A Scoutmaster's Blog

The weekend had arrived for the mini-camporee. The Boy Scout troops from Albany, Avon, and Sauk Centre had arrived at the site Friday night. The Scouts from Melrose arrived early Saturday morning due to the high school homecoming football game held Friday night.

When the four Scouts from Troop 68 arrived at my house at 7:00 that morning, it did not take me long to notice that something was missing. No one had taken time to get the food for the outing. I was not happy, but to tell the truth, I was not surprised. During the troop meeting four nights earlier the boys had been arguing about who would get the food. “I don’t have time.” “I got it the last time.” No one wanted to do it. As I watched the boys load the truck I thought to myself, “This is a great way to begin the outing.” We ended up leaving town thirty minutes late, after the boys went to the store to do some shopping.

The rest of the weekend went very well. Once we had camp set up we went to work to prepare the blowgun target range. The four activity sessions began at 9:30, with each troop doing their own sponsored activity first to make sure the kinks were worked out before the other troops came through. The Troop 68 Scouts did all four stations before lunch, but I discovered later they had only completed half of the first aid activity.

Most of the afternoon was open time so each troop could plan its own activities. My Scouts did some exploration of the woodland in which we were camped. Then we played disc golf for nine holes, or maybe I should say tree trunks. A church service, hosted by our troop, finished off the afternoon.

Supper was quite interesting. It was a pot luck, and boy, was there a lot to eat. There were brats, baked beans, chili, and beef stew. My troop made fried potatoes and spaghetti with meat sauce, which quickly vanished from the table. Desert was pudding served in ice cream cones, topped with cool whip. It was a little messy, but no one complained. No one left the meal hungry.

The evening program began with a camp-wide Capture the Flag game, which was played in the dark. A few of us adults were a little concerned about playing in the dark, but the boys had a great time. In fact, many of the boys were so tired after the game that they turned in for the night instead of going to the planned campfire program. The Scouts from Troop 68 were the only boys to show up at the campfire so they did not stick around long.

The outing was a complete success and we are already talking about doing another camporee next fall, and maybe even doing some training sessions together.

Earlier this year, a few adult troop leaders from neighboring communities got together after a roundtable and began talking about having a mini-camporee. The goal was to get the local troops together for a weekend, line up a few activities, and let the Scouts get to know each other. I missed the first and only organizational meeting due to a family matter, so it was emails and phone calls from there on.

Each of the four troops was responsible for an activity. The activities would be conducted in a round robin fashion from Saturday morning to the early afternoon. The Sauk Centre troop prepared a blind soccer activity. The troop from Albany planned theirs around orienteering. Avon put together a first aid demonstration.

I wanted Troop 68 to do something unique, something that most of the Scouts had not done before. My troop owns two blowguns so I brought up the idea to the membership about setting up a blowgun target range. They liked the idea and thought it would be fun.

A little over a week before the camporee I visited the land where the camporee would be held with one of the adult leaders from the Albany troop which was hosting the event. It was privately owned land about 3 or 4 miles southeast of Albany. There was a great wooded area for camping, and a large grassland for activities. It would work very well for our outing. The owner of the land was very supportive and told us that two of his sons had earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

The date of the camporee was chosen by the Albany and Avon troops so it would not take place during their school’s homecoming weekend. Unfortunately, the weekend they chose happened to be the weekend of Melrose’s homecoming weekend. It did not present any problem though. The Scouts from Troop 68 went to the camporee early Saturday morning instead of Friday evening. There was not any program planned for the outing on Friday night so it worked out well.

As the weekend approached I bought some targets and a large blue tarp to act as a backdrop for the range. After all, I did not want to lose any of the small darts in the brush if I did not have to. I also began watching the weather forecast. It looked like it could be a cool and wet weekend. I do not like camping on cool and wet weekends anymore after twenty eight years of Scouting. Oh well, too late to back out now.

(To be continued…)
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The first time the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 went spelunking at Eagle Cave in Wisconsin they had a great time. So it was not a surprise that we scheduled another trip to the cave a few years later. (Pictures of the trip can be seen on our troop website HERE.)

This time the troop “camped” toward the back of the cave. It was a nice area, with very little traffic that went by us. The cave ceiling was a little low, causing some of the boys to crawl to their sleeping bags. At least our area was dry. unlike the troop a little further down the cave which had plastic over their gear and bags to protect it from the moisture dripping from the ceiling.

As noon on Saturday approached, I was outside near the dining hall. The boys would soon be arriving for lunch. In fact, dozens of boys from other troops were already gathering. I spotted a couple Scouts from my troop running toward me with a look of concern on their faces. “Mike’s hurt!” they told me between gulps of air. “His head is all bloody.” Of course, as a scoutmaster all sorts of possibilities went through my mind. I understood that a head injury could be pretty serious, and hoped that the boys were exaggerating.

As I made my way to the cave I caught site of a few boys leading Mike toward me. His hair was a bloody mess. Several lines of blood had trickled down his face. My first thought was, “Wow, that is a lot of blood.” But then I noticed that he was not bleeding anymore, and that the blood on his face was already drying. After a quick look at the top of his head I could see the injury was very minor and had already clotted. He seemed to be fine, just shaken up a little.

