Merit Badge Day

Camp Tranquility Map - Click pic for more pics

It was a cold day in January but that didn’ t keep Boy Scouts from bundling up and heading off to Merit Badge Day for a Saturday.   Troop 220 had 9 Scouts decide it was time to crank up the Merit Badge count and get busy with earning rank advancements.  So they showed up with books in hand and began the task of knocking out 1 or 2 merit badges.  Some were able to complete two merit badges during the day but others had merit badges that were more complicated and took all day to complete.  However at the end of the day it was all good because they learned a new game and got to play with other Scouts they had not met before.  Not to mention that several of them will now be awarded a merit badge patch at the next Troop meeting.

Above is a picture of a very nice map of Camp Tranquility at Oak Mountain State Park.  Larry Faulkner was selling some extra patches during the event to raise funds for the Muscogee Chapter of the OA.  I was wondering how much money it would take to get the map. 

Oak Mountain State Park Campout

Directing Trailer Packing - Click pic for more pics

Cold December nights like this make me really scared
Scoutmaster’s not really there
And my plate is really bare
Another lonely night
My bag, my tent underneath a tree
Can this really be
I’m singing Boy Scout songs
And there’s no marshmallows for me

As you can see from the picture above the adults had more fun at this camp out than the Scouts did.  Of course we staged this to have a little fun.  It was a cold and rainy weekend.  I discovered that the boys can handle a lot of adversity but the cold really puts the pressure on them.

We had a good setup Friday night and the boys got in bed early because they were cold and it was raining and what else was there to do.  They had the tents covered with tarps and all the food and cooking stuff under cover.  They were prepared.

The next morning it wasn’t raining and they were able to uncover everything and knock out some breakfast.  That provided an opportunity for learning once they had dirtied up all their dishes just for one meal.  Once they got that cleaned up though it was time for a nice little Geocaching hike up through Camp Tranquility and back down around by the BMX track.  I had to cut and run for a couple of hours but I heard that the boys had a good time on the hike.  The problem was that when they got back the wind had blown the tarp off one patrol’s tents and it had rained.  Now some of their stuff was wet and it was cloudy and about to rain again.  However they were able to adapt and overcome and found a dry spot to sleep with what dry equipment they had.

The adults whipped up some really awesome deer stew in a Dutch oven and feasted that night.  The boys did alright with a meal plan that they had.  It was a warm meal on a cold night and I think they all enjoyed it.  It was time for a nice fire and some skits at that point.  Of course we had the fire going since coming back from the hike so when it started sprinkling that night we just kept heaping the wood on and it kept burning.  We had two pop-up canopies pulled together so everyone was able to get under there and put on their skits.  After that it was getting late and only colder so all the boys headed off to bed.  A couple of the adults stayed up to clean up the Dutch oven and enjoy the fire for a little longer.  With the rain it was rather easy to put out the fire.

The sleeping was good with the rain beating on the tent during the night.  Well, at least it was for me and the other adults.  This time the second patrol had their tarp over their tents fly off during the night and they got wet.  I think both patrols learned to check their stakes and make sure they are solid before leaving or going to bed.  Also before skit time a couple of boys had decided that momma was close enough to come get them.  So they took their stuff out of their tent and left.  This left an empty tent that they had neglected to stake down.  During the night, once the tarp over it was gone, it went blowing through the trees.  Fortunately it didn’t make it very far before hanging up.  Another lesson learned the hard way.

In the morning the sun was out and it was warming up.  Always the case with camping out.  It seems the day you leave is the best day for camping while the others were horrible.  But it made it nice for having breakfast and packing up the trailer – twice.  Once to see that everything doesn’t fit when you just throw it in.  The second time to see that everything will fit when there is order to the chaos.  Another lesson learned the hard way.  Have I mentioned this was a very educational trip? 

There were some fun times to be remembered, Scouts completed advancements without knowing it, the trip home was nice and the Scouts learned a lot about camping in cold, wet weather.  All in all I would have to say it was a successful campout.

