Hot Springs Campout

For our annual Hot Springs Campout we camped at Diamond Fork Campground, then after setting up camp we drove to the trailhead and then we hiked up the 2.5 miles to Diamond Fork Hot Springs and soaked for about an hour before the night life started coming up so we packed up and hiked back down.  People have spent quite a bit of time creating pools to soak in so you can actually sit down in it!

On the hike back down we realized that one of our boys had done everything for his hiking merit badge except for one 10 mile hike (he'd already done a 20 mile in one day hike, and four 10 mile in one day hikes), so we asked if he would like to hike back to camp and he did!  So he and a couple of us leaders hiked down to the campground and finished his 10 miles!  Then when we got to camp the others had dinner waiting and ready for us!

Scoutbook Online Unit Advancement Software

I'm always looking for a better way to keep our scouting advancements and merit badges up to date and accessible.  We've been using a spreadsheet for quite a while, but this year I started using Scoutbook. (www.scoutbook.com) I love it!

It's all available online, accessible from a computer, tablet, or smart phone.  I can invite parents and give them access to their son's progress and info so they can be up to date on what their kid has done and what he needs to do.  They can also log information for a leader to then approve when he logs into the site.

I use it to keep track of camping nights, service hours, and leadership tenure.  It's easy to keep updated and now has individual scout printout that gives all the advancement and merit badges a scout has earned in one page.

It does cost, but it has a 30 day trial.  I used it for the trial, and then paid the $ to keep using it.  I still need to get all the other adults and parents involved and converted, but it's coming.

Oh, and you can import from some of the other scouting software packages out there to make it easier to switch over!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Friends of Scouting and Rechartering

Why does Friends of Scouting and Rechartering have to come on the same month?  I am in charge of both this year and have been scrambling to get it all done!

I am glad the Friends of Scouting is available online this year though.  I was able to create routes and route leaders from past years donors to get all organized, which was very nice!  Unfortunately when you go to print the donation slips, they all come out in alphabetical order, not grouped by route!  I would think whoever is making their web pages and stuff should be able to fix that!

Rechartering is good because it gives us the chance to make sure our records are up to date and everyone has the trainings they all need.  It is also online this year and it's nice to be able to move scouts from the scout troop to the Varsity Team without having to enter their info all over again!

I just wish they both didn't come in the same month! They're both due this week in fact!  It looks like I'll be able to get it done, but I wouldn't have been able without the help of my sweet wife!

Lumberjack Campout 2014

We went on our annual Lumberjack Campout this month to cut firewood for people in the neighborhood that need firewood to heat their homes this winter.  Our troop is constantly changing, and this year we only had 2 older boys, and a bunch of 12-year old boys.
The Adults did the chain sawing to cut down dead trees and saw them up into lengths for splitting, then the 12-year old boys (and some of the adults) carried the logs over by the trailers where the older boys split them with mauls.  Unfortunately with only 2 boys splitting, we were only able to split about 1/3 of the logs, the rest we loaded up to be split later.
The younger boys kept asking if they could build a shelter to sleep in and I had to keep reminding them that they can as soon as all the wood is cut and gathered.  Once that was done, we built a frame out of logs, stacked in a way I learned when I was a boy at scout camp to make a bridge without ropes or nails, just friction.

The "bridge" frame that was then used to make their shelter

The "finished" product - luckily there wasn't any snow or rain cause they didn't
take the time to make it more weather tight

This is the basic design for the friction bridge (shown from the side):

Of course you'll need two sets of the the two diagonal logs and the horizontal log to make it all work.  The circles in the drawing are the ends of logs.  Try it out with your scouts!  It's actually a pretty sturdy bridge that can be climbed upon and played on!

Lake Powell High Adventure - Canoeing/Kayaking

This year for High Adventure, we rented some Kayak's and Canoes and went down to Lake Powell to explore the canyons there.  We spent 3 days on the lake, moving our camp each day so we could explore more space.  We rented the following boats from the local university outdoor rentals:

• 2-single kayaks
• 4-tandem kayaks
• 3 canoes

We drove down on a Tuesday afternoon, and spent the night on the lake at the vehicles.  This is the view from the vehicles on Wednesday morning:

 Wednesday morning we brought all the boats down to the lake and loaded all the gear inside.  We also had an inflatable raft with a motor on it that we used to haul a lot of the gear.  Below is a view of us loading the boats.  I took this photo because the lake is rising 12" per day right now, so I knew the little "peninsula" out there would be covered up when we got back.  I forgot to take a picture when we got back, but it was gone!