Since we were near the dining hall I walked in and asked for a first aid kit. To my surprise, they did not have one. I asked for something to clean the blood off Mike and they handed me several white dish towels. I could not help but think that for a place that sees hundreds of campers each weekend they were totally unprepared for accidents.

As I walked with Mike up to the shower house I noticed that many of the campers had lined up in front of the dining hall. I could guess what would be the topic of conversation at many of the tables during this meal.

It took a few of those towels to get Mike cleaned up.The wound was the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. Mike said that he had stood up to fast in a low ceiling portion of the cave and hit his head on the ceiling. One of the little pointy bumps on the ceiling had caused the injury. Knowing how slimy the cave ceiling was, I decided we should take him into town and have a doctor look it over to prevent any infection. One of the fathers joined us. The doctor cleaned it, sealed it with a drop of a crazy-glue like substance, and sent us on our way.

By this time we had missed lunch in the dining hall so we stopped at Pizza Hut for something to eat. Mike later declared this as one of the best parts of the weekend. I was happy that everything and everyone turned out fine.

The second time that Melrose Troop 68 spent a weekend at Eagle Caves in southern Wisconsin, we had a crew of seventeen Boy Scouts and six adults. This time we “camped” at one of the higher levels toward the back of the cave, instead of near the entrance like we did four years earlier.

The Boy Scouts were off exploring the cave Saturday morning, leaving the adults in their “site” with nothing to do for a moment. Someone made a comment that we should pull a prank on the Scouts. A few ideas were tossed around and we finally decided that we would tell the boys to be careful and check themselves and each other for “cave ticks”. Wood ticks are a natural part of Minnesota camping so we thought we could easily get the boys to believe in cave ticks.

When the boys gathered for lunch we warned them about the cave ticks. It was a little hard to keep a straight face but we did it. I could tell the older boys were skeptical right away, but the younger boys seemed to accept it. The adults waited to see how this would play out.

During the course of the day most of the boys figured out we were joking or just plain forgot about the ticks. A few of the younger boys were a little worried at first and asked a few questions. We explained that they were similar to wood ticks and about the same size. There was nothing to worry about. Just pick them off if you find any.

The best part of the prank came Sunday morning as we sat down at the breakfast table in the dining hall. By then, nearly everyone had figured out the joke, except for two younger Scouts who were checking each other’s heads, looking for those ticks. After snapping a quick picture I started giggling, as did the rest of the adults. We then told them the truth about the cave ticks. After everyone got a laugh, including the two boys, we finished breakfast and moved on to pack up our gear for the long ride home.

If you would like to see a few pictures from the trip go to
http://www.melrosetroop68.org/Web%20site%20yearly%20highlights/yh01.html

The first time the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 scheduled a trip to southern Wisconsin to spend a weekend at Eagle Caves we had one young Scout who was very excited about going spelunking. In fact, after a month about hearing him talk about nothing except spelunking we finally had to turn down his excitement a bit because it was getting on everyone’s nerves.

Eagle Caves is a large privately owned cave. Scouts and youth groups can make arrangements to spend the weekend camping in and exploring the cave. Campgrounds, a shower house, and a dining hall are all located on the site. We visited the cave during the winter months so we chose to stay inside the cave, along with a couple dozen other troops.

Due to the seven hour trip from Melrose to Eagle caves we did not arrive until after 11:00 Friday evening. The staff placed us just inside the entrance to the cave. The entrance had a door to keep the cave at a constant year round temperature.

After breakfast in the dining hall Saturday morning, the boys began their spelunking experience. The cave was quite large and they were many nooks, crannies, and tunnels to explore. The main areas of the cave were large and easy to walk through. Other areas, especially the tunnels, could be so small that you would crawl on your belly to get into them. It did not take long for the boys’ clothes to be covered in cave dirt and slim.

Jeff, the father of one of the boys, and I were relaxing in the cave when his son and another Scout ran up to us. They were excited about a tunnel they found and they wanted us to follow them and explore it. Okay, we were game.

The tunnel entrance was small, like crawling on your hands and knees small. The boys charged into the tunnel, leaving Jeff and me to follow. We were starting to have second thoughts but we got down to the floor and followed them. Soon, we were flat on our bellies creeping through the shrinking tunnel. We could hear the squeals of delight ahead of us. The tunnel finally opened into a small area in with Jeff and I could stand at an angle, but the tunnel continued through another small opening.

As we stood there in that tight little area, I had a completely random thought. “What if an earthquake would happen?” I asked Jeff. That was the last straw. We were done. We could back on our bellies and shimmied our way back out of the tunnel.

Jeff and I did not explore anymore tight tunnels that weekend, but the boys had a great time.
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The Patrol Leader Council has created the Troop 68 program for the September 2008 to August 2009 year. I think they did a pretty good job. It is not quite as ambitious as past years, but that is okay. Several of the Scouts wish to attend the 2010 National Jamboree so they scaled down the program a bit, but they still let it include plenty of opportunity to have fun and experience great Scouting. Here is a brief summary of the upcoming program year.

