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.

The Fish Are Back!

We headed to the pool again for our monthly swim in hopes we'll all grow gills in time for scout camp @ Bear Lake.

We had some of the 11 year old Patrol with us again and it was great to have them. We hope they plan to convince their dad's to bring them to Camp Hunt so they can get a great jumpstart on their advancements before turning 12.

We didn't focus on passing off rank advancement this time. We just decided to have fun and get more comfortable in the water.

We definitely like Midvale Middle School's pool more than Mount Jordan Middle as it's bigger, has a diving board, and seems to have a lot less people show up during the week. Maybe we should just keep it as our secret for awhile and we can think of it as our private pool each month.

The boys enjoyed practicing their graceful moves off the diving board. And some not so graceful moves.

They enjoyed playing the water version of Three Flies Up.

Colton practiced picking up a brick from the bottom of the deep end of the pool We're pretty sure he's hiding some gills somewhere on his neck.

And they tried to drown some of the leaders, but were not very successful.

The big news tonight however was that Max not only jumped off the diving board, but even did a few graceful moves of his own.

This is a good indicator that our efforts to get the scouts comfortable in the water is paying off. We look forward to a week long camp on Bear Lake at Camp Hunt in July where we'll be able to put our water skills to use and enjoy the week taking advantage of our lakefront camp.

Goblin Valley Camp Out: A Perfect Settng for Night Games

Leading up to the Goblin Valley camp out, most of the adult participants were anxiously watching the weather forecast. March and April in southern Utah can bring just about any kind of weather you can imagine. And Goblin Valley is not the kind of place where rain and snow would make for a good outdoor experience. Unless you like mud 3 to 4 inches thick stuck to the bottom of your boots and all through your car.

We were all so pleased as we watched the 10 Day Forecast, then the 5 Day Forecast, and so forth to see that the weather was going to be pretty good. What we found was that the weather was absolutely perfect.

One vehicle with with Brian and Rick and their boys got an early start @ 2pm on Friday, March 9th and arrived at the State Park while it was still light. The rest of us, 7 adults and 9 young men left at 4pm.

Traffic through Utah County had some stop and go, but for the most part not too bad considering the I-15 eternal contruction project. The weather was nice and sunny and very few clouds in the sky. The temperatures from Sandy to Price were in the mid 40's most of the time with some colder temperatures around Soldier Summit and as we dropped down through Price Canyon.

We stopped for dinner at our traditional place, A&W / KFC in Price. We like to stop there as it provided a lot of choices for anyone one who prefers something else as there is a Taco Bell, Burger King, Wendy's, and even a Chinese Buffet all within walking distance of one another.

Back on the road again, the drive was uneventful which is a good thing along Hwy 6 from Price to I-70 which has had a nasty reputation for some pretty gnarly accidents when impatient drivers try and get around the slower vehicles by passing when there is only one lane each way.

I can't remember exactly when it got dark, but the stars were brilliant and that was the case along Hwy 6, as well as when be made the zig-zag along I-70 and then south again on Hwy 24 to Hanksville. Along Hwy 24 we were very impressed to see the moon begining to rise in the east in a dull redish orange, and it was huge.

We arrived in the park around 8:30pm just as the moon was rising higher and brighter with every minute. Everyone got busy setting up their tents and getting all set before heading off to play night games. A fire was started and everyone seemed to be enjoying a cool, clear evening in Goblin Valley at the Group Camp.

All the boys and few of the adults took off around 10pm on a cross-country trek heading due south for the Valley of the Goblins which we estimated was about 1.5 miles away. We missed the Entrada Trail and found ourselves high on some ridges a few times, rimming out and having to backtrack a few times, deep in drainages, and eventually made it to the road about 1/2 way between the camp and our destination.

Upon arriving at the overlook, we were not disappointed in the way the moon was casting long, dark shadows all over the valley. Everyone divided up into two teams, identified by either red (pink) or yellow glow in the dark necklaces. Both teams had a large glow in the dark stick that represented their team flag and the wild game of Capture the Flag began.

With the air nice and cool and the valley lit up by a very bright moon high up in the sky now, it made for a perfect setting for night games. The hoodoos were very unusual and the shadows almost scary at times, but overall just a lot of fun.

The games concluded around midnight and a walk back to the camp was a good chance to cool off. We thought we had more than accomplished our goal of completely wearing out the boys. But to our surpise, many stayed up to 1am to enjoy the fire and wind down. Much to our dismay, they didn't really quiet down until around 1:30am. I guess we didn't do so well at wearing them out after all.

In the morning, again much to our surprise, the talking and noise started up not too long after about 6am. The sun was rising fast at 7:30am and a big pancake breakfast by Jon was off to a great start by 8am.

After breaking down camp and packing up we were back in the Valley of the Goblins by 10am. It was interesting to hear many of the night games participants to say how different it all looked in bright daylight.

Most of the group decided to just stay and explore the main valley, while 6 of us decided to see if we could get far enough to the south/southwest to see Valley #3 and then work our way back to Valley #2.

We ended up hiking down the major drainage to the west until we felt like we probably went too far south. Colby climbed up a very tall hill and could see that we had, and so we worked our way back southeast this time and made it into what we thought was Valley #3.

On the way Ted found a rock that looked a lot like a brain with right and left side lobes. We were all so excited that after 15 years that Ted finally found his brain. That alone was worth the effort to explore Valley #3.

After exploring a large section of Valley #3 we starting heading northeast and worked our way back into the same drainage we had come down. Upon reaching the drainage again, we realized the it would have been very difficult to find the place where you would turn left to find Valley #3.

We met Brian, Luke, and Brandon on the way back just to the north of Valley #2. We decided that we were tired enough and that heading back to the cars was a good idea. We also decided that the 2nd Annual Goblin Valley NIght Games Camp was a good idea for next year.

After everyone got reorganized and all packed up we headed for Green River to enjoy a well deserved burger at Ray's Tavern. Jon arrived about 20 minutes ahead of everyone else and was surprised to find the place packed with what looked like a bunch of golfers. The expectaion was it would take a long time to get a seat and then get served, so the rest of us opted for fast food in either Green River or Price.

Everyone was back home by 7pm and I think everyone created some very fond memories of Goblin Valley and a weekend that couldn't have had conditions any better than what we enjoyed. Another fun camp and we look forward to next year to do a repeat. Maybe this will become an annual tradition similar to our Annual Cooking Contest.

Thanks to all who participated and especially those who helped with the breakfast and driving the long distance of about 200 miles each way. It was well worth every mile to get there!