Day hike this Saturday

We will have our day hike along the Pacific Crest Trail this Saturday.  We leave from the parking lot behind Carl's Jr. at the corner of I-80 and Antelope at 8:30 sharp.  Be there at 8:00am and bring plenty of water!

Camping at Gibson Ranch this weekend

We'll be leaving on our backpack style outing to Gibson Ranch this Saturday.  We'll hit the trail around 8:00 and hike to Gibson.  We're going to play with nature and cook some great meals.  And the moon should be about right for a rousing round of capture the flag at night.  Gonna be fun!

Summer Campers are there

9 youth and 3 adults ended up making the trip to Camp Fleischmann.  They got camp set up really quickly.  Temperature was nice, not too hot.  I guess it's been a little cooler this year when compared to the recent past.  Hopefully it will stay that way.

We are occupying a new campsite this year.  It's lakeside and looks to be well shaded in the afternoons.  That will be a nice respite from any heat that may come up.

I hope the week goes well for all attending and can't wait to hear the stories.

June 12 Day Hike

Really pretty trail.  The first really hot day of the summer had to hit this day???  We had 13 total attend.  4 adults, 8 boys and 1 sibling.  Didn't make the entire loop.  Took too much out of my respirtory system.  The boys... no big deal.  Even with the elevation gain of around 1500 feet in about 2 miles.  We're going to plan many more hikes in the future but they'll be a little less challenging.  We'll (and by we I really mean me) work our way up to those.

The part that pleased me the most was listening to the boys singing as we were heading back down the trail to our cars.  That and the one scout that had a questionable view of another scout at the beginning of the hike and by the middle had changed his view 180deg.

Summer Camp

For the last 8 years or so we have camped at Camp Fleischmann for our long term summer camping.  Should we be visiting other camps periodically?  I worry that the boys may be missing out on different experiences.  Each camp offers their own brand of lunacy along with different merit badges and opportunities.  I love Camp Fleischmann and would be very happy to go back there each and every year, but I have very fond memories of camping at Camp Winton as a boy.  Your thoughts?

Our weekend

Two events on Saturday.  The first was a flag ceremony for the Relay for Life.  This is an annual fundraiser the the American Cancer Society.  This took place at San Juan High School on their football field.  Participants were to walk around the track portion for 24 hours to raise money.  This is apparently the largest fundraiser in the world.  Pretty neat to see all the tents set up for participants to use.  The flag ceremony went well.  We had 9 boys show up and that made me very happy.

Second was the day hike.  Seven of the boys at the ceremony joined us for the day hike.  I was a little disappointed that more didn't join us.  The surprising thing to me was that I figured the hike would be made up of mostly our young scouts, but only two of the seven were from the Vikings or Flaming Monkeys.  Those of us that did the hike had a good time.  We hiked from Camp Pollock into Old Sacramento.  This is roughly 4 1/2 miles.  Then we participated in a scavenger hunt that took us to all corners of Old Sac.  This scavenger hunt was designed by one the stores in Old Sac (trailmex.net - yes, that is the name of the store) and after completing it we were able to pick up a small gift item from their treasure chest.

After this the boys enjoyed one of the many candy stores down there and even purchased a couple of pieces.  After hiking back to Camp Pollock we put roughly 10 miles on our shoes.  Not a bad day.

I plan on doing this hike again in the near future so that everyone else can have the same opportunity.  Next up though is another day hike.  This one will be at Lake Berryessa.  Come join me and lets see what we're made of.

Outings changed and added

Our campout this weekend had to be canceled unfortunately.  In its place we will be taking a day hike and doing a scanvenger hunt.  Should be fun.

It looks like we will add an outing in June.  We already have a canoe trek being planned, but not everyone in the troop will want or be able to attend.  I am planning another day hike in the Lake Berryessa area for the same weekend as the canoe outing.  A challenging hike that will have us on the trail for most of the day.

Scout Expo has come and gone

6300 scouts and scouters.  28 of them from Troop 22.  No rain this time, that was good.  We did get some wind.  Made for interesting moments.  I believe that everyone had a good time.  There were a few occasions where we were provided with teaching moments.  I hope we made the most of them.

