Wilson Mountain

Once again we headed to the Red Rocks of Sedona in order to tame Wilson Mountain again. The scenery is always breathtaking and the rock formations are amazing. The Scouts hiked to the top in the dark, and we camped on the top of Wilson Mountain where we could see the lights of Sedona. Tanner and Josh entertained us with various nursery rhymes and Primary songs, which were all kind of jumbled together but highly amusing. And what an awesome, star filled sky we had to look at.

In the morning we headed back down, though this time we could see a lot more of the scenery in the daylight! We worked on finding and identifying animal sign as we hiked down the trail, and about halfway down the mountain, we encountered a black-tailed rattlesnake right next to the trail. It was acting pretty aggressive so we decided it would be best to serve it up breaded with sugar snap peas and cranberry juice. The snake was pretty good-sized, and totalled 55" in length.

Click the picture below for the full picture album of the trip.

Court of Honor - July 2010

If the rain won't stop for Troop 95, then Troop 95 won't stop for the rain. We hiked into the Wolf Creek area while the rain kept us cool, setup camp, had dinner, and continued to enjoy the rain until the late evening when it eventually stopped. Staying up late in the night discussing the finer points of life with the other leaders while the Scouts run amok (in this case playing capture the flag in the dark) has always been one of my favorite parts of Scout trips, and this night was no different. But we had to get up with the sun this time, as we had to be back in town and ready to go for our Court of Honor at 10am. But even though the trip was short, more good memories were made and more great stories were formed (just ask Josh!) and we were happy to have some of the 11-year-old Scouts and some Teachers and Priests with us as well.

We didn't have a lot of time to get changed once we got home, but everyone still managed to get back for the Court of Honor and it is always a pleasure to see all of the parents and family of the Scouts together. We gave out 130 merit badges and 8 rank advancements to the Troop, which they have accomplished since our last Court of Honor in January. It was by far the most awards we have ever given out! A big thanks to Satchel for conducting the Court of Honor, and to Josh for another solid flag ceremony.

As we move forward into the second half of the year, there will be more great opportunities for our Scouts to continue to grow, learn, and become great young men. Thank you to the leaders, parents, family, and friends of all of the Scouts - your support makes this program possible.

And a huge thank you to all the Scouts - I am proud of all the hard work you put in, the good character and strength that you demonstrate, and for the example you are to all of the leaders, especially me.

Scout Camp 2010 - "Camp Silvestre Herrera"

Scout Camp this year was one of the best outings we've ever had! We decided to put on our own Scout Camp instead of attending a formal BSA Camp like we normally do. Wow - what a lot of work that was to organize, but the payoff was so tremendous that looking back, the work pales in comparison.

We had 11 Scouts, 2 Junior Leaders, and 5 Adult Leaders that were able to be at Camp this year, as well as 3 additional Adult Leaders that were able to come up for some of the week to teach Merit Badges and share their experiences with us. I want to say how much all of the Scouts and Leaders are appreciated by Troop 95 - without you, there is no Troop. A special Thank You to Josh, who served as our Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) this year at Camp.

All of the Scouts earned multiple Merit Badges - and Zach led the Troop with 9 Merit Badges earned! We offered only 8 badges a Camp, but Zach took it upon himself to add 6 extra miles to a Troop hike in order to get his 20 mile hike completed for the Hiking Merit Badge. Congratulations to Austin, Taylor, and Brayden who accompanied Zach on his extra mileage so that they could also complete that requirement. Brayden, in fact, did the extra loop twice in order to get his 20 miles!

The Badges offered this year at Camp Herrera were: Archery, Archaeology, Geology, Astronomy, Wilderness Survival, Automotive Maintenance, Cooking and Indian Lore. In addition to Merit Badges, we completed a 14 mile hike from our camp location to the rim of the Grand Canyon, visited multiple historical and archaeological sites, learned about the Grand Canyon and its history at the Park museums, and hiked down into the Canyon to Indian Gardens (9 mi trip) and Plateau Point (12 mi trip).

The Scouts got to learn a lot about building and maintaining a group campsite when you are out in the woods for a week. When they weren't working on Merit Badges, like studying the stars, building survival shelters, practicing archery, or studying ancient indians, they were hard at work at camp! Maintaining the latrine, filling the water jugs, keeping camp clean, cooking and cleaning up every meal, and keeping track of their buddies kept these Scouts busy!

Every morning and every evening we had a Flag ceremony. Displaying and retiring the American Flag with respect and dignity, these Scouts made the leaders swell with pride. We sang a different hymn every morning (thank you Wes!) and "Called to Serve" every night. And every morning Bro. Stine would present a small portion of the life of Silvestre Herrera, our Camp namesake, to the Scouts. Then on the last morning in Camp, Bro. Stine told the heroic tale of how Pvt. Herrera earned the Medal of Honor by serving his fellow soldiers in battle, saving their lives while disregarding his own safety. Please click on the picture of Silvestre Herrera shown below to read more about this great Arizonan.

All the Scouts and Leaders had a great time at Camp! 2011 will find us back at Camp Geronimo, but you can bet that in 2012 we will once again be forging our own paths and creating our own destinies somewhere in the Arizona wilderness!

As always, you can click the picture below for the full album from Camp Herrera. There are a lot of pictures, but they are all worth a look! Thank you to Cameron, our Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, for his excellent photography and for being our JASM one last time.

Click the below picture of Silvestre Herrera to read more about this great Arizona man.

And at the request of the Scouts, here is the Archery Merit Badge Qualification table, starting from the highest score. Brayden was the only Scout at Camp that already had the Archery Merit Badge, and it wasn't hard to see why - he was shooting a bow every chance he got, including late into the night!

