The Not-Quite-Crabbing Camp-out

We headed off around 6pm for Camp Meriwether. We drove through some bad rain and hail to stay at the Lookout campsite seated on the bluff overlooking the ocean. Luckily the bad weather tapered off just as we arrived. We were able to set up camp and have dinner without much trouble, especially since we stayed in adirondacks (3 walled cabins) instead of tents.

The sun going down early and threat of rain kept the boys in the campsite and everyone got to bed really early. Consequently the boys got up before 5am and had a few wrestling matches in the adirondack. Then they decided to head down to the beach at dawn and enjoy the view. Apparently they got a little too close of a view and a few of them ended up with wet feet and legs. They came back up to camp cold and we quickly determined which of them lived the scout motto of "be prepared". Some of the boys ended up wearing cold pants and socks and decided to bring a back-up set of clothes to the next camp-out.

We had breakfast, and set off for some fantastic crabbing in Netarts Bay. Unfortunately, the leader who was supposed to meet us with the boat and crabbing gear came down with Swine Flu, and couldn't make it. We tried both of the rental outfits in town, but neither of them had any boats left we could use.

We decided to spend some time at the beach instead, and went out for a walk by the ocean. The tide was coming in and a few of the boys climbed onto a tree that was stuck in the surf. A big wave came in and got a few of the boys wet again, and we all had a good laugh. We were sad to have missed out on the crab, but had a fine time with Plan "B" and hope to have better luck next time.

October Orienteering Camp-out

We camped the night before Halloween at Champoeg State Park. The evening was nice and dry, and we were able to set up tents, have dinner and head out for a fun game of Commando. We played in several spots on the park by the Disc Golf course. It was tons of fun running around in the dark, and a few of us may have scraped up our knees and smashed into unseen rocks.

We got to bed around 10pm, and were well asleep before it started raining in the middle of the night. The rain persisted into the morning, and we had to pack up camp in pouring rain.

We headed over to Magness Tree Farm where the Columbia River Orienteering Club was holding their annual Vampire-O Orienteering event. We did some basic orineteering compass training, and then attempted an easy white course.

Orienteering is an organized sport that consists of locating a series of checkpoints on a map, using map reading and compass skills to find those locations in the real world, and then walk or run to those points in order, and upon finding them (marked with orange and white flags), use the provided stamp to mark your score sheet. There are points for visiting the right location (called a control point), and also for speed (so running and jogging are recommended.)

The white course was about a mile, only had 6 controls, and was pretty fun and easy.

We had lunch and then started the next event, the Vampire-O. Instead of visiting controls in a specified order, we were given a map with 30 controls on it, and had to visit as many as we could in an hour in any order we wanted. BUT, there were 3 participants who were assigned as Vampires. They were given score cards just like everyone else, but instead of visiting control points, they had to "attack" a participant by shouting 'vampire attack'. When the campire did this, they took the scorecard from the participant, and the attackee became the new vampire and ran off to find fresh "prey".

Most of the boys got vampire attacked a few times, and handed out their fair share of attacks. Everyone got a really good workout and had a great time. I think we are all much better at reading maps for being there, and got a lot of the Orienteering merit badge done.

We all headed home in the early afternoon in time for some trick or treating.

Report - Woodcut Campout

This month we went up to the Mt. Hood area again to participate in the woodcut, giving us the ability to stay at the Nanich Lodge in the spring. Most of our youth had conflicting schedules, and so we only had 3 scouts and 2 older varsity scouts.

We stayed at Tollgate campground, which was only a few miles from where we had the woodcut. The campsite was right by the river, and very secluded. The boys did a great job of starting a fire with just a small sheet of paper and a lot of wood. They also worked on some wood-cutting skills getting more firewood than we could burn.

Once it got dark, we found out that there were daddy-long-legs all over our campground. A few boys even had to kill a few dozen that snuck into their open tent.

Everyone got lots of sleep and we got to the woodcut just in time in the morning. There was a lot of wood being cut by the adult leaders, and the boys formed long lines to carry and stack the wood. We stacked for about 4 hours, and then got to register for the weekend that we'll stay at the lodge next spring (March 12-13th, 2010).

