully clothed and remove the unnecessary clothing and then use the pants as a floatation device.

Everyone did very well and most passed off all the requirements needed to progress in their rank advancement or complete Swimming Merit Badge requirements except to design and complete a exercise schedule that includes swimming as one of the excercises.

Good job scouts in focusing on advancements and doing so well in completing everything possible during our scout activity.

Klondike Derby 2012 @ Jordanelle State Park

Most of us look forward to the Klondike Derby each year, but some don’t for good reason. It’s usually the coldest camp we experience each year. It’s also a very competitive environment as scout troops from all over the Silver Mesa District come to compete in well-designed skill events.

This year we were fortunate to leave early enough to arrive and set up camp before it got dark. In fact, the sunset over Jordanelle was very nice. We were fortunate to get the same spot we had last year, at the north end of the parking lot from where the District leaders set up.

Our troops were asked to provide the American Flag Color Guard for the opening and closing ceremonies.

There was some differences in opinion about how cold it really got overnight, but we know it was at least as cold as 11 degrees, and maybe even as low as 5 degrees. Fortunately, the sun came up just after 7am and made for a spectacular day with very little wind and no clouds.

Kee made an excellent breakfast of sausage, hashbrowns, and pancakes to get the scouts ready to compete in all the events scheduled for the morning. The competitions started at 9am with the troops competing in Matchless Fire Starting, First Aid, Obstacle Course, Shelter Building, River Crossing, Height & Distance, and Ice Rescue. They also paid a visit to the Order of the Arrow station where Max Parker was voted in to the Order. We look for to him completing his Ordeal in the spring.

Each event had a maximum of 10 points possible. The boys did such an excellent job at each station that they only dropped 3 points out of 73 (Order of the Arrow offered 3 points). They dropped 1 point each in Ice Rescue, First Aid, and missed full points in Matchless Fire Starting by 5 seconds. They did a totally awesome job!

After that competition, they had an hour to cook a meal from scratch of their own making and present it to the judges. What better way to compete than to have Isaac cook up his “Golden Spatula” award winning chili. He did a few alterations to have it match up to the required ingredients listed in the competition rules.

After delivering the chili to the judges we realized we forgot to put rice in the chili which was one of the required items. We also noted that other troops were providing a pretty fancy dessert as well, which we did not plan on.

After lunch was completed, we got ready for the sled race. There were over 30 troops that attended the camp, and it looked like most competed in the sled race.

One of the troops brought a living room chair on skis that they called the Scouch. We thought that was pretty cool.

The troop next to us was made up of some older and much bigger young men, so we weren’t as confident about our chances when the race began. But the scouts put their heart and muscle into the race and took Second Place, only behind that older group of boys we were next to us when the race started.

At the closing ceremonies we were pleased to learn we tied for First Place with that same troop of older boys in the Skills Competition. We did not place in the Lunch Competition but we sure enjoyed the chili anyway. It was excellent! Next year we’ll add an awesome dessert and we bet we’ll do better.

We found out after the day was over that there were over 350 boys and 34 troops that competed in the Klondike Derby for 2012. The leaders of the Silver Mesa District told us that was a record attendance. For Troops 612 & 757 to receive 1st and 2nd Place ribbons in two of the three events is really quite remarkable. We are very proud of our scouts and we you are proud of your sons!

3rd Annual Cooking Contest & Golden Spatula Award

The 3rd Annual Cooking Contest for Troops 612 & 757 was a lot of fun and the competition was fierce, although the participants were few.

Isaac, Max P, and Max M competed this time for the coveted Golden Spatula Award. We had an excellent turnout of esteemed judges with almost a dozen participating. This allowed the scouts to have a wide range of perspectives from the judges.

As usual, the scouts were allowed to arrive at the Stake Pavilion anytime after 5pm to begin their preparations and cooking. Once they arrived, they were on their own to prepare and cook their meal. Isaac arrived first, then Max P, then Max M. to create their culinary delights.

Isaac made chili, Max P. a European pancake dish, and Max M. fajitas.

This year we made a change in the way the contest was presented and had the boys serve the judges all at the same time from a serving table. In years past we would have the boys go serve the judges, but that meant it took a long time to serve them all. The new method allowed the judges to come and be served buffet style and it went much more efficiently. Then the rest of the families were able to be served quickly as well.

The scouts are judged on Taste, Nutritional Value, and Presentation.

Isaac was the winner this year with an excellent chili that included kielbasa and other yummy ingredients. Congratulations on a very good dinner and dessert.

And thanks to all the judges who “risked their lives” to sample the great food cooked independently by each scout.

Now the only question is, “Who will be the next to receive the Golden Spatula and have their name enshrined on the Golden Spatula Award Poster?” We’ll just have to wait until the 4th Annual Contest to know for sure!