 The first day I and another leader took the single kayak's so we could bounce around from boat to boat to give pointers and encouragement.  We also had to switch people around some to get them in groups that worked well together.  We had them switch boats with eachother out in the lake, cause they need to be able to do that for the canoeing and kayaking merit badge.

 Here's our camp on the first night.  We chose a small inlet that was too small for motor boats to come into so that we could have the place to ourselves.  It was beautiful!

We explored one canyon that had "Moqui Steps" carved into the canyon wall.  (I'm standing above them here, so you can't see them).  This is the view from the top!

Our biggest challenge was boys getting tired of paddling.  We went approximately 10 miles on the first day (except for me and another leader who volunteered to go back to the vehicles to get something that was left there that was essential to the trip, we got to go approximately 19 miles on the first day).  Some of the boys did fine with paddling all day, but most of them got tired quickly and didn't want to do it anymore.  One thing against us was whenever there was wind, it was always against us.  So if we stopped paddling our progress would stop quickly and then we'd go backwards!  The second day we went 7 miles and then 7 miles the third day.

The next biggest challenge was filtering water all the time!  It was upper 90's for the temperature, and we needed to constantly be drinking to stay hydrated!  We clogged 3 water filters filtering the dirty lake water!  Luckily we had another 2 to use as backup so we made it ok, but we spent a lot of time filtering!

One of the afternoons we spent working on skills for the canoeing and kayaking merit badges out in a small inlet where we were camped.  We swamped canoes and kayaks and un-swamped them using other boats, and on the shore.  We did the different strokes and things they needed to do.  Now we just need to meet afterwards and work on the paperwork part to get the badges done!  It was nice swamping the canoes in warm water instead of the cold mountain lakes I remember doing it in when I was a scout!

We had planned on exploring Friday and then coming home Saturday, but we got a weather report (from a portable emergency weather radio) that there was a wind advisory for Friday afternoon on the lake, with 30-40 mph winds!  We decided it was best to boat back to the vehicles Friday morning to beat the wind and be off the lake before it got bad.  It was a good thing we did cause even the wind in the morning was a challenge to maneuver the boats through without swamping, keeping moving in the right direction!

At the beginning of the week most everyone was zig-zagging along, trying to go straight, but not really making it.  By the end of the week we were all going pretty straight!

We ate raisin bran for breakfast every morning with powdered milk.  We prepared ziplock baggies with single servings of raisin bran and powdered milk.  Then all we had to do was pour in a cup of water, shake it up a bit and eat!  It was actually pretty good!  For dinner we had Mountain House freeze dried dinners, and they were great!  Very lightweight, but great flavor!

What would I do differently next time?  I'd have to try to lighten the load of the gear.  We had way more gear than we needed!  We were worried about swamping the canoes so we stowed the majority of the gear on the inflatable raft, but we only accidentally swamped a canoe once, and though a sleeping bag went swimming, we were able to dry it out on the hot rocks before bed time, so all was well.

Fathers and Sons in the Desert

This year for Fathers and Sons with the 11-12 year old scouts, we went out to the west desert to camp.  We had a great time spending time together and enjoying the great weather!  Here's our camp:

 Of course when we saw this "peak" we had to climb it!  Luckily there's a trail (bottom left) that leads all the way to the top!

I loved spending time with my own son!  YES!  My oldest son is now 11 and can go on campouts with the scouts!

Rockport Reservoir Yurt Campout

Ok, so I can hardly call it a "campout" if we slept in Yurts, but there wasn't hardly any snow so we couldn't do our regular Snow Cave Campout this year.  I don't count the night as a camping night either if they're sleeping in a Yurt.  But it was a fun outing!
We played football out on the ice (frozen over reservoir).  We found out the ice was 2 feet thick!

We tried a new treat around the campfire this time.  It's called Woofum's.  (we called them "doughboys" when I was growing up).  You take refrigerator biscuits and wrap them around a 1" diameter wooden dowel, and cook it over the fire.  When it's done you pull it off and have a nice cup made out of roll, that you fill with honey, or cherry pie filling, whipped cream, pudding, etc.  It was a hit!  We went through 6 packs of refrigerator biscuits!