Mormon Mountain

This month's campout found us in the absolutely beautiful area between Munds Park and Mormon Lake. Cool temperatures were a pleasure to hike in as we ascended Mormon Mountain to camp in the open meadows and the aspen groves. It was a relatively short hike compared to what we are used to doing, but it was a very steep elevation climb.

The moonless sky was perfect for star gazing, and before bed the boys learned how to safely fell a tree. The next morning they learned how to make an improvised stretcher and reviewed the principles of stopping serious bleeding and transporting a patient (that was not related to the tree felling!)

Click on the group photo below for more photos from this awesome adventure!

Climbing and Rappelling at Watson Lake

The amazing Scouts of Troop 95 headed out to do some climbing and rappelling yesterday. We played on a few of the various routes located by Watson Lake, and the boys had a blast! Congratulations to the Scouts who had some "apprehension" about heights and pushed through that to complete the routes - awesome!

As always, click on the photo below to view more.

Granite Mountain

Instead of an overnight trip this month, the Scouts decided on a day hike in the Granite Mountain Wilderness area. Good times were had by all - despite some of the awkward looks on the boys' faces!

Mt. Humphreys Hike

Our goal was to reach the summit of Mt. Humphreys, but once the snow was waist deep, we decided we'd gone far enough! Camped just below the treeline at a little over 11,000 feet, with temperatures in the low 30's, the Scouts from Troop 95 were nestled together on the little bit of flat and dry terrain that we could find. But as usual, they made the best of any situation and we had a great time!

Click on the trail map below to see more picture from this adventure.

2012 Eagle Scouts

2012 has been a good year so far for Troop 95 and the presentation of Eagle Scout awards!

Back in January, Wes was awarded his Eagle Scout for his hard work and dedication in the Boy Scout program. His Eagle Scout project was to make a scale mural of the United States on a concrete slabe at the Liberty Traditional School, complete with state capitals and different colored states.

And now today, Blake was awarded his Eagle Scout for the long hours and blood, sweat, and tears that he has put into the Boy Scout program. His Eagle Scout program was to assist our town in surveying, describing, and outlining local parks for their online database which is used to bring new residents and businesses into the area.

Congratulations, gentlemen! And thank you for all that you do for Troop 95!

Here's to 2012, and the great year that it has already been for us!

Granite Canyon

Last night found Troop 95 hiking through the rocky terrain of Granite Canyon. It was a little slow going since there was so much water to get around (and it was dark) but coming back out this morning we were able to get some great rock climbing and boulder scrambling in!

Click on the rocky adventure below to see more pictures!

Snow Camp near Bellemont

We love the snow (some of us) but as we headed north, we found very little of it! A dry spell had left the area with only sparse snow, but we made the best of it and found what we could to sleep in.

The morning, however, found us in the snow a little more as we hiked out 8 miles in a bit of a snowstorm!

Click on our awesome group of Scouts to see more pictures.

Bowling!

We don't always have to be hiking around, working on merit badges, or building fires - sometimes we just like to have fun!

The Scouts decided that a little bowling was in order, so we headed to the local bowling alley and had a great time . . . . though some of the Scouts are a little better bowlers than others!

Click on Markus watching his bowling ball to see more photos.

PVPD

We took a tour of the Prescott Valley Police Department, and while there were a lot of interesting things, the Scouts found the holding cells the most interesting. So here's a couple pictures of how that worked out for them!

Bradshaw Mountains

Our monthly hike took us into the Bradshaw Mountains just south of Prescott. The temperatures were a bit brisk, to say the least. The Scouts decided that building a few improvised shelters might help with that, and you know how Scouts are - once they want it done they get it done!

Click on Cody in the hammock below to see more pictures.

Lake Pleasant

We went to Lake Pleasant for a little night fishing, and took along some Cub Scouts to join in the fun! Night fishing was a bit of a bust, as we only caught one catfish and a few crawdads, but if was fun, nonetheless. We spent the night in the lake campground, which is the first time that I can recall Troop 95 sleeping in a campground!

In the morning we headed into the lack for some swimming and kayaking - and dang that water was cold!

Click the view from the water below to see more pictures.

Bear Canyon

We headed into the backcountry of Bear Canyon along the Verde River. Old homesites and corrals dot the landscape, and there's lots of good swimming and even a little cliff jumping to be had!

Some of the Scouts had to finish up their Wilderness Survival merit badge from Scout Camp, so a big shelter was built and the boys who needed to slept in it.

Click the picture below for more!

Scout Camp at Camp Geronimo!

Every other year, Troop 95 goes to Camp Geronimo in beautiful northern Arizona, and this year it was awesome! Lots of great activities and the Scouts earned over 40 merit badges and several Rank advancements!

Click the photo below for more pictures of Scout Camp 2011!

Cooking!

Our campout in May was the annual Fathers and Sons campout, and while it was fun and many Scouts were able to attend with their fathers, we managed to not get any pictures from it. So we're going to post up pictures from a merit badge, instead !

The Scouts had the chance to complete their Cooking merit badge thanks to the amazing cooking skills and knowledge of Randy Nelson. After a night of learning cooking safety, hygiene, kitchen terms, and menu prep, the Scouts got the ingredients together and cook some pizza. And not just 1 pizza . . . . they cooked 4 pizzas! And the best part is that all of the pizza was very, very good! After we had stuffed ourselves with food (and root beer), the Scouts learned about the other important parts of cooking - cleaning up! Everyone was able to take home leftovers, and it was quite the learning experience for everyone.

Thanks Randy!

As always, click the picture below for more pictures.

Aviation Merit Badge

We don't often put up pics and info on the merit badges that we do, but this one was very cool and since the Scouts got to take a trip to finish it, we thought we'd post up some photos.

