Winter Camp 2014

Camp T.L. James

Last year, my tent leaked and as a result, my sleeping bag and poncho liner got wet.  Not good...  When I got home I went over all seams with seam sealer and re-sprayed the rain fly and bottom of tent with a waterproof silicone spray.  I also found a tiny hole in my rain fly that I patched with tape.

I debated rather to bring the tent or buy a new one.  I opted for the latter and bought a REI half-dome 2 along with the footprint.

Coming out of the bag, this is what it looked like.  

When it was set up:

Looking at the forecast ahead of time, I decided to pack the following:

In the orange and gray dry bag is my cold weather gear: stocking cap, gloves, neck balaclava, and an underarmor stocking cap for sleeping.  The green dry bag has my raincoat and frogg togg pants.  The small black and larger green dry bags had my personal hygiene stuff.  The blue compression sack had shower stuff like a towel, face cloth and bandana.  The large green sack had my poncho liner for extra warmth at night when put over or inside my sleeping bag.

Our troop set up camp at Cherokee:

Some of our boys hanging out at camp:

 

Camp T.L. James is one of the most scenic camps I have visited:

There are the tree houses that make this camp unique:

My job is to watch over the boys while at camp: make sure they go to class, they are not causing trouble back at out camp site and they are accounted for at meal time.  In my free time, besides napping, I went to the archery range and practiced shooting a bow and arrow.  I was pretty consistent.  You can't tell from the picture below but my arrows were all clustered together off to the right.  Not bad for a hack.

Before we leave camp, we take the traditional troop picture by the camp sign.
First a serious picture:

Then a goofy one:

Thoughts on Camp:

• I love going every year.  The atmosphere is casual and laid back.
• My rules during camp for the boys:
• Be where you are supposed to be.
• Do what you are supposed to do.
• Stay out of trouble. 
• We had a little bit of everything regarding the weather.  It was warm the first day then it rained overnight and into the next morning through noon.  That night and the next got cold (mid 30's) but warmed up nicely during the day. 
• Since we man the kitchen, the food is pretty good and the conversation at meal time is entertaining and informative.  (In fact, one night after dinner 4 years ago I was talking to some ladies from a Louisiana troop who were telling me about their trip to Sea Base in South Florida.  It was that conversation that served as the impetus for our troop going to Sea Base.  We have sent 2 crews since that time and will be sending a 3rd in 2015 to South Florida.)
• After dinner we adults stay in the dining hall sitting at a table talking, telling funny stories and solving the world's problems.  Priceless...
• I was very impressed with our boys.  We only had a few wet sleeping bags and clothes.  The boys didn't whine or complain, they just dealt with and adjusted to the weather.
• My favorite part of camp is when I take the boys to the tree houses.  It is truly music to my ears and makes my heart smile.  Just to hear the boys laughing, running up and down the stairs and yelling makes all of the time and effort to plan the trip worth it.  This is what life should be like for the boys.
• Until next year's camp....

Follow Up To Northern Tier

Cheerful Service To Others

In order to earn the 50 miler award, the group has to complete 10 hours of service on projects to improve a trail, springs, campsite, portage or area.  We were not able to complete the 10 hours of service at Northern Tier so we looked around the DFW area for a suitable project.  I found a person who serves as a trails liaison with parks and oversees all of Grapevine's hike and bike trails.  They had a need for trail signs along the Horseshoe trail near Grapevine Lake.  We agreed to:

• Get the trail names routed vertically onto wood
• Attach the signs to metal pipe.
• Dig down 10 inches or so and put concrete around the pipe so that the vertical signs would be at a minimum 2 inches above the ground.

I met  with the trails liaison in September to discuss various projects he would like done.  Once we settled on this particular one, 8 foot 2" x 6" pieces of cedar were purchased.  My first task was to find someone who could route the names into the wood vertically.  It turned out this is no easy task.  If we paid to have it done it would have been price prohibitive.  After talking to several adults in our troop, I learned one of our assistant scoutmasters is highly skilled at working with wood and has a lot of woodworking tools in his workshop.  He was able to make 14 of 18 signs with the amount of cedar boards he had to work with.

