This year for our week long scout camp we headed up to the west side of Bear Lake to Camp Hunt which is part of the Trapper Trails Council.
We got an early start on Monday morning and arrived at the camp somewhere around 10 am. We immediately took to setting up camp, checking in and verifying merit badge classes, and getting ready to start our merit badge classes promptly at 1:00 pm that same afternoon.
We were not sure how much room we would have at Camp Cherokee, but were pleased to find we had enough room to put the scouts in three big tents, and the leaders in smaller tents.
The adults aren't as interested in sharing tents because we find it's a lot more "fun" to having snoring contests all night long.
But, it was no contest as Edward was able to put everyone else to shame with volume and intensity.
Is there a totem for that?
In the afternoon the scouts headed to Environmental Science. A BSA Camp merit badge we consider mandatory for any scout who hasn't earned that one yet.
You have the choice to spend 4 days earning Enviro Science at camp, or 3 months working on it at home.
At least the setting was pretty cool as the scouts have an excellent view of Bear Lake from what is referred to as The Chapel.
We were also happy to discover The Chapel was right next to our camp as well.
The adults had the very difficult and laborious task of keeping Camp Cherokee in good order.
Here we are slaving away diligently fulfilling our assignment.
We really hope the scouts appreciate our hard work and dedication!
Ricky found Swimming to be pretty tiring as well and managed to pull off a nap before it was time to get dinner going.
We had some pretty good food during the week, starting with cheese burgers, baked beans, and a salad on the side.
Each breakfast and dinner one of the scouts was assigned to be the head chef.
Ricky took the first turn as he was a seasoned veteran of scout camps.
Each morning and evening each troop would gather with the camp staff for a flag ceremony.
We also had the opportunity to compete for the Spirit Stick by trying to have best troop yell.
We won't talk anymore about how well we did with our troop yells.
On the first night the camp staff provided some pretty funny and entertaining skits.
Ask the boys about Bessy the Cow. As we learned that night, Bessy was very unselfish and instrumental in allowing the baby to live.
What's this? Ricky still hasn't recovered from working on his Swimming merit badge?
Alec and Elijah are working hard on the Art merit badge. Alec claimed he was drawing a portrait of Elijah, but it was a bit of a stretch to see a likeness.
On Tuesday night the troop competed in the Chief Washaki Relay. We got off to a bit of a slow start, the troop eventually came in 2nd place.
There was an obstacle course, repeating of the scout oath and law, a swimming and canoeing event, knot tying, and compass course and more.
Second place isn't bad at all considering almost half our troop consisted of 11 year old scouts in their first year with the troop.
Here's Troop 757 presenting one of their yells after the morning flag ceremony.
No spirit stick this year....
Some of the scouts working on the Leatherwork merit badge.
I was hoping for a pair of chaps so I could then go out and buy a Harley, but a big square of leather didn't seem to be able to go that far.
Our first relatively serious injury at camp. Matthew ended up in the water (we're trying to forget how that happened) during a windy and choppy time out on the docks and as he was trying to climb out got his fingers smashed in-between two of the docks as they rocked in the waves.
He toughed it out and went through the rest of camp with hardly a limitation even though he had to have one finger wrapped to the other to mobilize the damaged pinky.
To earn Totems, we participated in extra events, most of which were scheduled at 6:00 am or earlier.
On Tuesday morning, most of us earned the Polar Bear Plunge totem by wading into the lake at 6:00 am up to our chests, reciting the Scout Oath and Law and then dunking ourselves all the way under the water.
Wednesday morning, for the Sunrise Canoe trip we arrived at the waterfront by 5:45am and all jumped into one of the Warrior canoes and paddled out to watch the sunrise.
It was barely light when started out in the canoe and went quite a ways out into the lake to enjoy one of nature's finer shows.
And we were not disappointed. As with most spectacular shows of nature you really have to be there to have the full effect.
We recommend that you decide right now that you'll never miss an opportunity to go to scout camp in the future. Remember, dads are always welcome at all our camps.
Tommy showing off his wood carving skills. We were especially pleased to the see the gloves on to protect fingers. Scouts
never cut themselves when using sharp instruments do they?
Now wait a minute...the Swimming merit badge isn't that demanding! But there's Ricky again taking advantage of a break in the action. I think he can sleep anywhere at anytime.