Camp Jack Wright Campout

Scouts and Scoutmaster doing inventory - Click picture for more pics.

This was my first time to camp at Camp Jack Wright.  I had a really good time.  I don’t know that the Boy Scouts did.  I think the pavilion was a little far for their liking.  Also they had decided to take inventory on this trip so they brought everything.  I think they brought too much stuff to the pavilion instead of leaving it at the trailer and identifying it there.

We arrived at dark but because we knew we were staying in pavilions three and four we just needed to find them.  It was easy enough to find them but then the boys wanted to take the first pavilion and leave the adults with the second one that was further away.  Since the Scoutmaster had a brace on  his right ankle so he could walk that decision was quickly overruled.  You never heard so much whining and fussing in all your born days.

Now for the funny thing (at least to the leaders) that happened on this campout.  The leaders brought there stuff to the first pavilion and put it on the picnic table.  The boys brought all their stuff to the first pavilion and then carried it to the second pavilion.  It was a two stage process.  Well a little later some of the adults began looking for there stuff.  The boys had taken almost everything from the first pavilion to the second pavilion.  In the end they had taken enough adult stuff to amount to at least two trips between the pavilions.  Now that was funny.

I got to try out my new sleeping bag.  I had frozen at the Camporee so I had upgraded my bag.  I was looking forward to trying it out.  WOW!  The temperature that night was about the same as it was at the Camporee.  I actually got hot in my new bag.  It is going to be nice this winter.

The next morning the boys had a big breakfast planned with sausage and eggs and biscuits in a Dutch Oven.  By the time they got through cooking, eating and cleaning, it was lunch time.  Seriously.  I know there were several boys that learned a very valuable lesson from that experience.  Which, by the way, is what Scouting is all about.

Typically lunch is cold sandwiches but they had a big thinker in the planning process apparently as they had another hot meal planned.  I made the mistake of trying some of it when they offered it to me.  That won’t happen again.  YUCK!  So then they had to clean up all of that.  WOW!

Sometime later that evening they got started on the inventory.  It was listed on the camp plan to start after breakfast around 8:00 am.  Well they quickly went through it once.  Then I showed them how it should have been done.  Look out, here came the whiners again.  So taking what they had done they began to add to it and do it better.

They did get some free time though and came up with this crazy game that had them running all over the rock ridge along the backside of the camp.  Fortunately they only needed the first aid kit to stop the bleeding once.  Not sure what this says about the rest of the boys but we have a couple of boys that are real good at first aid. 

Later on that evening they completed the game and finished knocking out the inventory.  It was time to cook something in the fire then.  Of course building a fire is always the highlight of a campout.  As they were preparing for that I slipped off and left the boys with the other two leaders.  I went and rehydrated some home made chilli for my dinner.  No way was I going to try what they were cooking.  Later on I found out it was hamburgers and hotdogs that they had cooked on a grill over the fire.  I think the hamburgers were burned on the outside and nearly raw on the inside according to the leader that tried one.  He hadn’t been there for lunch and so wasn’t as experienced in the cooking abilities of that group of Scouts as I was.  Poor guy.

I had mentioned that I was up for a night time Geocaching run if anyone wanted to so after they completed dinner a few of them and a leader came down to where I was all ready to go get a smiley face.  Boy did we have a hike.  We hiked nearly 3 and a half miles in a little over 2 and a half hours.  That doesn’t take into affect all the scrub bushes we tore through and hills we climbed and streams we jumped and rocks we climbed.  WOW! What a night hike.  We were all wore out by the time we got back.  However we all got a couple of smiley faces and that was good.

The next morning I got one of the Scout leaders to go with me and we hiked over the Camp Jack Wright side property line down into Tannehill State Park.  It wasn’t nearly as far as I had thought.  I needed to replace one of my Geocaches that had gotten stolen the weekend before during the Pack campout.  We quickly arrived at the scene and was able to replace the cache.  It was a nice walk back in the morning sun as it warmed up the forest around us.