                  The finished product:

We put the word out and we had a large group of scouts and venture crew members show up to help with the installation of the signs

This is the map of where the 13 signs needed to be installed.  There was a 14th installed not shown on the map.

The first task was to lay out the signs and attach the metal pipe.

We demonstrated the process of installing a sign

We broke into teams and each went off with signs, shovels, post hole diggers, concrete and water.

Installing each sign was a group effort

Here is a group picture of all that helped install 14 signs

Post Project Thoughts:

• I was pleasantly surprised at how many showed up.  When I first committed to installing 18 signs, I realized this was going to be a bigger project than our 8 member Northern Tier crew could handle in a reasonable amount of time.  We put the word out to the 4 Philmont crews that also needed service hours.
• The tools everyone brought with impressive.  We had ample shovels, post hole diggers, wrenches and sockets available.  I was concerned there would be a lot of standing around waiting to use a shovel or post hole digger.
• This project presented a lot of opportunities that tested my leadership capabilities.  The first challenge was to find a way to get the names routed on the signs at little or no cost and to fulfill our promise to the trail group.  The second challenge was on the day of installation to communicate what needed to be done, how it was to be done and keep everyone engaged.  Also, it was important to coordinate efforts once teams started finishing installation in their assigned areas.  Do we send teams to help other teams or as teams finish, do they go back to the rondevu point.  It turned out everyone finished installing their signs around the same time so we were able to send every one back to home base roughly at the same time.
• I forgot about the camaraderie our Northern Tier Crew had.  They laughed at my corny jokes on the trek and I had new ones to contribute at this project.  One of our boys has a different sense of humor and it takes a minute or two to think about what he says because you don't know if it is meant to be humorous.  The day of the project was no exception.  The first time he said something, the adults looked at each other wondering if it was supposed to be serious then the boy chimed in it was in jest.  That cracked us up and made it more humorous because we remembered his unique sense of humor.
• I was surprised and impressed we got everything accomplished in 4 hours.  I fully expected to spend all day installing the signs.
• Overall the project was a satisfying success and relief to finally be over.

Northern Tier

Scouting For Adventure

Canoe Trek Gear

Here is all of the gear I took on our canoe trek through Canada.  We followed the participant guide suggested gear list.  The boots are supposed to be water proof or as water proof as possible when stepping in water ankle deep or deeper.  Our crew decided on 2 long sleeve trek shirts to wear at base camp and on the trek.  All gear for the actual trek was supposed to fit into a 25-30 liter water proof stuff sack that would go in a canoe.  All other gear would be left behind in a duffle bag locked up at base camp.

We met at the church so we could carpool to the airport.  The young man lying on his side was photo shopped in the picture.  His parents drove him straight to the airport.  I hate pictures of myself.  I always look so stiff, forced, and unnatural when I am told to smile... Ugh!...  

 

Relaxing and catching a few winks on the plane ride to Minnesota

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

A little sight seeing on our way to Ely, MN.  We stopped at the U.S. hockey hall of fame in Eveleth,MN

We got to Minnesota a day early and stayed the night at Giant's Ridge ski resort in Gilbert, MN  The lodge offers all sorts of outdoor recreation for the different seasons: two golf courses, a ski area with 34 downhill runs, terrain park, cross country trails and mountain bike trails.

 

We finally made it to Base Camp!  Northern Tier has three canoe bases: Charles L. Sommers, MN; Aitkokan,ON;  and Bissett, MB.  The trek was out of the Charles L. Sommers canoe base. 

Before embarking on our trek we had to do a little advance planning like where do we want to go and what do we want to see.

Picking up our paddle and protective flotation device (PFD)

A little instruction and practice on how to pick up and carry a canoe when portaging.

