Calendar Events

Coming up for the Red Riders:

October 16th - Combined activity. The Laurals are putting it on. Come to the church at 6:30pm.

October 23rd - We are making our patrol shirts at the Stines. We will meet there at 6pm. If you'd like me to drive you, meet at my house at 5:45 and I'll take you back there.

October 30th - TBA

November 9th - 10th - We'll be car camping. Please plan on doing your meal preperation for first class, tenderfoot, and cooking merit badge.

Golf Saturday

The Red Riders had a great time golfing on Saturday. Antelope Hills gave all of us complimentary rounds of golf. We are very grateful to them for doing that.

The following boys earned their golfing merit badge:

Aaron

Brody

Mitch
Travis

Dallin

Tuesday Night - WE'RE IN CHARGE!

On Tuesday, we're responsible for youth night. We're going to play games and have an ice cream sundae bar. Here are the individual responsibilities:

Mitch - Bowls and spoons
Brody - Candy, toppings, nuts, etc
Aaron - Chocolate and butterscotch syrum, whip cream, and cherries
Steve - Ice cream scoopers
Ike - Games and ice cream

The evening starts at 6:30pm. We're going to have a great time!

Court of Honor Report

The Court of Honor was awesome. Here are the ranks the boys made:

Aaron - 2nd Class
Mitch - 2nd Class
Brody - 2nd Class
Barrett - Star

In addition, most of the boys earned at least one merit badge. Six boys and leaders earned the Sedona/Oak Creek hiking badge. They are:

Dallin
Mitch
Wesley
Stacy
Randy
Me (Ike)

Our next Court of Honor will be in three months. Let's all make rank before then!

Cancelled October Campout - New October Plan!

We have a busy month in October. Instead of camping out on October 12th and 13th, we are going to spend that Saturday making our Class B uniforms at the Stine's house. After we are done making our very cool Red Riders T-Shirts, we'll be golfing at Antelope Hills so the boys can finish their merit badges.

Expect lots of cool photos on this blog of both events!

Thomas Point Photos

This trail was built in 1890 by the Thomas family so that they could get from their place in West Fork to Flagstaff. Thomas Point was named after J.L.V. "Dad" Thomas, who bought the West Fork Ranch in 1888. Before 1914, when Thomas built the road from West Fork to Flagstaff, people who wanted to visit Oak Creek used the Thomas Point Trail. Flagstaff to Thomas Point was a 4-5 hour wagon drive, and then travelers parked their wagons and walked the horses down this trail. Thomas build a lodge in 1900. It eventually became the Mayhews Lodge.

We had a great time on this trail. When we setup camp, we had a bat that bothered us for about 20 minutes, buzzing our heads and wrecking havoc. At 5:30am, we were awoken by a truck gathering firewood along the rim. Before that, we had no idea it was possible to drive up the rim, but there must be an access road on the back side of it, since on the front side, we hiked up a narrow trail to get there. Since we woke up so early, we went down and played in Oak Creek for an hour. Afterwards, we ate breakfast at McDonalds and rushed to help Cameron with his Eagle project.

September 7th - 8th - Campout

Meet at the church at 4pm on Friday, September 7th. We are going on the Thomas Point Trail.

We'll be back around 10am on Saturday, September 8th. I'll post photos up here after the hike is over.

Soldier's Pass

In the 1880's, after the Apache Indians had been secured, Camp Verde officers often went to a small camp to find good hunting and fishing. It was called Camp Garden, but is now called Sedona. Soldier's Pass was used by them to travel from Camp Garden to Brin's Mesa and the upper Dry Creek area.

At the beginning of the hike we saw this amazing sink hole. A little farther in, we saw the seven pools area, which looked like huge, flat steps descending from the trail into the valley. As we hiked into the dusk and the evening, we gradually lost light. At the end of the hike, we were in the most technically difficult area and in almost total blackness. The absence of the moon made hiking difficult and we slipped and slided our way to an edge of a cliff. It was just barely big enough for all of us camp for the night. Exhausted, we setup camp and made dinner.

We fell asleep while watching the meteor showers. One shooting star was so bright, it woke me up.

Stacy and I talked about how far back we'd have to backtrack to find the Soldier's Pass Arches. We wanted to take the boys there in the morning, but we figured we'd passed it by about a 1/2 mile. In the morning, we discovered that the cliff we camped on was actually INSIDE THE ARCHES. We had the most spectacular campsite imaginable We all woke up amazed at the grandeur and beauty.

The campsite.

Dallin climbed up into one of the arches.

Mitch's tent almost blew right off the edge of the cliff. At the last second, Cameron caught it.

Aaron and Wes at the edge of our campsite, overlooking the valley of Soldier's Pass.

Dallin and Mitch climbed up onto the window of this arch.

Randy is climbing up this slot canyon.

The next day, we hiked Brin's Mesa. Old Brin was a huge bull that refused to be caught. He liked to graze up on the mesa and survived up there for five or six years, always evading capture. On the final attempt, two cowboys roped Brin and were dragged quite a ways. Rather than risk being killed, the cowboys shot Brin, and the mesa was named in honor of the bull's memory.

The boys are on their bellies, overlooking a cliff that is on top of the arches.

Mitch, Ike, and Dallin on the trail coming off of Brin's Mesa.

Dallin, Steve, and Mitch on the same trail.

Geranimo

Geranimo was a total blast. The boys earned plenty of badges and several advanced in rank. We discovered we've got guys who love to hike. They hike fast and without complaint. Next year, we want to do all the major Geranimo hikes and bag the afternoon activities.

Ike, Grayson, Spencer, Brody, Mitchell, Dallin, and Randy going to the morning flag ceremony.

Barrett, Ike, Cameron, Max, Mitch, Brody, Spence, and Grayson on a difficult hike up East Webber Trail.

A spring feeds this pool of freezing water. Only Spence, Grayson, and Barrett were willing to jump in. They could only hold their breath under water for about five seconds.

Too smart to jump in the ice pool.