Winter Campout

This year's winter camping was a blast. On the first day we arrived out to camp and those that had cars were almost submerged to because of the huge holes (lakes). Some of us had to wait for Darryl to come back and rescue us. We got to camp and stayed up for a couple of hours having a fire and eating pudgy pies. Then we all settled in for the night.

Saturday Night's Campfire

On the second day we got up and had some bacon, eggs, and toast. Then all of us campers started to build our winter shelters. After that we took a hike to Snowshoe Village and then back to camp. That night some kids slept in their shelters and the rest of us slept in cabins.

On the last day we woke up and had donuts. Then we began to pick up the campsite and left Camp without a trace. Although we almost burned the cabin down with a pair of socks, everyone had a good time. ~ Beau M

"Hessel" International Scout Rally

Beau gets it right

Scouting isn't just an American activity. Scouting began in England and came to the U.S. one-hundred and five years ago. It has since spread internationally - including to Canada. That leads us by circuitous segway to this year's "Hessel" International Scout Rally (held this year near Trout Lake). The rally this year included over 500 Canadians, Girls Scouts, Venture Crews, and Boy Scouts. While the weather looked pretty dismal, it didn't spoil the event, and it wasn't as bad as last year.

Darryl, Carl, and Todd arrived Thursday night to stake out a good location and set up camp. Their efforts paid off. Ours was the first camp past the entrance, and not far from the center of action. We were also able to stake out sites for our local Crews and Troops. Robert arrived late and heated up some shrimp egg rolls to share. The weather overnight was cold, rainy, and windy. That's pretty standard for the rally, and it didn't pose any problems, though Darryl took a few sleeping bags into town to run through a dryer. The rest of the Troop would arrive Friday.

Friday started with an easy morning with French toast and a toasty fire. The day progressed to a steady stream of arrivals. Our Scouts quickly settled in to their established duty roster: cooking, cleanup, and campfire. Through these activities, Scouts are able to check off more promotion requirements. Friday night it rained.

Some years attendance to the International Scout Rally hits over 1,000. This year we saw about half that, and the weather may be to blame - or the change in location, but wherever Scouts gather, there's fun to be had, and the boys had plenty.

On Saturday morning the weather cleared up and the real fun began. The rally's theme was "holidays". Naturally our Troop had settled on Administrative Professional's Day. The boys dressed in professional attire, donned taped glasses, wore pocket protectors, and carried briefcases. Halloween costumes couldn't have been more frightening. Once dressed, the boys raced from campsite to campsite to participate in whatever activity the unit had planned. Prizes went to the Patrols that visited the most campsites. Our boys made it to the bottom of the top ten - a good showing in the face of serious competition. Pete produced an excellent entry for the Dutch oven competition. Though he failed to place, his dish was a big hit with the rest of us.

The activities continued with dinner, prizes, and a dance. Rumors quickly followed that Beau was a hit with the girls, and thus ended the day. I've posted an album for the event if you'd like to experience a bit of it for yourself.

The weather held out for the Sunday morning pack-out, and we put away most of the tents dry. The ride home felt a lot quieter than the ride out - even with all the snoring in the back.

Next year's theme will be "Around the World in Three Days". Already the ideas are bubbling...

Spring Camporee

"The hint is in the name..."

We did it! We pulled off our 2nd Spring Camporee with perfect weather and nary a hitch. We didn't even have any mosquitoes!

Around 90 Scouts and parents from the Pere Marquette area and beyond camped out for the weekend. We had another 60 Cubs and parents join us on Saturday for games, dinner, and campfire fun.

Oh, where to begin?

While setting up the day before the big event, three of our intrepid leaders failed to notice a 1500 pound moose sneaking through the campsite. Who knew a moose could tip-toe?

Throughout the event, Pete cooked up some fantastic meals for the "Parent Patrol". Ladies, if you want breakfast in bed, this is probably your best shot.

The boys didn't do so bad with the, either. Not surprisingly, we had a lot of sausage and pancakes to work through Saturday morning. Hats off to DJ, by the way, for volunteering to help with dishes. That's the spirit!

North Country Trail presentation

Speaking of cooking, Carl & Robert entered the Dutch oven competition for adults, but there were too few entrants to award more than participation ribbons. The judges looked happy with the entries and walked away quite full. I'm pretty sure the other Scouters were just too intimidated to try.

But nevermind all that, the Scouts had a lot of Scouting fun. Events included first aid, single line rope bridge crossing, and a bunch of team building activities culminating in a super-long-pokey-thing.

Our special guest speaker explained our nation's trail systems and introduced the newly created North Country Trail. We'll be hiking ten miles of it on June 6th, by the way. Perhaps one day one of these Scouts will venture forth to hike the whole route. That would be quite an adventure!

Security!

