| Local
Scouts at Camp Grizzly
On June 24-30 Troop 638 Gator Patrol and Lightning Jacks Patrol went for a week of camping near Harvard, Idaho at Camp Grizzly. Sunday we arrived and met our den guide named Joshua. He showed the boys where their camp site would be. The boys stayed at Upper Fence Line. After many trips up the hill unloading their gear the boys were off to do their swim checks. It was a very long line so they had to go back later. That evening there was Merit Badge signups. Each boy chose four badges to do. The evening program was the staff members putting on songs and skits. It will be the boys turn on Friday. On Monday the boys decided to get up at 4 a.m. and be ready for the day. After morning flags they headed up to breakfast. The kitchen staff feeds the boys well. At 9 a.m. the merit badge activities started. Anthony Karel went to Life Saving, Kevin Tillinghast went to the shotgun range, Carson Schmidt, Hunter Chaffee and Jared Coppernoll went to the archery range. At 10 a.m. Hunter and Jared went to basketry, Carson headed over to rowing, Kevin went to swimming and Anthony went to the archery range. At 11 a.m. all the boys went to the Trail to first class program where they worked on a few requirements to help them with rank advancements. They still have a couple to do before they move up. During free time Hunter and Anthony decided to try out the new mountain biking pump track with Hippie JT. This challenged the boys. It takes a lot of skill to ride a mountain bike. At 2 p.m. it was time for the afternoon program. Carson, Kevin and Jared headed up to Wilderness Survival and Hunter and Anthony went up at 3 p.m. At 4 p.m. the boys headed to Scout Craft. Kevin worked on his First Aid merit badge and the other boys did Fishing merit badge. That night as a Troop they went with Geoffrey Marr to the 3D Archery Range. He showed the boys how to aim with the recurve bow and taught them how to make a noise with their hands. Tuesday it rained all day. It didn’t stop the boys from their activities. Before dinner the boys built a fire to dry their clothes. Anthony lashed a couple sticks together and dried his socks. Wednesday the boys had their same routine. For lunch they canoed up the canal to Laird Park. Kevin didn’t know what to think of the ice water he just jumped into. Aleta Coppernoll and Shari Chaffee walked up the trail with another group and met the boys there. That night was also the Honor Trail. The staff honored people in the pioneer days and back at the fire bowl they retired two US Flags. By Thursday the boys have almost got their merit badges done. At lunch two staff members came up to their camp site and roasted hot dogs with the boys. The boys showed them their skit which was called “three rivers.” That evening the adults had an appreciation dinner and dutch oven desserts. The staff was in charge of entertaining the boys in the lodge. This was a big night for Troop 638. They have been working on their wilderness survival shelters the past few days and this night they got to sleep within those shelters. They slept in whatever clothes they had on plus a poncho, survival blanket and had water available. Camp site would be very quiet. On Friday morning, just a little after 6 a.m., Carson came down the hill to do the Polar Bear swim. He loves this activity. That afternoon the boys got to compete in a waterfront relay (run, swim, canoe, rowboat and run), camp wide games, and the quadathlon-swim across the lake, run around the camp, mountain bikes and shotgun shooting. The boys had a great time meeting new friends and learning skills that will be with them for the rest of their lives. 
Local Scouts and leaders at Camp Grizzly. Back from left are Anthony Karel, Jared Coppernoll, Hunter Chaffee, Kevin Tillinghast and Aleta Coppernoll. Front from left are Shari Chaffee and Carson Schmidt. Photo provided by Shari Chaffee. |
 |