The troop also earned a totem for providing the retrieval of the colors on Thursday night.
We were so proud of the troop and how they handled the ceremony with dignity and honor.
Ben was taking pictures from the other side of field and when the troop finished he heard a scoutmaster say to his troop, "Now that's how it's supposed to be done!"
Another totem was earned for the Pirates of the Caribbean canoe swamping contest.
We sent them out with Pinky the Flamigo with a charge to keep Pinky safe. And they all did an excellent job.
I'm starting to think that if Ricky just needs sleep because he's growing boy. But if that was really the case then he should have been about 10 feet tall by the end of camp.
If you've ever seen video of Piranha attacking an unfortunate animal, or a shark feeding frienzy, then you can imagine what it looks like when we break out lunch and scouts build their own sandwiches.
Lining up single file is out the window and it's wise to just step back and see what's left if you value your own safety.
The troop also competed in the Warrior Canoe race. This race was done by one boat at a time racing out to a marker and the going around it and back to shore while being timed.
We were first place at one point in the competition. That point was when we were the first boat to race.
The third boat out crushed our time however and we never did learn what our final standing was in this particular competition.
Yes, Pinky the Flamingo is alive and well after the canoe swamping event. No better protectors out there than Troop 757!
After a yummy roast beef and mash potatoes dinner on Friday night, Ben challenged the scouts to corn cob races down the stream behind our camp.
Overall, I think Ben had the fastest cob in camp.
Right after dinner we had a downpour that was like buckets of water being poured out for about 15 minutes and drenched everything. We were glad we were going to be packing up in the morning and wouldn't have to deal with wet stuff for very long.
Ben took us all to The Chapel as the sun was setting and talked about appreciated nature and all that God has created.
Most of the scouts even took a turn expressing their thoughts about blessing in their lives personally. It was one of the highlights of our camp.
We were late to the closing campfire because of our meeting in The Chapel, but it was worth it.
And yes, we did have a closing campfire even though there was total fire ban in effect.
Scouts are very resourceful you know!
The camp staff did a very moving tribute to our nation using the history of the American Flag to close out the camp activities for the week.
Having participated in three BSA sponsored camps I would say Camp Hunt was the best run and best staffed of them all.
We ended up with 57 merit badges earned, 4 partial merit badges with only one or two assignments left to complete, and each scout filled up their totem badge.
Saturday morning we packed up as quickly as possible so we could make an attempt at circumnavigating Bear Lake which is approximately 53 miles round trip.
Edward got about a quarter mile before losing his chain which then cause 4 spokes to break. One down, 9 to go.
Some additional bike trouble happened along the way and we lost Alec. Another one down, 8 to go.
We had some slow movers so we pulled two more in after 15 miles. 15 miles is no small feat though and we're proud of their accomplishment. 2 more down, 6 to go.
We found after rounding the northeast corner of the lake, the road became hilly and much more challenging. So the decision was made to shoot for a 25 miler this time since we did want to be home sometime before dark.
The last 6 made the 25 mark with Max coming in first. Excellent job pulling off a 25 miler after a very productive week at camp.
On the way home we stopped in Woodruff, UT to fix some lunch. Max decided to tangle with the ladder on one of the slides in the playground.
The slide definitely won that battle. And we thought we had gotten through the week with only one casualty.
Luckily, the damage looked a lot worse than it really was. Max is just an over-achiever when it comes to bleeding I guess.
This is the killer slide that jumped out and knocked Max to the ground. Or maybe it was he slipped and fell from the top of the stairs and used his backside and head to try and cushion his landing.
You can guess which it might have been...
This is the Camp Hunt badge we each received at the beginning of the week and had the opportunity to fill with extra activities that we participated in. From left to right:
Flag Ceremony
Sunrise Canoe Trip
Polar Bear Plunge
Chief Washaki Relay
Honor Trail
Bird Watching
By the way, we were all so proud of our Polar Bear Plunge at 6:00 am on Wednesday for spending 1 minute or so in the cold water. That is until Colton and his dad did the mile swim at 6:00 am on Friday morning. Perhaps they have polar bear blood running through their veins? Is there a totem pole for that one????
Congratulations on such an awesome accomplishment to not only do the Mile Swim, but do it at 6:00 am.