When the Cubs arrived, Chad taught the little guys how to make popcorn in a #10 tin can. Gary hosted a bean bag toss. Other Troops set up a human billiards game, fire making stations, round ball games, and more. This was a really great way to show off our area's Troops to future Boy Scouts and their parents.

As the Troops settled into their dinner chores, the Cubs dug into hotdogs and beans and fruit salad for dinner. There were s'mores, too, right? There are always s'mores!

The Cubs (or parents) who weren't completely knackered by this time stayed for the Scout's campfire - and what a campfire! Songs, skits, and walk-ons galore gave everyone a good laugh. We even had a mystery visitor, but you'll have to visit the photo album to see him for yourself. Any guesses?

Winter Camping

Digging in for the night

Troop 321 now boasts three new Polar Bears! But that's how the story ends.

The story begins with five adults and a passel of Scouts loading up gear for the drive to Camp Hiawatha. We didn't need the trailer because we'd have to hike a half mile through deep snow to our campsite with only packs and sleds for our load. Our load included all the potable water we'd need. I expected complaints, but there weren't any. What a difference two years makes!

We arrived, we unpacked, we organized the Scouts into work crews with Sebby enthusiastically in charge, and we got to work on dinner. Pete, one of our professional chefs, planned a simple, fool-proof dinner: pizza, fruit, and salad. Over what, you may ask, a fire in the snow? Well, not exactly. We had the run of the camp's staff kitchen, and Pete planned accordingly. We ate well. Very, very well.

Chef Pete

Our evening continued with cards and games and a fire in the fire place. Eventually the boys retired to their cabins. Fortunately, the leaders had their own. We turned in early(ish).

Hungry tummies encouraged the boys to quickly assemble into their work parties the next morning. This brought us our first surprise for the trip. It turns out, Jackson has a super-power no one knew about. Jackson is able to turn out absolutely perfect pancakes - including the very first one. Who knew? So we feasted on bacon, sausages, pancakes, and fruit - a high calorie meal for a high calorie day.

While the cleanup crews polished off the dishes, Darryl set up his tip lines. His new auger made quick work of the ice, but that remained his only lake-related success. One of these days, he's going to catch a fish in Bunting Lake. I just hope I'm still alive to see it.

The Eternal Optimist

The boys spent the remainder of the day getting clobbered with snowballs by a couple of girls too young to join the Scouts even if they could. The girls planned ahead with a mobile stockpile of slush-balls, so the boys really didn't have a chance. 

Between battles, everyone built forts and snow caves for sleeping in. Some caves survived, some didn't. Robbie set up the best cave under a picnic table. He's now one of The Three. Fortunately, the staff kitchen included a staff clothes drier, and so the troops took periodic breaks to dry out and warm up. In spite of everyone's best efforts, we never ran out of hot chocolate or coffee. 

Thus the boys played and made meals and cleaned up and sat by the fire and played some more. And yes, the adults napped while Jennifer snapped photos and gave them away. Harrumph. 

At least one Scouter's favorite lunch

We celebrated Pete and Darryl's birthdays Saturday evening, and then the boys settled in to their snowy nests. Those who didn't last the night (or the evening) tended to suffer from inadequate gear rather than lack of desire. Darryl reported resting poorly, however. I suppose guardian angels seldom rest. He checked on the boys every hour or two throughout the night.   

When morning arrived three Scouts popped out with boyish grins and rosy cheeks. We ate homemade biscuits with sausage and gravy along with Chef Pete's special oatmeal. The trek back to the parking lot seemed a lot easier, and I have no doubt some boys dozed most of the way home - three of them dreaming of their Polar Bear patches.

For more food photos and various snowball shenanigans, check out the trip's album!

Our next campout will be the Spring Camporee. With luck, most of the snow will have melted.

Hessel International Scout Rally

What's a little rain? This is great!

This year marked Troop 321's second foray to the Hessel International Scout Rally in recent years. Our contingent of 17 Scouts and 10 adults nearly overwhelmed our lakeside campsite, but with tents pitched together in tight formation we did it!

It was great to see our boys overcome and adapt - especially when the weather turned wet Friday night and stayed wet through Saturday afternoon. The rain didn't reduce the boys' enthusiasm in the least. After breakfast, they hit the trail to explore the games and activities hosted at other campsites.

We've got a young Troop with an average age of about 12, and they put their energy to good use. We stuck to the Patrol Method as much as possible, and they boys planned and prepared their own food. This led to some disappointment when the boys noticed how well the "Parent Patrol" ate (thanks Pete!). At least the boys ate better than the "Our Gang" kids. We're hoping this experience left them with a taste for better planning.

Pete working his magic

In addition to eating well, the adults pursued their own interests. Some ducked into St. Ignace for a bit of shopping. Others took turns trying to get the biggest reaction out of Linda (Darryl won with his inflatable Tauntaun rig). Robert taught the boys a few very loud, very silly songs to sing whilst marching to assembly. We certainly got noticed!