Finally loading up and getting out on the water.  Our canoe trek begins!

On our way to Canada.  In the canoe, there are 3 seat positions: bowman-the person in front (me), duffer-middle, and sternman-the person in back

The view from behind the bowman

Welcome to Canada!

One of the nicer gentler portages

Mother Nature....

Stopping for the day and setting up camp for the night.

The best part of the trek was when we had to get out and walk the canoes through modest rapids.  We all were laughing and squeeling while trying to find solid footing in the water making sure we didn't slip or trip and end up totally or partially submerged in cold water.

Checking out ancient Indian pictographs

I have never seen a beaver dam that big

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Our entire trek that covered over 60 miles.  We started in the bottom right and made a big loop

Here were the high's and low's of the trip:

Positives:

• The gear recommended in the participant guide was spot on.  All of it got used at one time or another.
• Got to see a part of the country that I have never seen before.
• There were not as many scouts in base camp at one time.  It felt more cozier being smaller. 
• The food on the trek was better than Philmont
• The iodine based water purification made the water relatively odorless with no after taste. I did hear if you drink iodine based water over a long period of time it can affect your kidneys but we were not there long enough nor did we drink enough of the purified water to have any affect on us.
• I liked the fact we got to pick our own trek.  It could be adjusted along the way at any time to fit our needs and desires.
• There were no set stopping points.  We knew from the maps where the camp sites were but we got to choose when and where we stopped for meals and for the night.
• The weather.  It was warm and humid but not so bad to make each day miserable.  Plus you could dip any or all of your body into the water to cool off if needed.

Negatives:

• The MOSQUITOS!  - Whenever you hear about Northern Tier, one of the first things you hear about is how bad the mosquitoes are.  Based on my experience, none of what I heard previously was an exaggeration and was all true.  They are the most worthless creatures known to man.  I heard break dancing originated in that part of the country.  The movements come from and are based on killing mosquitoes.  I wore a bandanna the whole time not only to keep the sun off my neck but also to kill mosquitoes.  Each night when I ran into my tent (so as not let as many in), I spent the next 10 minutes killing the little buggers before they had a chance to bite me.
• Probably the best piece of gear was the mosquito netting worn over our heads.  I bought one that had repellent sprayed into it.  Sometimes I would forget I was wearing it and would attempt to put something in my mouth.  After a while my tongue began to feel slightly numb from licking the repellent laced netting.
• At times it was a little boring riding in the canoe since there was nowhere to go.  It really got boring riding in the duffer (position) because the paddling is usually done by both the bowman and sternman.  When I rode in the middle, I would help paddle to give me something to do.
• Did I say how bad the mosquitoes were?  Our interpreter would do thorns and roses each night after dinner.  One of his rules is you could not mention mosquitoes as your  thorn.
• The camp sites in Canada were all primitive so when it came time to do number 2, you had to go out in the woods and dig a hole.  I thought maybe I could hold it because I could not bear to think about being bit by a mosquito in the most sensitive parts that don't normally see the light of day.  I was wrong about trying to hold it and at one point during the trek the mosquitoes were not that bad at our camp site so  I dashed off into the woods with a shovel and toilet paper in hand.  I quickly did my business and was done!  I felt relieved in more ways than one.
• Ticks can also be a problem.  I remember at one camp in the middle of our trek when I was putting on a different shirt one morning inside my tent and noticed a tick on my belly above my belly button.  I don't know where he came from but our resident nurse was able to dislodge him with tweezers before he dug in.  I had clothes hanging on a clothesline between two trees overnight so I am thinking that is where the tick came from.  After that I was sure to check the inside of my tent and my clothes carefully each day.
• The CANPASS was a rip-off.  Each person on the trek had to pay $35.00 for the privilege to go into Canada.  In addition, we had to pay camping fees based on the number of nights camped.  Each of the campsites we stayed at in Canada had no infrastructure to speak of except for a fire ring made of rocks.  I am not sure what the camping fees paid for.