Fathers and Sons 2010

This year's Commemoration of the Aaronic Priesthood Campout, better known as Fathers and Sons, produced a great experience and everyone enjoyed their time in the beautiful outdoors! Between kickball, softball, horseshoes, card games, Bishopric devotionals, great food and excellent company, the campout was an enormous success.

A few of us went to Dogtown Lake, just a mile from where we were camped, and enjoyed the excellent fishing that the lake provides. It wasn't long before fishing limits were reached, and shortly afterwards some of us enjoyed a fine meal of baked fish!

Most of the Scouts from Troop 95 were able to make it with their fathers; and for the few who's fathers couldn't make it, they were able to participate with another family.

Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make this campout a success! As usual, please click on the below picture to bring up the rest of the event pictures.

Scout Camp Fundraiser

This year we will be attending a special Scout Camp at the Grand Canyon, and we are really excited about it! The Scouts are doing a fundraiser for this weeklong event by selling shirts. These shirts are awesome! Please check them out at our Online Ordering Site.

If you would like your shirt purchase to go toward a certain Scout's Personal Goal, please put that Scout's name in the "Special Instructions to Merchant" field when you are about to checkout.

We are a very active Troop, so please help us get to Scout Camp! Thank You for your support!

The Red Riders hit the Crossroads

The Scouts needed to do a little fundraising for Scout Camp this year, so we got together with Bro. Stine and Arizona Cap Company, put a couple of new Scout shirts together for this year, and decided to head down to the Crossroads Gun Show in Phoenix. Five Scouts were able to attend and run the booth, and what a fun time they had! Bro. Stine is the Counselor for the Salesmanship Merit Badge, and on the way to Phoenix he covered most of the material for the badge, and the Scouts were able to do the rest throughout the day as they learned selling and advertising techniques. The Scouts did a hard day's work and at the end had a lot to show for it - we raised a good amount of money for Scout Camp, they earned the Salesmanship Merit Badge, and a lot of them walked away with a souvenir of some sort from their time at the gun show.

Congratulations to Tanner who was our top salesman of the day - way to go! In the linked album below you'll find the shirt designs that the Scouts were mainly selling, which includes our two new designs. In addition if they sold anything from Bro. Stine's booth they got the money for that, and he was displaying shirts and hats from his Conservative Shirts.com operation. Our Troop will be selling these and many more shirts as part of our continued fundraising efforts. The info sheet is being designed now, as well as an online checkout system, so look for that information to be posted soon!

A 20 mile hike with a dash of helicopter

Troop 95 has been working on the Hiking Merit Badge, and for the culminating event we needed a 20 mile hike. Back in December we had headed down to the Superstition Mountains and approached Weaver's Needle from the south side, but we wanted to see what it looked like from the north side. What a great opportunity for a 20 mile hike!

It's a long drive from Prescott Valley to the Superstition Mountains, so by the time we got to the trailhead and got going it was almost 8pm. There was no moon so the only light we had was from our headlamps. The trails are pretty well maintained and clearly marked, and we were able to keep our feet heading in the right direction, even when we had to climb Bull Pass - which makes for a pretty good hike at midnight! As soon as we got back to level ground we called it good for the night, even though we were only at the 6 mile mark. The Scouts sacked out right away, but 6:30 came quickly and it was rise and shine and back on the trail.

We left our packs and took a small 2 mile detour into La Barge Canyon, where the wildflowers covered the hillsides and the water flowed clear and plentiful. Once we got back to the campsite we rucked up and got back into the hiking groove - we still had another 12 miles to go! As we headed for the very tough climb to the Weaver's Needle north base and then an even tougher climb that would be cross country through canyons and thick brush to another trail, one of our newer Scouts and his father decided it would be best if they headed back to the vehicles due to some fatigue and comfort issues. It was a 6 mile walk back for them, and we gave them a map and bid them farewell for now.

The next 6 miles were a real treat! We got to the northern side of Weaver's Needle and had lunch, but then rocky terrain, steep canyons, thick brush, and thorny bushes of every description awaited us as we cut cross country in order to reach a trail on the other side. Once we finally got there, we discovered that the trail was rarely used and almost unrecognizable as a trail, so we hiked out through a dry river bed. The temperature all day had been warm but comfortable, but nonetheless we were starting to run low on water and were eager to get back on the trail, which was comparably easier than cross country hiking in this terrain! Once we got back to the main trailhead we still had 6 miles to go in order to reach the cars, so we buckled down, sucked it up, and pushed on. At times it seemed as if someone was taking the trail from behind us and putting it in front of us, but we finally made it back to the vehicles. Much to our dismay the father and son that had left us earlier were nowhere to be found, and after a couple hours of waiting and sending Scouts back to the main trailheads to search around, we had some dayhikers come out and tell us that they had seen the father and son, but they were on the wrong trail. Once again the Scouts headed out to look for them, but to no avail. Finally a county Deputy came by and informed us that the father had been able to get out on his phone and make a call to the 911 dispatcher. A helicopter was on its way and would have to locate them and then extract them. It took a couple more hours for this to happen, but in the end everyone came out okay. A wrong turn at a trail signpost and then misunderstood directions from the dayhikers had sent the father and son headed in the opposite direction from the vehicles, and finally with fading sunlight and limited resources they decided to call 911. As we climbed in our vehicles we were relieved to be heading back home together, despite a minor setback. This just goes to show that even a small error in navigation can be compounded if you are unfamiliar with the area, and helped to remind us that we always need to be prepared and trained for the possibility of getting lost.

The four Scouts that made the whole 20+ mile loop will be getting the Hiking merit badge, as well as another Scout that wasn't able to make it but had already completed a 25 mile hike in the Grand Canyon earlier this year. Good job boys - we're proud of you!