Oh, and we won some prizes, too. The boys took sixth place in the costume contest singing Weird Al's song "Yoda" and won a badminton set. The Troop got top prize for the most youth participants - a large easy-up. Molly L (as usual) won a prize in a drawing - a new sleeping bag.

We're making plans for next year already. The theme: Holidays. If you know any strange or goofy holidays, let us know. Linda wants to do "A Nightmare Before Christmas", but we're not so sure the elderly judges are Tim Burton fans. Ultimately the boys will decide. And by that, I mean the Scouts, Carl.

Spring Camporee

Testing their lashings in a race

Like last year, this year's spring had been "extended" (for a limited time only...) So yes, we had snow and freezing rain right up to Friday morning. Boys went off to school wondering if their parents had the fortitude to let them go to the Spring Camporee. Parents sent their boys off to school wondering if their sons might freeze to the ground that very night. Never mind the forecasted lows were a good 50 degrees warmer than our coldest winter days... that's really not saying much in these parts.

By the time school let out, the weather had cleared, and it was almost easy to ignore the forecast for freezing temperatures overnight. Two Troops and a handful of Scouts backed out, but only one of our boys.

So... the weather Saturday was beautiful with blue skies, a significant warm-up, and lots of sunshine with Sunday bringing more of the same.

And the camporee? It came off without a hitch. Let the others gnash their teeth in envy, Scoutmaster Carl organized and pulled off a really great event with a lot of  help from a lot of really great Scouting folks from our Troop and others. With everyone pitching in, we all got to have a lot of fun.

Fun like...

• testing visual memories
• challenging navigation skills
• patrol sprints using only four legs and four arms (eight legged monster)
• a canoe portage challenge course
• fire building
• match splitting (with a hatchet)
• readiness testing (Scouting essentials)
• Dutch oven entree and dessert cooking 
• and lots of lashings (knot tying)

Of course, we've got a photo album of a lot of the fun stuff, but there was so much going on, there was no way to capture it all!

The boys got off to a great start Saturday morning

One special feature for us included using the "Patrol Method" for the first time. Carl organized the boys into three patrols, each with a patrol leader and assistant. The patrols planned their own meals and duty rosters, set up their own tents, prepared their own food, and cleaned up their own messes. 

"How did that work out for you?" you may well ask. Well... I heard lots of yelling and arguing and debating and trial and error, and they got a lot done, too. 

The "Patrol Method" forms the heart of Scouting. It was new to most of our Scouts, but it's a really great tool to teach leadership skills, self-reliance, teamwork, and so much more. All the boys slept in tents, no one missed a meal, and the campsite was cleaner when we left than when we arrived. More importantly (probably), the boys have started learning how to organize themselves and work together as a team.

From a parent's point of view, watching the boys employ the Patrol Method was like watching five boys all learn to ride the same bicycle all piled on at the same time. But by standing back and watching them work things out for themselves, they learned far more far faster than they would have during any Troop meeting. 

A lot more.

Webelos Weekend

Erick leads a nature hike

Each year Erick's troop hosts a "Webelos Weekend" and invites other packs to participate. Pack 321 sent two Webelos, and Gary went along to help out. We have a good relationship with Erick, even though he's Carl's older brother, and we look forward to this campout every year.

Although the weather looked dismal the entire weekend, in actuality, it stopped raining every time we had an outdoor activity. How's that for luck?

There's also a photo gallery available for those who want a longer look.

Hessel International Scout Rally

Troop 321 cir. 1849

Hessel International Scout Rally enjoyed precisely 1,016 registered participants in this, our first year of attending. This year's theme: "Miner '49ers." We invited Pack 321's Webelos, and they made a good showing for themselves.

Unlike merit badge oriented summer camps, units set up campsites and activity centers to share with others. Each unit then traveled as a group from site to site participating in the various activities. We also competed for prizes in events that included cooking, costumes, cleanest campsite, and campsite entrances.

Carl and Darryl set up a "gold" panning station where the kids could wash out gold painted iron pellets. Robert set up an "Old Tyme" photo booth to take group pictures. While we didn't win any prizes, our free souvenirs were very popular, and we received many thank-you emails for the photos.

We've also posted photo galleries for Saturday and Sunday for those who would like to see the troop in action.

Camp Hiawatha

Jackson mixing it up

Crossing over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, merit badges, rank advancement, camping skills, popcorn sales, spaghetti dinners, it all comes down to... summer camp!

At Camp Hiawatha the scouts really had a chance to cut loose and explore their interests. Some boys took up space exploration and built their own model rockets. Others took on sculpture, basketry, rifle shooting, Indian lore, wood carving, and more.

The boys also took on more responsibility around the campsite than they had when they were cubs. As Boy Scouts, they helped prepare and clean up after meals, maintain the fire and firewood supplies, participate in flag ceremonies, and set up their own tents.

We had a great week, and the boys played while they learned. If only school could be like this! Check out our album to get an even better picture.