For the last several weeks the Scouts have been working on their Aviation merit badge. They sure have learned a lot, thanks entirely to Chad Lofton and Dave Hepworth, who have been instrumental in the boys achieving this goal.

After a couple of Scout nights spent in the classroom, we headed out to the airport to get some hands-on experience. The boys got to sit in the cockpits of helicopters and planes, head to the top of the flight control tower and see the operations center, and then they had the chance to climb inside of the Embry Riddle flight simulator and take a plane for a virtual flight!


Click on the picture below to see more!

Snow Camp - in April!

After a slight change in location due to bad weather in the forecast (swimming and freezing temps don't mix), we travelled to the juniper covered hills near Cherry Creek. After hiking a few miles in, we set up camp and were even able to get some .22 shooting in before the sun went down.

The campfires continued to get bigger as the air got colder and the wind started to blow. After lots of crazy Boy Scout run-around-in-the-dark games, it was time to hit the bedrolls. At about 2am the rain started in and it came down hard. Then when we all awoke in the morning, we were greeted by a wintery wonderland - in April! The snow had piled up between 4 and 5 inches, and it made for a great snowball fight before we had to pack up and hike out. I think the boys all learned what "make hay while the sun shines" means, as the leaders all stayed warm and dry all night in our well-prepared shelter, while most of the boys . . . . not so much.

It kept snowing on us while we hiked out, but seeing as how a lot of the Scouts were already wet (from the night before and the snowball fight) they didn't seem to mind too much! There was much celebrating when the trucks came into view over the last hill, and after one last snowball fight we climbed inside, turned up the heaters, and headed home.

Click on the picture below for more awesome pictures!

Scout Camp Fundraiser

As in previous years, our Scouts will be selling t-shirts again this year in order to earn their way to Scout Camp. We have some new designs this year, so please take a look at what we've got. You can either contact a Scout or visit our web store to see what we have and place your order. A huge THANK YOU to Arizona Cap Company, owned by Assistant Scoutmaster Stine, for sponsoring our fundraiser, as they have in the past. Arizona Cap Company has been very generous to the Scouts in regards to this fundraiser, and it is greatly appreciated.

So don't delay - order some Scout shirts today!

Scoutmaster Stilson's favorite shirt designs:

Shooting Merit Badges

For the past few weeks, the Scouts have been learning about firearm safety, types of actions and ammunition, range safety, and the basics of marksmanship. This last weekend at our campout we finally got to put some rounds downrange and get these boys dialed in!

Once we got the range and campsites set up, we had each Scout fired their "first shots" - three rounds from a shotgun at some clay pigeons. This helps to get the bug out! Once the sun went down, and the fire roared high, we had the privilege and honor to retire somw American flags. As always, the Scouts did a fantastic job and showed reverence and respect as this was done.

Saturday morning we were up early and ready to get the firing line hot! The day progressed well, and the Scouts rotated through the shotgun and rifle stations as they each got qualified for their merit badges. We had some very excellent shooters out there!

We shot until well into the late afternoon, and then we set up some "organic" targets to shoot at with 12ga slugs. Each of the Scouts got to shoot, and fruits and veggies really blow up when they are hit with that much force! It's all captured on video, and I'll upload it to the blog as soon as time allows.

The Scouts (and leaders) all had a very excellent time, and we're looking forward to getting back out there and heating the barrels up again!

I'd like to give a HUGE thanks to all of the donors that made this great shooting event possible - you have done more than you know!

Click on the photo below for more pictures of shooting fun.

Scavenger Hunt Food Drive

Tonight our Scouts were in charge of the combined activity, and they planned a really great one: a Scavenger Hunt Food Drive.

12 names of known families were put on a list, along with 8 clues that were based on those names or addresses. Obviously only 8 of the families had food for the food drive, and the clues held the secret to which ones. We split all of the youth into 7 teams, each with an adult driver. The first team to collect their food and return it would get a stash of candy!

Everyone had a great time, learned a lot about how to get around our town, and got to know the people on their team better. But the best thing about this activity was that we collected 56 food items for the Yavapai Food Bank, which will be delivered tomorrow.

A big thank you to all of the drivers for their time and energy, and a big thanks to all of the youth that showed up - they were competitive, lively, and most of all, they were charitable tonight with their time.

Court of Honor Campout

It's not often that we car-camp. Our Scouts are used to carrying everything they need and hiking in for miles before we find a spot to nestle in for the night. But sometimes it's nice to have a cot to sleep on and a stove to cook with, especially when it's 15 degrees!

We headed into Powell Springs for our 'Court of Honor Campout', where the boys can bring some extra comforts such as tents, extra food, and chairs. Most of the boys still live out of their packs, but the leaders take advantage of it and bring pounds of bacon and bags of chocolate!

Thank you to David, our head cook, and all of the other Scouts who helped out with breakfast. And I appreciate all of the Scouts who showed their great respect for the outdoors by cleaning up the large trash pile that we found so that we could haul it away.

After the campout, we headed back into town to get cleaned up quickly so we could get to the Court of Honor. We awarded 4 rank advancements and 32 Merit Badges to 7 different Scouts. We had the opportunity to use the flag that was flown for us in Afghanistan (see the 'Signalling' blog entry from December) in our flag ceremony, and it was officially presented to the Troop. We also got a very special certificate of thanks from the VFW and AL for our help with the Veteran's Memorial.

Thank you so much to the Boy Scouts and fine young men that make up our program - we appreciate their hard work and diligence. And thank you also to the parents, family and friends of our Scouts who continue to push them to new heights and inspire them to be great.

Get more pics by clicking the picture below (I know it seems crazy, but David can actually cook!)