Fort Worden November 2012

Raise your hand if you've ever left for a camping trip in the POURING rain. All of our scouts can now raise their hands.

We had the date scheduled weeks in advance, but when the time came to leave, the weather was not cooperating. Even for the PNW, the rain was exceptionally heavy. Now I've personally had several situations where I drove to some outdoor activity in the rain, but while doing the activity the rain was barely a sprinkle. Based on that experience, I wanted to actually see the campsite before throwing in the towel, and the boys agreed. As it turned out, this whole outing went by that pattern. Whenever we finished a particular stage of the trip, we had to evaluate whether we were going to continue to the next or pack it in. Fortunately, we were able to fully complete the trip as planned, despite the weather.

This month's outing was to Fort Worden State Park, one of my favorite places to camp. When we arrived at the campsite there was essentially no rain. (I now had another case to add to my experience.) The wind, on the other hand, was intense. The upper campground had been closed for the season, so we were forced to camp at the beach campground. It was like living in a wind tunnel. Half the tents we tried to set up were too tall to stand up to the wind. Everyone finally had to pack into the small backpacking tents (which we luckily had brought, too).

During the night I thought for sure I would wake to find everybody drenched and miserable. The rain had mercifully subsided long enough for us to set up the tents and make dinner, but during the night, it made up for it's evening absence. The rain pelted and the wind howled.

In the morning, the rain gave us another breather. But the wind did not. We got everything rolled up and stashed back in the trailer and it was time for breakfast. It's astounding how wind can make even the simplest tasks very difficult. We were only able to light the stove on the lee side of the trailer. Breakfast was simple: bananas, muffins, and hot chocolate. I was thankful for the simplicity because actually making a breakfast would have been very difficult. I think each scout had their own turn chasing the hot chocolate lid across the grass. Here's a fun game, next time you're making some hot chocolate, when you have that scoop of powder on your spoon, have your friend blow on it while you try to get it into your cup. It'll be fun.

The next stage was a service project we had lined up with the park rangers. They had a bunch of scotch broom and leaves for us to work on. It's always nice to get your hands dirty.

Of course, you can't go to Fort Worden without exploring the bunkers. We spent a couple of hours doing that, and once we had a nice appetite worked up, it was off to Fat Smitty's for their famous burgers.

It was a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

Summer Court of Honor

Last week we had the culmination of our summer of hard work.

During the last week of June we teamed up with one of our neighbor scout troops, 1522 of Manchester, and headed to Camp Parsons. Between us we earned more than 50 merit badges, and several boys earned more than one rank advancement. Way to go boys!!

Summer is always a very busy time with so many different camps and everybody's family vacations. Now it's time to settle down into a little bit more routine.

But first, check out the pictures from the Court of Honor.

Intelligent

I know that "intelligent" isn't officially a part of the Scout Law but it might as well be. So much of scouting is learning. Maybe that's why Baden Powell left it off--it was understood. Training is a major part of what scouts and scouters do. It's critical to ensure a quality program for the boys. Everything from knowing how to safely carry out the methods of scouting to teaching the boys their responsibilities in the troop must be trained. Sometimes I, as the unit leader, receive the training, and sometimes I give it. This month was my turn to receive as I attended my Wood Badge Course, W1-609-12-1.

Wood Badge is an adult leader training course that covers everything from leadership training to planning campfire programs. It uses both classroom and hands on/situational training. It is held in two three-day sessions separated by a free weekend.

I have never been to a seminar or training like this before. It's also been a long time since I fell asleep so fast in my sleeping bag. Each day was PACKED with information, exercises, games, fun, and work. Morning assembly was at 7:00 and we were excused for bed as late as 10:00 pm--and the time between was filled with activity.

Also, the "free" weekend between the two sessions is really anything but. At the end of the first session you are sent home with a fairly hefty homework load that you are to accomplish with your patrol (training group) prior to the next session.

Accomplishing the Wood Badge course requires a significant sacrifice, from the attendee, but also from their families and home scouting units.

As if that wasn't enough, the completion of the course is just the first step. During the course, one of the assignments is to come up with a list if goals that you will accomplish to help you take what you've learned at Wood Badge back to your home unit and make a difference. This list of goals is your "ticket". When you have completed your goals, then you have fully completed the course and you are awarded beads that signify your accomplishment.

The real motivation behind Wood Badge, though, is that desire to help the home unit. All Wood Badge attendees want to bring something home to their units to improve it in some way. I am no exception. Those of the readers that are part of my home unit will soon be touched by the completion of my ticket. The goals I laid down for myself will likely affect everyone involved in the unit, whether it be a unit member, parent of a unit member, or involved in the unit in any other way.

I look forward to the next few months. Hopefully we can make some changes that are positive and help to kickstart the unit up to the next level.

- Tom Kruger, Scoutmaster Troop 1546
P.S. If you would like any information on Wood Badge, please come and talk to me. I'll talk your ear off about it.

Adventurous!

This month's outing was our long-awaited Ape Cave trip. We've been trying to get down here for the last six months. Finally all the cards played out right.

We left Friday night at about 5:00 and headed south. What a great time of day to be trying to get through I-5 traffic in Tacoma. It's OK, though, the GPS took us on a nice little backroad to avoid the traffic. I'm still not convinced it was actually shorter, but it was scenic if nothing else.

Our camp was at Ike Kinswa State Park on Mayfield Lake. It was a great campsite.

In the morning we got up a broke camp as quick as we could, had muffins and bananas for breakfast, and hit the road. We were still about two hours from the cave.

The cave is technically closed this time of year, but that doesn't stop people from going there. The road is gated about one mile before the the cave, but you can park at the gate and head up on foot. I was surprised at the number of people that were there.

It was very wet in the cave. There was constant dripping from above and there were some places where you had to pick your steps around some pretty good size pools.

Here are some pics from inside.

Group shot before heading in.

The stairs leading down inside.

 

Many of the walls and ceiling were white like this.

The ceiling was surprisingly high in some places.

Interesting ceiling formations.

Some places the ceiling was tons of these little stalactites.

Looks like the rock is "oozing".

This is called The Skylight

Here we are at the end.

Fortunately for us, the adventure wasn't over yet. We still had to hike about a mile or so back to the trailhead, and this time we got to do it in the snow. Not everyone was really prepared for that, but we all survived.

I figured everyone would crash on the ride home and I would be left to my thoughts. It didn't work out that way, though. I guess we didn't hike long enough. I'll remember that for next time.