Would we do this event again in the future?  I would say yes, but with some changes to our participation in certain events.  I don't feel that the Arena Show is worth it.  Too far to travel and too late in the day after such a long day of nothing but more walking.  We'll know the answer to this question in another 3 years.

Leave a comment and let us know what you thought of Scout Expo.

Changes to meeting dates

We were planning on building our snow shoes this Monday, the 28th, and also the following Sunday, Jan. 3rd. We have decided to cancel these meetings altogether. We will now be building our snow shoes on the weekend of January 16th & 17th (if needed). More information will be forthcoming at our upcoming troop meetings. See you all there.

March Camping at Gibson Ranch

This outing was different. We met at the VFW post, which is pretty normal. But this time we hiked to Gibson Ranch with our gear. It's only about a 2 mile hike, and as flat as can be. Nothing could be easier, other than not hiking at all. This was a new experience for many of our boys. Some liked it, others didn't. Those that didn't had better get used to it however. This is how we are going to be doing things from here out, if practical.

While we were hiking, there was a little wind. Nothing too bad. When we got to the campsite it was really blowing. It seemed as though it was being funneled through the trees leading right to where we were setting up. The boys had an experience setting up tents in a good wind. Quite a few laughs to be heard. Along with some screams when a tent would go rolling away, or various bags would take flight. I think they had fun with it, which what were supposed to be doing anyway isn't it?

After lunch, they worked on gateways. Each patrol set up similar ones, but the Dragonslayers took it a step further. The troop agreed to use the Dragonslayers version for Camporee. I think it will be a very good gateway. Lets hope the judges agree!

We then worked on campass reading and pacing. We need to keep working on it!

The evening was pleasant. The boys played capture the flag while the adults gathered around the fire and talked. Some smores followed and then bed. It rained on us in the middle of the night, but only for about 20 minutes, and not enough to make you wish you had stayed home.

The next morning during breakfast we learned a few things about how our set up works (or doesn't). The boys will need to come up with a plan to fix these issues for our next camping adventure.

Then we hiked back. I had a really good time. I think the boys had a really good time as well. I look forward to our next trek. Join us, won't you?

March 2 meeting

Tough meeting tonight for the boys. The leaders weren't getting much cooperation from a couple of them. I'm not sure how effectice the meeting was seeing as I was involved the committee meeting. One of those days I suppose.

We have a campout coming up at Gibson Ranch. Our first of the year. We are using this as a practice session for the upcoming Camporee. We are going to work on some of the games that we will be competing in. I also plan on having the boys practice some basic compass work, along with some map work if I can pull it together. I would really like to see them build a gateway, so we'll see how that goes.

Should be a good time, even if it is wet.

Cache-O-Ree

7 brave ones (4 boys and 3 adults) ventured out and tried our hand at Geocaching. Geocaching is a combination of map and companss work with a treasure hunt. The main difference is instead of using a map and compass, you use a GPS device.

You start by entering the coordinates of your 'Cache' into your GPS unit and then following the arrow. Sometimes you need to drive somewhere, sometimes you just walk to the location. Once there the real fun(?) begins.

Your cache can be any size, camouflaged to look like its surroundings, and sometimes frustrating when you can't find it. But that is the fun of it. When you do find it, a great sence of accomplishment comes over you.

I look forward to more events like this in the future. I hope you do also.

Oct. 12 Orienteering

4 boys and 3 adults traveled to Martinez for the 'Scout-O' that is put on by the Bay Area Orienteering Club (see a link to their web site in the Useful Links section) each year. This is an annual event that is scout focused and also a scout orienteering championship of sorts. There were a few hundred people at the event, everything from Tiger Cubs to Venture Scouts.

It all started after an initial hike up, up, up, and up some more to the starting point. It must have been an elevation gain of 400 to 500 feet in a span of the same distance. That was a workout. The boys split into two groups of two and set out to try and follow their maps. The adults had a separate course that we took. For me, it reminded my of being a boy again. I used to set out on a summer day or weekend and just wander through the hills and woods behind the house I grew up in. We trapsed over fences, under tree roots, over hill tops covered with prickly bush, down steep embankments, under other fences, across streams...

The boys successfully completed their courses. We did too. After it was all done, lunch at In & Out was very tasty!!!