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!
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