December 2015 Campout - Harriman State Park Skiing

November 2015 Campout - Warm Springs Fat Biking

October 2015 Campout - Twin Bridges & Scouting for Food

This month the Scouts went to Twin Bridges for their campout.  Beautiful fall foliage served as a backdrop for a great dinner and campfire program that ranged from a discussion of Nephi (a real renaissance man) to the Tales of Uncle Remus.

The following morning we returned after an excellent breakfast to collect donations for the annual Scouting for Food project.  The boys collected, sorted and delivered nearly 700 items of food!

Dinner Prep - Fajitas!

the Famous "Harry Buffalo" drink gets a slushy makeover 

Oliver enjoys his concoction of 4 different Kool-aid Flavors + Dry Ice (Harry Buffalo)

Breaking Camp

Breaking the Fast

Chorizo Breakfast Burritos - deliciosio!

Scouting for Food Counting

Scouting for Food Sorting

September 2015 Campout - Horseshoe Lake

September - Metalworking Merit Badge

With the help of Bron Wescott we had a great month working on the Metalworking Merit Badge

July - August 2015 Campout - Stake Encampment at Mickelson Ranch

James photobombs the photo of our campsite

The Dining Room

The Campsite

Cooking Dinner

Flag Ceremony Day #2

The hike to Coffin Lake

Coffin Lake

Rafting Box Canyon

Competition Day

Marshmallow Catapult

6th Ward Mugshot

Scout Skills - Building Fire

Scout Skills - Flipping Pancakes (catch and eat!)

June 2015 - Lyon Creek

Prior to our combined mutual activity on Saturday we headed up to the Targhee Forest at the head of Lyon Creek.  We found a nice spot in an aspen grove to spend the night, and set up camp.  The boys had "breakfast for dinner", making a nice chorizo and egg dish with Volcano Cake for dessert.

That evening we setup the telescope, got it sighted in and had fun looking at the moon, the planets and their moons and identifying constellations.  The boys sketched the position of the Big Dipper and North Star and then went to bed for a couple of hours before being roused again to sketch the change in position of the Big Dipper.  Pretty good empiric evidence that the earth is rotating around an axis that's pointed at the pole star.

The local cow herd did come to investigate our camp in the morning but didn't do much other than wake us.  After a quick breakfast it was off to the trailhead to begin their 15 mile trek with the rest of the youth.

May 2015 SURVIVAL Campout - Eagle Park

The troop planned for a "Survival Campout" this month.  Paradoxically they opted for Eagle Park as the location.

Survival Campsite

After spending a few minutes reviewing the edible plants available with the boys, the leaders were dismissed to the adjoining campsite to watch from a distance.

Dinner: Chicken and Trout

The boys successfully made fire with flint and steel (really a magnesium striker), some homemade fire starters and the available downed firewood.  After foraging for a little while the boys were given a whole raw chicken and trout as a reward for not terrorizing the local fauna (two rabbits unlucky enough to browse near the boys' campsite).  The boys were confident that in a survival situation they would have been able to successfully spear any meat needed to sustain them...

James' Survival Shelter

James spent considerable time constructing a shelter from tumbleweeds, grass and tree branches.

Shelter add-on

 Seeing his success the other boys added on.  Unfortunately, the only accommodations made for rain were their emergency blankets.  Little effort was made to figure for water drainage versus collection.

Dimond and Oliver before the storm

Shortly after bedding down, the showers commenced.  Not surprisingly, the rain made its way quickly through the grass and tumbleweeds and onto the unsuspecting scouts.  The emergency blankets collected the water beneath the scouts as easily as it would have shed the water above them.  James made it until 1:40AM, Dimond and Oliver made it until about 5AM before seeking shelter in the cars.

Reviewing the experience later in the morning when the sun was up allowed the boys to reconsider some of their engineering mistakes with the shelters.  They enjoyed a shared breakfast with their leaders and relearned how to make a shelter from the emergency blankets that would shed water, keep them dry and thus keep them warm.  

Afterward they were anxious to get home to go to sleep...

April 2015 Campout - Heise Hot Springs

March 2015 Campout - Menan Butte

February 2015 Backcountry Ski Campout - Morgan Ridge Summit

January 2015 Planning Campout - Hancock Cabin