We had planned to stop and ride the Alpine Slide at Ski Bowl on the way home, but it sprinkled most of the morning, and it was closed fro being wet, so we'll have to postpone that until next year's woodcut.

September Camping Trip – Woodcut @ Nanitch

Fri, Sept 18 – Sat, Sept 19

Friday, Sept 18

Meet at the church @ 5:00p for pack review and car assignment. Wear your full scout uniform: shirt and green pants/shorts. SPL and PL will perform the pack review, while the QM will check troop gear.

Leave Sherwood at 5:30pm. We will drive to Still Creek Camp, just past Government Camp on the south side of Mt. Hood. We’ll have to backpack in about a quarter-mile. Plan to carry all your gear and food on your back. (multiple trips will be OK) We will camp in the forest, come rain or shine, as opposed to using established camp sites which are closed here this time of year. It will likely be cool and dry, with average temperatures in the mid-60’s during the day, and dropping down to low-50’s at night. It is possible that we’ll have rain (10%), but we’ll be more sure as the date draws nearer. Bring a jacket for the cold, preferably one that will keep you dry if it does rain a bit. (As always, synthetic materials are recommended; and cotton, like jeans and hoodies, should be avoided.) Tents and stoves will be provided. Other items are available from the troop Quartermaster (Ryan Simmons).

The boys will have been divided into eating groups, and will be expected to have brought food that they can prepare in their groups, with only minimal supervision from the leaders. They will receive a stove and fuel at the church before we leave which they will also carry. They will not have any food provided by the leaders.

We expect to arrive at Still Creek around 7pm. The boys will set up the provided tents and cook their own dinner. Sunset is at 7:30pm, so the boys will need to bring a light they can use to cook by, or while setting up tents and getting around camp. Headlamps are recommended if the boys have them, but flashlights are also acceptable.

Saturday, Sept 19

Breakfast cooked by the boys in their cooking groups. No leader involvement or food provided.

We will spend the bulk of the morning at the BSA-owned Nanitch Lodge, just north of Gov’t Camp. The leaders will be splitting wood, and the youth will be carrying the wood to large stacks where it is stored and used during the winter to heat the lodge. Work gloves are STRONGLY recommended. The boys should also bring a water bottle that they can use to stay hydrated during the morning’s work.

Participating in this woodcut gives us the right to attend the lodge in the late winter where the boys can sleep indoors and enjoy the tubing on the hill.

We will finish about 1pm, and eat lunch after that. Boys will need to provide their own sack lunch that they can eat after we finish working. A large cooler with ice will be provided where boys can store anything that needs to stay cold (Ie: sandwiches, drinks)

We should be home around 3pm, and will call all the parents about an hour before we arrive at the church for pickup.

Tualatin River Canoe Trip

We started our trip putting in our canoes at the Shaumberg Bridge, on Roy Rogers Rd., just before Al's Garden Center. It took some pretty intensive work to get the boats into the water because the boat ramp was just the dirt hill under the bridge. (It was the only public 'boat ramp' for 10 miles upstream!)

Once we got all the boats in the water, we canoed about a mile downstream, where we camped in a field just off the river (owned by some friends of the troop), There was some pasta and hamburgers for dinner, and then most of the boys piled into a twelve man tent. There were jokes and stories and the boys managed to keep themselves awake until about 2am.

Brother Davis got pretty sick with the flu, and looked miserable. Everyone had a great breakfast, and then we took some time to decide on the activities and merit badges that we'll work on next year.

Then it was back to the river for more canoeing. Getting to the river was
a little tough because the water was so low and we had to pass our gear into the canoes down a steep bank one bag at a time. We canoed another 4.8 miles with a few breaks until we got to Jurgen's Park in Tualatin. We had hoped to go all the way to Tualatin park, but it was 2 more miles and everyone was pretty beat and Bro. Davis looked like he might puke any second. So we pulled all the gear out of the water, and halued it up a super-sttep metal ramp, and got everything back into the cars.

Bro. Homer came and helped pack up gear and get everyone back to the church, which made things a lot smoother. Big thanks to him for taking time out of his afternoon with a two-day-old baby at home, and a few soccer games to go to that he had to miss.

It was a fun trip, and one we may try again next year on a different section of the river.