Of course all this time the boys were hauling and loading gear.  I took the time to use my GPS to map all of the camp sites at Camp Jack Wright and take pictures of all of the interesting stuff there.  I still had to wait around for the boys to finish up.  Another lesson learned.  We got the trailer loaded and headed back to the Scout shack.

However once there the Quartermaster showed up and said all of the equipment needed to be divided among the patrols.  So out comes all of the equipment and starts going into little piles.  With more adults there this happened a lot quicker.  It was soon assigned, noted and placed in the Scout shack and everyone was on their way home.  Another successful Scouting campout.

Camporee at Brierfield Iron Works Park

Ready for Archery - Click picture for more pics

Camporee was a blast.  There were a lot of young Scouts and the Senior Patrol Leader caught the flu on Thursday evening so he missed the event.  However the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader stepped up to the task and took on the role of leader and did an outstanding job of it.  In fact most of the time he was out standing in the field at each of the events.    The Troop got one of the highest if not the highest campsite inspection score in the Camporee.  They scored about average in the Patrol and Troop competitions.  They lost some points in the Troop competition because the leaders were new at this also and caused some points to be lost.  They didn’t make as many points in the Patrol competition because this was the first time most of the Scouts had been exposed to a Camporee and competitive events.  They did a great job of pulling together and working as a Patrol to rack up some points though.  All of the leaders were very impressed and proud of them.

They did build an awesome gateway though.  The boys had a great time lashing it together and Dave did an awesome job of leading them in their effort.  Once Troop 220’s gateway went up there was one further down that was in the process of going up.  When they saw Troop 220’s gateway they added another pole to theirs so it would be taller.  Too funny.

Another highlight of the event was the Hobo stew that the leaders prepared that night for the Webelos that showed up after lunch.  The leaders got the stew in the Dutch Oven around lunch and began the process of cooking it all evening long while the boys were involved in the c0mpetitive events.  Later that evening they also put the ingredients for upside down peach/pineapple cobbler in another Dutch Oven.  When dinner time rolled around there was some serious feasting going on.  Man was it good!

The funniest thing to happen at the Camporee happened to me in the middle of the night on Saturday.  Each Troop was stacked in on top of one another so I wound up sleeping on the backside of the nearby Troop and next to a couple of tents of Scouts.  Sometime while it was dark I suddenly heard one of the Scouts yell out in his sleep, “There’s nothing that can kill a Scout!”  Now what he was dreaming or what lead to that dream would definitely be something worth hearing.  Sometime later I heard him just wrestling around in his sleeping bag and suddenly he yelled out in his sleep, “How do you get out of this?!” It was way too funny.

What with the exciting competition, good food, excellent gateway and funny stories, everyone declared it a successful Camporee.

OLS Training at OMSP

Dutch Oven Cooking - Click picture for more pics

This was a really great training course that I would recommend for every Boy Scout leader.  It’s not just an opportunity to sit and listen to someone teach but an opportunity for sharing ideas, knowledge and experiences.  It was truly a dynamic learning experience for all involved whether teacher or pupil.

We began by setting up flapping tents in a windy sprinkle on a dark and dreary Friday evening at Camp Tranquility in Oak Mountain State Park.  Then the real fun began.  We sat in on a great Leave No Trace (LNT) presentation by three of the best LNT instructors in the Shelby District.  Okay, I could be just a bit biased.    We were then instructed by the Master Chef himself on the proper way to use one hand to break and egg into a ziploc bag.  A very nice recipe for eggs-in-a-bag was then presented.  Then since our appetites had been whetted it was on to a cracker barrel of Oreos and cheese popcorn.  At least those were my choices.  There were plenty of others.

