Scout Camp (By Phil)

For the first time in several years, I wasn't able to make it to Cub Camp this summer.  After four summers in a row with Jacob, Ben and Micah, I suppose it was someone else's turn.  Little did I know that the last 4 years of Cub Camp were all just priming me for this year's trip to Camp Maple Dell with the Boy Scouts (including Jacob and Benjamin).

 

In addition to some of the more traditional merit badges, the camp had some more unique offerings, including the Kayaking and Whitewater merit badges, which Jacob earned along with two of his friends with me along a chaperone.

 

Most of Jacob's rides were in a two-man kayak with a friend, but I forgot my camera on that first run.  Luckily, I did get some pictures of the second, where he spent some time on a smaller one-man kayak.

The scenery was pretty nice along the Provo River 

On our second run, he did the White Water on a raft.  The rapids were nothing like our trip down the Snake a few weeks ago, but rafting is rafting, and we had a good time.

Here's Jacob and Jordan manning the front of the raft.  I find it fascinating that their smiles were so big that the raft caught on and smiled along with them.

Now I can't do a back flip at all, anywhere.  Jacob, on the other hand, can't resist doing them everywhere.  Off the of the bull of the raft has become one of his favorite places after the last two trips.

And how did I get such lovely pictures?  I did that second run in the orange kayak, where most of my views were a lot like this.  Beats any day at work!

For his part, Benjamin, along with his friends Gabe and Matthew, pursued another unique offering, the Climbing merit badge, where they learned rock climbing, rappelling and belaying techniques

It takes more than a little trust to allow a 12 year old kid to belay your child when he's that far off of the ground.  But the staff trained them well and kept a close eye on them.



As it turns out, Benji's a scrappy little climber!

Another unique offering a camp Maple Dell is their COPE courses, a series of elements 30 feet off the ground.  Here's Jacob running (literally) across a suspension bridge.

And some old guy (me) making his way across some cargo netting.  For a guy that doesn't do so well with heights, I thought I did pretty well...(but I'm still not hanging Christmas lights at the new house).

The camp had a lot of the traditional offerings as well.  For Benjamin these included Environmental Science, Wilderness Survival (including spending one night in a man made shelter with a few of his friends), Woodcarving, and Canoeing

For Jacob, who has all but earned his Eagle at this point, there were things like Art and Rowing

He and his friend Jordan also took Movie Making, where they wrote, storyboarded, directed and edited a short film they called the Rejuvenated Wood Carver.  Their star actor was a young talent by the name of Benjamin Stevens...

...but everyone got involved in the effort.

When they weren't actively working on merit badges, my boys were able to spend a lot of time together at the places like the lake, where they applied their new lessons in canoeing...

...and rowing

All six of the boys we brought up are in this picture, with Ben and Jacob in the middle canoe as everyone tried to swamp each other's boat.

It's not so fun when yours is the boat that get's swamped....

but there's worse things then paddling a swamped canoe to shore in a mountain lake as the sun goes down

...and they figured out a good technique for doing so.

 

I basically spent 3 days being really grateful that my boys were having these kinds of opportunities and adventures, and that I got to be on hand for most of it.  Thanks to the staff at Maple Dell for a very nice program that made for a wonderful week!