Camp Hunt @ Bear Lake

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.

Biker Dudes!

For our scout meeting this week we started early and took our last troop bike ride prior to heading to Camp Hunt. This is in preparation for a 50 miler around Bear Lake.

The weather was definitely warm and the sun pretty intense as we rode south and the west into the sun.

We decided to take on the Porter Rockwell Trail again in Draper. This time with the goal of going at least 5 miles out and 5 miles back for a total of 10 miles.

Not as many scouts showed up this time. We presume that's because summer has arrived and families are taking vacations and just generally busy with family based activities.

But for those that did come, we had a great ride. Most of the way south and west is uphill, though gradual for many stretches of the trail.

The sun was definitely in our eyes while we headed west. The nice thing about this trail is there are very few points where we had to cross a busy street other than 13th East. A bunch of great bike/pedestrian bridges have been built.


As we headed west we could see a lot of paragliders along the section leading up to Point of the Mountain.

When we past the 5 mile mark we decided that was a good point to call it half way. It has been a little over an hour as well.

The return trip went much faster as most of it was now on the downhill slope and much easier to keep the momentum up.

As a reward for completing a good ride and reaching our 10 mile goal, we took a detour to Dairy Queen for dipped cones and sticky fingers. A nice way to finish out the evening. Thanks Donald for the cones and a nice cooling down time at DQ!

Notice how Larry has a hard time finding his mouth! It was a two napkin event for him. Oh wait, that was Chris who needed the two napkins.

No more scout meetings until we head to Camp Hunt. Be sure your paperwork is in order and you've packed all the necessities for a fantastic camp in July!

June Means Prepare for Scout Camp!

One of the merit badges all 10 scouts will be working on Camp Hunt is the Fish & Wildlife Merit Badge. We've decided to all do this merit badge for a couple of reasons. One reason is it's an interesting merit badge. The second reason is it will help the boys qualify for one of the coolest scout patches--the World Conservation Patch. Or as Max P would say, "I want to get the panda patch!"

In order to earn the World Conservation Patch a scout needs to earn the following merit badges: Either Fish & Wildlife Mgt or Soil & Water Conservation, Environmental Science, and Citizenship in the World. (All the scouts who have not earned Enviro Science are signed up for that merit badge at Camp Hunt as well.)

To complete the Fish & Wildlife Mgt merit badge at camp, the scouts need to complete a requirement ahead of time. We thought it would be fun and interesting to build bird feeders and document the different birds that come to the feeder in the weeks prior to going to Camp Hunt.

Everyone already knows this, but we are so lucky to have Larry M as part of our program. We just asked if he could get some wood and design a bird feeder the boys could assemble on our scout night.

The results were awesome! The bird feeders were challenging enough to test the scouts' abilities to follow instructions and drive nails properly.

They also had to work in teams of two or more and it was great to see the scouts work together to accomplish their goal.

The end result was a nice bird feeder that each scout could take home, fill with bird seed, and observe what birds are attracted to their feeder.

Now each scout can be ready to complete the merit badge at Camp Hunt and be well on their way to earning the awesome "panda patch" as well.

Well done Larry for getting the supplies ready and guiding the scouts to a successful step earning another merit badge on their way to becoming Eagle Scouts!

May Means Cycling!

This month we are concentrating on the Cycling Merit Badge. We have the opportunity at our week long scout camp to finish our week by cycling 55 miles around the entire shoreline of Bear Lake.

To prepare, we are working on the Cycling Merit Badge in our May scout meetings. We began by first learning about the care and maintenance of a bike. Then we working on the safety rules that go with riding bikes safely on roads where we share it with other vehicles and cyclists.

The second week we took off for the Jordan River Parkway at approximately 9800 South. We decided to first head north and found the trail closed not very far past our starting point.

So we decided to head south instead with a bright sun heading down behind the mountains in the west.

We stopped for a breather and to adjust seats and get a drink of water.

We went beyond 10600 South to a place where a foot/bike bridge crosses the river. It was already after 8pm so we decided to head back in order to get everyone back to the church parking lot around 8:30pm.

This trip ended up to be around 6 miles total and was a good chance for everyone to see what kinds of adjustments they need to make to build up to our 55 miler in July.

Keep on riding and toughen up those legs and your seat...55 miles is lot more than 6 miles!

April District Camporee--Willow Park, Lehi, UT

The April 2012 camp was in a very familiar place for us, Willow Park in Lehi. We usually camp here in February and November traditionally, since it's at about as low an elevation as we can get during our colder months. And we know we can build big fires to keep us warm and practice our skills cooking over a fire.

This time Willow Park was the location of the District Camporee. The Silver Mesa District sponsored this event so we were happy to have a camp that gave us the opportunity to just show up and be enthusiastic participants.

We were set up in our respective zones, which consists of about 8 to 10 troops each. Our zone had a nice open place with two tables and fire pit and plenty of room to set up tents.

It was nice to have the opportunity to camp with the rest of our zone and get to know other scouts and their leaders and enjoy the association of the leaders of the Sandy Central Zone.

Dinner was whatever each scout or leader wanted to plan for themselves. We saw everything from Lunchables,   Dinty Moore Beef Stew, to "tube steaks" cooked over the fire.

Kee was kind enough to set us up with very nice cedar to use for the fire and we enjoyed a nice warm fire late into the evening.

After dinner the entire district joined in wild games of blind soccer. This is done by having the scouts paired up into twos with one scout blindfolded and the other scout not blindfolded. Only the scout who is blindfolded could touch or kick the ball, with the idea that his teammate would shout directions.

Unfortunately, the blind soccer only lasted a short time and then broke down to just regular soccer as some who were blindfolded were not really all that "blind" after all. But they still had a lot of fun.

Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage breakfast. The sausage had bacon mixed into the links  figuring anything with bacon in it has to be good. And it was!

The scouts had their tent knocked down in the middle of the night by a rogue troop in the district, but didn't seem to let that stop them from sleeping in. Max finally stumbled out of the tent just in time to join the morning games.

The games were really fun. The entire zone worked together at each station and it was a great experience for them to learn to work together even though they didn't all know each other very well before coming to this camp.

There was a station set up to complete a service project removing some of the excess brush around the camp.

There was a station set up where they had an imaginary alligator pit and they had to build a triangle shaped set up poles lashed together then have the victim walk the contraption to safety. This required the important skill of lashing, as well as teamwork to move the poles with the victim.

Unfortunately, our victim died probably three times and never made it out alive. In addition to falling back into the pit a few times, one of the lashings failed to hold.

Another event required the scouts to move a container of  "nitro" and safely pour it into a containment bucket without losing the container. I think they blew each other up at least twice on that one.

Then they had to get close up and personal and get everyone to stand on a box or log for at least 10 seconds.

A fun event that challenged the scouts was to get 7 or 8 scouts across a large railroad tie with half the scouts going to the east side of the log and half the scouts going to the west side of the log without falling off. This one took some strategy and a lot of cooperation to figure out, but eventually they got it done, then could do it over again very quickly.

All in all, it was a great camp and thanks to the Silver Mesa District for organizing and hosting such a fun event.