We roused our achy bodies from a snuggle warm sleeping bag  to an overcast morning with a hint of anticipation in the nippy air.  I could hear the soft whisper of aromatic coffee and delectable eggs-in-a-bag coming from the kitchen area as they called me from my slumber.  Then the real fun began.  We cranked up the flames for boiling water.  One for the coffee and one for the eggs.  What a breakfast we had.  Then it was on to the classes.

We learned all about the flag and what to do and not to do with the flag.  We learned about tracking animals and identifying trees and plants.  We learned about sharpening, handling and carrying for axes and knifes.  We learned about lashing, whipping, fusing and knot tying.  We then learned about cooking with a trash can, a Coleman oven, and a Dutch oven.  We then partook in a most excellent feast of garbage can turkey, vegetables and Dutch oven biscuits.  It was awesome.

Afterwards we learned about how to build different types of fires, safety involved in properly putting out a fire, tinder, kindling, flaming balls of death and the fabulously flaming Fritos.  We then learned about maps and compasses and how to orient them with ourselves and where we were.  We then got to do a small orienteering course.

It was then free time to come up with and practice skits for the evening fire.  We also began the process of preparing for dinner.  We had planned on Hobo dinners so we need to utilize our newly learned fire making skills and come up with a roaring fire to make some hot coals.   Our skills were up to the task and we soon had a bonfire going.  I thought we were going to have to practice our skills on how to put out a forest fire.  Our Hobo dinners turned out great though.

The fire and skits were a lot of fun.  The instructors laughed a lot at our ridiculous skits and we all had a fun time doing them.  We then sat around the fire and watched it mirror the night sky.  We then doused the final sparkles and drifted back to our tents and another blissful night under the stars.

The next morning we chased down some more eggs-in-a-bag with some coffee and began the task of breaking camp.  Halfway through it was time to go learn about a Scout’s own service.  We walked down to a very nice location overlooking Lake Tranquility.  It was a little on the cool side sitting in our chairs but made for a comfortable walk down and back.  Since we were all of the same faith it was a little different to have some of the other faiths as part of the service.

After our walk back we finalized the camp breakdown, said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed back to our homes and a shower.  It was truly a very good experience.

Payne Lake Recreation Area Campout

Boy Scouts Looking For Alligators - Click picture for more pics.

Payne Lake was a lot of fun.  We arrived really late on Friday night and had to choose a camp site in the dark.  We found three pretty good campsites.  Two for the two patrols and one for the adults.  Of course the adults got the site by the lake and the boys got the two across the road after we saw the alligator signs.  It wasn’t until the end of Saturday that I found the perfect campsite just down the way from where we were.  We’ll camp there the next time we go to Payne Lake though.

We all had a good breakfast and then piled in the vehicles to head over to the West campground to clean up some debris from the camp sites.  We got to stay for free at the campground since we were doing some cleanup.  That didn’t sound like such a bad idea.  The boys did a pretty good job of cleaning up.  They had to move a lot of limbs and even a few that required some team work.  In the end only one Scout got stung by a bee and required first aid.

Afterwards we headed back to camp to fix lunch.  The adults had hobo meals of steak and potatoes.  I think the boys had sandwiches and something out of a can.  After they walked over and saw what we were eating I believe they were made aware of the training we had provided concerning planning and preparing for  your meals.

After lunch there were a lot of different skills worked on.  Ropes, knots, lashings, flag pole raising, tarp setup and other such activities kept them busy. They then got to go swimming in the swimming area to cool off.  Some of us played a little football.  Then it was on to dinner time and the evening fire.

The boys ate quickly and then began gathering wood and setting up for the evening fire.  The adults were still cooking their Hobo stew.  The boys finally got the fire going and the Hobo stew was finally ready.  The boys had a good time around the fire putting on skits, singing songs and just telling stories.  Far too quickly it was time for lights out and hitting the sack.

Sunday morning we had a good breakfast and packed the trailer for the trip back home.  The boys put on a Scout’s own service, performed a flag ceremony and hit the road for home.  Everyone agreed it was a good campout.

