Photo of the day, Sunday, 10/19/08

Happy Sunday!

Wow, what a weekend. I was up at Camp Gerber for Boy Scout Outdoor Leader Training. It was pretty cool, on two levels. !st the training was fun and that always makes it go better and second, it was pretty chilly for outdoor sleeping.

The way it works is that you are assigned to a small patrol and you'll function just like the boys do, just for the weekend. So I was partnered up with 8 others. We elected a patrol leader and named our patrol. I was elected the patrol leader and our name was The Lightning Patrol. We got there and set up as it was getting dark. Once it was fully dark, it was time to start training. We sat through 2 hours of lecture on all the red tape associated with scouting; insurance, membership, fundraising...We got to bed by about 11.

Up at 6 in the morning, it was frosty, truly. 2 people had to go to the mess hall and get a box of food. Bring it back to camp and we had to prepare our meal, and we had 2 guests coming along for the ride. The guests arrived at 7, with plate and fork in hand.

After breakfast it was training all day, in fact, dinner was another training session, this time on cooking and especially on how to cook in a dutch oven. We finished at about 11 again. The training sessions were:

1. Camp site selection, what to look for before you pitch that tent


2. Plant and animal identification, what to look for on a hike


3. Knot tying, the seven basic knots, square knot, clove hitch, 2 half hitches, sheet bend, bowline, taught line hitch, timber hitch


4. Maps and compass, how to use in the field


5. Wood tools, axe, hatchet, maul


6. Leave no trace, so interesting I may post on this one


7. First aid, light overview


8. Dutch oven cooking, over 15 different meals were prepared we ate the exams for dinner


9. Cooking equipment, stoves, ovens etc,


10. Non-denominational services, how to do one


11. Camping gear 101, how to outfit a scout for camping and hiking

Really a good session, but so busy it was crazy. Here is a photo of my patrol, we made the flag that first night too. We took this this morning after we broke camp. The distance is good to help with how rough we actually look.

Have a great day!

Pat