Activity Write-Ups

During this skills outing, we focused on structure building and unusual cooking skills. The structures we ended up making included an archway that we could drive a van through and a teeter-totter bridge that we could walk across. For the cooking, we used strange methods for dinner, breakfast, and lunch.

For dinner, we used an improvised oven made of aluminum trays, metal hangers, and a metal rack all taped together to bake meatloaf. We also cooked biscuits in an improvised cake pan Dutch Oven, and used the leftover coals and aluminum foil to cook banana boats for dessert. For breakfast, we had so-called “hobo eggs,” which are cooked in a bacon-lined paper bag over coals. We finished breakfast off with coffee cakes baked in box ovens. For lunch, we cooked cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped hotdogs using marshmallow sticks. Man, even writing this is making me hungry! The food was just so good and interesting this outing.

Another activity we did was play around with PVC versions of didgeridoos, which are a type of wind instrument originally created by the Aborigines in Australia using ant-hollowed tree trunks. Our plastic versions allowed us to create our own lengths and try out the different sounds you can create with length and blowing techniques.

By Emma

This August, we went on a rafting outing on the south fork of the American River. We had a lot of fun going down the class III rapids, and some scouts go to guide the rafts for a bit. We also swam down a rapid. The next day we did some phone-based orienteering and learned to use UTM and basic wilderness phone use. We then played a game where teams would go out and find landmarks noting down the UTM coordinates. Afterward, we swapped coordinates and found the landmarks. Overall we all loved learning new skills and had fun hanging out both in the evening and morning.

By Jochem

Hiking in Black Dragon Canyon; expedition canoeing on the Green River for four days; kayaking on the Colorado River;  hiking to Kanarra Falls; whitewater rafting on the Lower Truckee River; visits to Hickison Petroglyphs, the Northern Nevada Railroad Museum, Rhyolite ghost town, Goldwell open air museum, and the South Tufa area on Mono Lake.

Intinerary (PDF)

Narrative

On Memorial Day Weekend the Crew embarked on our annual Family Camp. We started by planting flags on the graves of those who served our country before driving to Clear Lake State Park where we set up camp. The next day was spent almost entirely on the water learning kayaking skills, teaching canoeing, and paddling. Back at the campsite, we had dinner followed by a campfire with the Troop, and a fun-filled evening of games. On Monday we were able to go for one last paddle and see all of the amazing wildlife present at one of the oldest lakes in California. All and all it was a fun-filled weekend and great for anyone who loves being on the water! 

By Callie

For the kayak trailer build day about six scouts were in attendance, along with about eight adults. The scouts worked on measuring the canoes’ dimensions to make sure they could fit into the trailer, while still allowing the trailer to be as slim as possible. The scouts also worked on painting the trailer’s wooden boards white. The scouts and adults then began to assemble the bottom frame of the trailer by using power tools and precise measurements. Finally, lunch was delicious pizza from Round Table and brownies brought by Mr. Gruber.

The Axes and Ethics event was a combination of an Ethics training led by Jared in the morning and ax throwing in the afternoon. In the Ethics training, we discussed a couple of topics. We discussed the solution for the chemical pollution of a lake versus local jobs and if cops should be allowed to have second jobs. We broke out into two groups of four and half the group argued one side while the other half took opposite side. After that, we would agree to find an ethical solution. We then met up as a whole group to share our conclusions. After the Ethical Controversies, we did some ax throwing with four different types of axes that were a lot of fun to try out. Overall the day was a lot of fun.

By Corey

The Crew got to do some more expedition canoeing during this outing. Upon arrival at the boat launch, we loaded up the canoes with all the gear we needed for the trip, and then canoed five and a half miles into our campsite on the other side of the lake. After a quick camp setup, we enjoyed a lot of free time before our dinner, throwing frisbees, playing chess, and more. After dinner, we enjoyed a nice campfire, stargazing, and each other’s company. The next morning, we packed up and canoed back out, having a little fun experimenting with “unique” paddling techniques. Overall, it was a really chill and fun outing, and a great learning opportunity to get more experience with expedition canoeing.

By Jared

Normally, we thank the Church for their support on Scout Sunday by hosting a Pancake Breakfast and then participating in a service with the Church pastor. This year, we were not able to host the breakfast for COVID reasons, but we were able to attend the service over Zoom.

The service focused on the idea of living and loving like Jesus. After some thankful speeches to the church from our members, a Bible verse (John 5: 2-9) was read detailing a time that Jesus helped a sick man who had been neglected by others for 38 years. The pastor connected this idea of caring about and helping others to modern people currently suffering. She also connected this behavior to the moral code upheld by Scouts who follow the Scout Oath and Law. It was a lovely service to attend, with a message of caring and hope that people need during this time of extreme separation from others.

By Emma

As all of our members know, Crew 27 loves to participate in service projects. Here is one that we did at Edgewood Park. We did some trail maintenance to help protect the trails from erosion. Whenever it rains the water tends to flow right down the middle of the trail. What we did to help prevent this is we use McLeods to dig a trench along the side of the trail so that when it does rain, the water will flow to the side and down the trench rather than the trail. It was a lot of fun working on this project because we were helping a much-loved park and we did it together which is always fun.

by Allie

This year, the Crew, and some invited older scouts from the troop, got to go on the Arctic Wolf training. Arctic Wolf is a snow survival skill training that focuses on surviving in the snow, search and rescue, avalanche awareness, and more. The group got up early and departed from the church at 8 am. Upon arriving in the mountains by the snow, we unloaded gear and backpacked almost a mile on snowshoes (with some of us dragging polk sleds too!) to our campsite. Once we arrived at our “campsite” (aka an open snowy field off of the main trail), we set to work on building our snow shelters. This involved stomping down snow, then cutting condensed bricks out of the snow with saws and shovels, and stacking the bricks around an area to build our shelters. After the tiring work of building our shelters, we settled down for dinner and went to bed.

We woke up the next morning (thankfully without a midnight wake-up call to do a hasty search in the dark) to pack and tear down our shelters (of course with light-hearted jokes about how we were spending Valentine’s Day freezing in the cold with our friends). We then broke into groups of 6-7 to do the different “stations” of activities. These included learning how to build a hasty shelter in the snow with only a tarp within fifteen minutes, how to build fires on the snow, how to use avalanche probes and beacons, how to recognize the danger zones for avalanches, how to rescue an immobile person off of a slope with a z-rig and burrito wrap, and how to conduct a hasty search in the snow.

After a morning of going through stations, we finished packing our gear and headed back out towards the car. Funnily enough, we ended up doing a larger-scale hasty search for one of our adult leaders due to them accidentally dropping a hat by the trail, leading the group to think there was another training exercise. Overall, it was a great outing; we got to learn a lot of cool skills and we got to spend time together with our friends which is always a party.

By Jared