Troop Leadership Training

Troop & Adult Leaders in TLT - Click picture for more pics.

Troop 220 conducted its semi-annual Troop Leadership Training at Area 51.  Area 51 is the building that the Youth Group of Westwood Baptist Church meets in.  Something interesting to note here is that 7 of the 11 boys present for training are also in the Westwood Baptist Church Youth Group.  The Troop got permission to hang out there on Friday evening, spend the night and then work on training in the upstairs play room.  It was a really nice place to hold the training.  The Troop had elected its new leaders just the Monday before and it was time to get them up to speed before they took office the Monday following next weekend’s campout.

Friday night they just ran wild and free and played a lot of games on the inside and on the outside.  It was hard to get them to do lights out at 11pm.  The leaders slept in the foyer downstairs and I heard whispering and footsteps upstairs all night long or at least it seemed like it.  They were still up earlier the next morning than I wanted to be so I had to scramble to get packed up before they came down and ran me over like a herd of stampeding wildebeests.

The Scoutmaster is a super duper great guy and brought in egg-sausage biscuits and OJ for everyone and coffee for the adults who drank coffee.  The Scouts came downstairs and scarfed down some biscuits.  You would have thought they had been on an over night hike as hungry as they were.  Maybe it was because they had been up all night.

After breakfast we got down to the Troop training.  It was good to see the lights start coming on as the boys began to understand their roles in the Scouting program.  The boys elected some really good leaders and I am excited about what the next six months holds for our Troop.

That evening the Scouts gathered around the ping pong table and decided on their camping plans for the next year.  I still don’t know what they decided on as they were doing such a good job by themselves that I fell asleep on the couch across the room.  The clicking of cameras is the only thing that woke me up. 

Once the planning was done we cleaned up the place, packed our stuff, called the parents and hit the road.  It was a very successful and fun training event.

Adopt A Road Service Project

Boy Scouts Serious About LNT - Click picture to see more pics

Troop 220 signed up to to clean Alabaster Blvd for Westwood Baptist church.  Above is the crew that turned out the first time.  We are scheduled to do this occasionally through out the year so I am expecting that the ones above will be getting after the ones that didn’t show up about showing up.  It took a long time with just the bunch above but it was impressed upon them how easier and faster it would have been had the whole Troop showed it.  It is amazing the lessons that Scouts learn as they progress through the many things that they are involved in.  I was proud of the group above though.  They cleaned up the entire side of the road, even picking up cigarette butts.  What a nasty job.  They even removed some debris from a house that the city wouldn’t pick up.  YEA Boy Scouts!

Edit 1/19/2010 – I just found a link on the City of Alabaster web site that has some pictures of us at this event.  Check it out.

Oak Mountain State Park Camp Out

Scouts Filtering Water From a Stream - Click picture for more pics

Troop 220 had a lot of fun on this campout.  We were getting prepped for a backpacking trip so everyone packed up their backpacks for this car camping trip.  To simulate a backpacking trip and to let some of the first timers feel a backpack on a hike, Friday evening we parked at the North Trailhead in Oak Mountain State Park and hiked over the hill into the campground.  Even with such a short hike we were able to tweak some backpacks to get them to ride more comfortably.  We signed in, got a camp site and pitched our tents.  We also only brought food that could be packed in a backpack.  I had my backpacking tent so some of us had a hot, rehydrated meal while others chose to eat a cold meal.  We knew tomorrow was going to be a long day so we all hit the sack early.

The next morning breakfast went rather quickly as we didn’t drag out the frying pans and Coleman stoves and such.  For one thing we didn’t have those and for another there isn’t much work involved with opening a wrapper on  a breakfast bar.  Now I of course had to have a bowl of hot oatmeal to keep me going for the day.  We were up and hiking by the time we are just starting to eat on a regular campout.