September 2008 – The theme for the month is Freaky First Aid. The fall breakfast fundraiser kicks off with the Scouts preselling tickets. The outing will see the troop camping at one of their favorite spots south of town, on Hellermann’s property. The month ends with a court of honor held at the city hall.

October 2008 – The theme this month is Tweaked Out Training, with leadership training as the goal. Two service projects will be held on October 4 as the Scouts participate in the Scouting For Food Drive, and do their annual fall road-up project. The fall breakfast fundraiser will be held on October 5. The troop plans to camp with other troops in the area during a small mini-camporee held later in the month.

November 2008 – This month’s theme sounds a little strange, “Go Games Sports”. Popcorn orders will be taken. The outing is the LPMRB, which is an acronym for laser tag, pizza, movie, rollerblading, and bowling. This makes for a long day.

December 2008 – Personal Safety is the theme this month, including internet safety. Activities include a day of downhill skiing at Powder Ridge Ski Resort and the troop’s Christmas party. The troop will hold a court of honor before taking a break over the Christmas holidays.

January 2009 – Swimming safety is the theme. You know, like Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat. The Order of the Arrow Lodge will hold its winter banquet this month. The troop’s activity will be an overnighter with plenty of games and movies. Unfortunately, there will not be a Laughs For Lunch Show this year.

February 2009 – Arctic Adventure is the cool theme for the month. The Scouts will participate in Scout Sunday on February 8. The winter outing will see the boys at Camp Stearns. Don’t forget to bring your sleds.

March 2009 – The subject of March will be Wild Wilderness. Things like the Outdoor Code and the Wilderness Pledge will be discussed. The troop plans to go to a waterpark for its activity. The month will end with the first court of honor of the new year.

April 2009 – Low Impact Camping will continue the camping theme started last month. The troop’s spring breakfast fundraiser will be held on April 5. The troop will be participating the the council annual Ripley Rendezvous which will be held at the Camp Ripley National Guard Base in central Minnesota.

May 2009 – Let’s learn a few more dishes to cook up as we hit the theme of Crazy Cool Chef. The local Order of the Arrow Lodge will have its spring conclave this month. The troop will be going to Camp Watchamagumee for a three night mega-weekend toward the end of the month.

June 2009 – Cycling is this month’s theme. Time to get some work done for the merit badge. The troop will travel to King’s Lake for a weekend camping trip. The troop will also help out the community by cleaning up the park during the city’s summer festivities. And don’t forget this month’s court of honor.

July 2009 – We will be spending a week at Many Point Scout Camp in the middle of this month. Lots of fun and activities, and maybe even the chance to learn a few new things.

August 2009 – The program year wraps up with a theme of Medieval Madness. I think we may be looking back in time toward the middle ages. The month’s activities will fit in well when the Scouts go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and Valleyfair Amazement Park. The patrol leader council will hold its annual planning conference early in the month to plan the next program year.

So, that is the Troop 68 program for the next twelve months. How does it stack up to your troop’s program?

Eight Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 had a great weekend during their annual trip to Camp Watchamagumee over the Memorial Day Weekend. The troop arrived at camp on Friday, May 23, and stayed until the morning of Monday, May 26.

The Scouts accomplished a lot during the weekend. They began by reviewing the safety rules when using a saw or ax, and using campfires. They played games including kick ball and their favorite, Cature the Flag. The also spent a couple hours working on campsite improvements.

Building things seemed to be the theme of the outing. One group of Scouts built a raft. Another group worked on building a dock in the pond. A new treehouse was started but will take one more afternoon to complete.

Of course, it would not be a Watchamagumee weekend if the troop did not hold its annual Egg Drop Competition. The Scouts formed four teams that would create a package for an egg using only natural materials found in the woods. The packages would then be dropped from various heights. If the egg survived without cracking or breaking, the package would move on to the next level.

Each evening ended by sitting around the campfire. Each patrol had its own campfire on Friday night. The troop gathered around one campfire on Saturday for lots of stories to be told. During the Sunday night campfire program the Scouts did songs and skits, and played “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?”.

The troop would like to express their thanks to Mr. Duevel and Kraemer Lumber for their assistance in the treehouse project, and to Vern and Melvin Klasen for allowing us to use their land.

What do you do as a Boy Scout troop in the dead of winter in Minnesota? You get out and have some fun in the snow! Add a nice big snow-filled hill and you the makings of a great evening activity while on a weekend outing.

The Scouts of Troop 68 spent a weekend at Camp Stearns in Central Minnesota during the last weekend of February. I had the video camera along so I thought it might be fun to record the guys having fun and catching some air as they went downhill sledding. Previous campers had made a few jumps on the hillside that the Scouts of Troop 68 liked to hit again and again, even if they got the wind knocked out of them.

After an hour, the Scouts had had enough and decided to head back to the building. They had a lot of fun on the hill, and a lot of exercise walking back to the top. Thanks to this video, they will have a way to look back on five minutes of the excitement, and you have a chance to see the fun yourself.

Anyone interested in joining us next year?

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