Signalling

Instead of our normal monthly campout, we instead hiked to the top of Glassford Hill to complete the Signaling Merit Badge. First we headed into the darkness of the cultural hall to learn about morse code and send messages between the two groups. Next we sent one group to the south side of Glassford Hill and one to the north side, which separated us by several hundred yards. So far, in fact, that we needed binoculars to see each other. We then used handheld signals to send "semaphore code" messages to each other. Putting each signal in a certain position signals a certain letter or number, and after a little practice we were able to communicate pretty well with each other.

One of my friends flys recon and close air support missions over Afghanistan, and during one of his combat missions he flew with an American flag in the cockpit, which he then gave to our Troop, along with an awesome citation signed by the pilot and the mission commander. So I unveiled that flag on to the Troop on top of Glassford Hill, and as it waved in the breeze I read the citation to the Scouts. It was a cool experience.

On the way back to the vehicles we found a deer skeleton, a young buck who wasn't able to fend off a predator - and Aaron just couldn't wait to take the head back home! Thank you so much to Ed and Tim for helping us with some extra leadership - it is very much appreciated.

Click the picture below for more.

Granite Creek

If you haven't headed up into Granite Creek, you should. It heads into an amazing canyon filled with vertical rock walls, petroglyphs, caves, and sandy washes. As usual, we hiked in the dark to get to our campsite - about 7 miles in. Finally we came to a huge sandy river bottom, which made for a great place to camp.

There was so much dry wood along the wash banks that getting a couple of roaring fires was no problem whatsoever, and sure helped to keep us warm throughout the night. In the morning we were able to enjoy the scenery much more, and we found even more caves and indian petroglyphs on the way out.

We didn't get many pictures from this trip, but there are a few if you click on the campfire below. The dark picture with all of the little dots, the one that looks like a picture of the stars, that's a picture of headlamps as the Scouts scrambled over rocks and climbed through brush during the hike in.

Veteran's Memorial

The American Legion and Veteran's of Foreign Wars have been trying to get a Veteran's Memorial built here in Prescott Valley for the last few years. As they finally approached their completion date for the walkway part of the Memorial, they needed a little help with a fundraiser dinner, so the Scouts jumped into action! They helped to serve a fine spaghetti dinner to a LOT of people, and the Veteran's were very grateful.

A couple of weeks later, they were needed again to handout programs at the unveiling of the Memorial walkway, and were also selected to unveil the Walkway during the ceremony. The Walkway is composed of bricks with the name, service branch, and service dates of military Veterans from the Quad-City areas. It was a very special honor, and a great ceremony.

We are very proud of our Scouts for their continued willingness to serve their fellow man, and we are very grateful to our Veterans for their service and sacrifice.

Click the picture below to see more pictures.

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.