We grabbed our daypacks, instead of our backpacks, and headed back over the hill to the North Trailhead to start up the big hills of the Blue Trail.  It didn’t take long to find out who was outta shape and who wasn’t.  It also didn’t take long to be thankful we had left the backpacks behind.  Our route was varied somewhat as we took the occasional detour to find a Geocache.  There were some new ones that I hadn’t found and most of the boys had not found the old ones.  They got to see some parts of the park they wouldn’t normally see on a regular hike.

We got to the top and headed out to King’s Chair for our lunch.  The Scouts really enjoyed it there.  The view was awesome and some wanted to try to climb down the cliff.  We promised them that would come later as we got more people trained on rappelling and acquired some rappelling gear.  We already have one experienced BSA trained rappelling leader in the Troop so we don’t have far to go.

After lunch we headed on down the Blue Trail to get some more caches and see more of the park.  Well about there we found out that some Scouts had chosen to listen to their parents instead of their Scout leaders.  Instead of bringing their hydration bladder with lots of water they had chosen to just bring their Nalgene bottle.  Well they were out of water and now borrowing from the other Scouts who had brought plenty of water.  That is until someone else started drinking it.  It was a good lesson for those who didn’t bring enough water.

So we took the next cut through trail down to the CCC road and a water supply.  Well if you call a stream a water supply.  We did because one of the Scouts had a new super duper Katadyn water filter.  They had a blast filtering the cool stream water and sucking it down as soon as their water bottles were full.  The rest of us topped off our water supplies also since we all wanted to taste the cool, clean water.  It was good.  Then another Scout troop came along and their leader mentioned something about the dead deer he had seen above us in the stream.  He had the boys worried for a little while until they realized he was just pulling their legs.

So since the Scouts were all getting wore out we headed on back to the camp for an evening of swimming down at the camp ground beach area.  They had a blast swimming.  I wondered where all that energy came from since they had been so tired on the trail.     We then hiked back to camp and drip dried in the process.  It was time for dinner and some more rehydrated food or unwrapping of the bars.  To meet some Backpacking Merit Badge requirements a lot of the Scouts got to light my stove and boil some water on it.  Most of their boiled water went to making hot chocolate though instead of food. 

After dinner we worked on advancements for the Tenderfoot Scouts so they can make it on to Second Class.  They really enjoyed that as it required building a fire.  Who doesn’t like that?  Soon it was time to hit the sacks again.  Tonight there wasn’t any problem getting the Scouts in their tents.  They were all tired from a long, fun day.

The next morning we were once again up and quickly done with breakfast and packing up.  We had them backpack one more time back over the hill to the North Trailhead to get that final feeling of hiking out that last morning with a backpack that wasn’t quite as full as when they came in.   They all had a great time and are looking forward to the next full blown backpacking trip.

Geocaching Day Hike

Patrol Leader Finding A Geocache

The Troop decided to get some hiking in for a little exercise and just to get outside.  They thought why not go ahead and knock out some Geocaches while they were at it.  So Oak Mountain State Park seemed the proper place to go.  To get the heart going they started out by going up the yellow-white connector.  I personally believe that is the hardest, steepest hill in the park.  Once they survived that they swept on over to the Blue Trail and started knocking out Geocaches.  The Scouts found several Geocaches during the hike and covered just a smidgen over 5 miles while they were at it. They all seemed to enjoy the accomplishment of finding the caches and covering 5 miles.

We only had one exciting tumble that I got to see the end of.  I heard a crack and a yell behind me and whirled around in time to see a Scout going feet over head.  As his shoulders hit the ground and his feet came over his shoulders, one of his shoes came off and went flying through the air.  He rolled a couple of more times, as we were on an incline, before he came to a stop.  Once he proclaimed that he was okay I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of that shoe flying through the air.  After I told him what I saw he was kinda proud of the fact that his tumble was hard enough to send his shoes flying.  He had tangled with a dead tree and the tree won.