50 miles of Boy Scout Camp

Last week Doug and Cody embarked on an adventure together to conquer the wilderness north of Richfield, Utah in the Boulder Mountains.  Doug went along as a leader, and a base camp mover.  They left on Monday morning at 6:30 and didn't get home until Saturday around noon.  Cody and his troop hiked about ten miles a day, give or take a few, but totaled 51 miles in all.  Doug and the other "non-hiking" leaders would get the boys on their way each day and move their camp to the next station where they would have dinner and camp for the night.  A lot of the terrain was steep and rough, but most of the boys hung in and made it the whole way.  To earn the 50 mile a-foot patch they had to carry their packs (30% of their own weight) including water, food, tents, sleeping bags, etc for the whole way.  Doug said Cody was a real trooper.  He never complained and was always the first one out in the morning and the first one back from the hike.  There were swarms of mosquitoes near the small lakes and they really liked Cody because he came back with tons of bites.  Doug hauled the canoes and the four wheeler up with him so the boys could pass off other merit badges too.  Cody and his friend Carsen Bjelland were always in the canoes Doug said. 

The convoy into to camps.  Dirt roads and lots of rocks. 



This was the scenery that they got to enjoy during their week.
This is Crater Lake, the first campsite.



The roads were for four-wheelin' vehicles.  Doug and the other leaders pulled loaded trailers
as far as they could.  Doug had to drop his trailer a few times in order to get to the campsite.

Monday night at Crater Lake.  Hamburgers and home-made
 fries for dinner for dinner.

What a nice place to camp!  The leaders that went were Donald Stratton,
Doug Beutler, Jeremy Green, Ken Cahoon, Jimmy Hall, Brad Winder, and
Jason Curtis.

A postcard picture.

Tuesday morning the boys are starting on their hike.

Wednesday they camped at "Big Lake".  Here Cody and Carsen
are putting a canoe into the water for an evening float.

Camp at Big Lake.

Cody shooting a black powder rifle.  Jason Curtis brought the
guns for the rifle shooting merit badge.

Wednesday morning leaving Big Lake.

Moving base camp from Big Lake to Spectacle Lake.  They had
to cross through a small pond  to get there.

Cody and Carsen in the canoe at Spectacle Lake.

The camp at Spectacle Lake had an old cabin with only 1/2 a
wood floor.  They thought it was pretty cool.  They stayed two nights
here because it was so difficult to move the base
camp on the rocky and narrow
roads. 

Thursday morning hitting the trail.  The base camp leaders stayed here
and took the opportunity to go on a four-wheeling ride while the boys
and hiking leaders were gone.

Donald Stratton coming through a very narrow part of the trail.
Doug says the trail was very difficult to maneuver the four wheelers through,
one of the hardest they had ridden.  They were able to see Rainbow Lakes.

Doug in front of one of the Rainbow Lakes  Very pretty!

Cody came back to base camp on Thursday and crawled into Dougs bed
and slept for FOUR hours.  He was exhausted.

To earn their wilderness survival merit badge the boys had to
build a shelter out of natural materials and sleep in it.  Cody and
Carsen built this one and said it was the warmest night they
had spent on the trip yet.  This is them the next morning.

This is a fuzzy picture of the boys coming in for the final time. 
They hiked 51 miles total.  Way to go! 



Friday night Jeremy Greens brother came up to retire a military flag
with the boys.  In order to retire a flag flown on a military base it has to be
done by a military personnel  so he supervised the boys doing it.



Cody, Cameron Green, Carsen Bjelland, and Kyle Crofts performed
the ceremony and they retired the flag by burning it.  Doug said that the
spirit was really strong and everyone had tears.  Sargent Green talked about
how the American Flag is the most known symbol in the world and we need to remember
those who did fight and continue to fight for our freedoms.  He related it to the Boy Scout,
and to the priesthood.  They all agreed it was a very moving experience.  After the ceremony
they all took a turn saying what the best part of the camp was, Cody said it was working/hiking with
everyone and how everyone got along. 

Cody and Doug were exhausted on Saturday when they got home, but happy with a great experience. Most of the boys earned between six and eight merit badges as well as their 50-mile-a-foot-patch.  Good job guys!