Doubt Not, Fear Not: Gadfreys...what a summer!

To say that this summer has been insane would be a major understatement. I spent 6 of my weekends and one full week away from my beloved family and beautiful wife. It started with a hike to Lake Blanche, then our Stake Youth Conference, and then we took our priests fishing at Jordanelle Reservoir, then our YUBABOMDOG activities, scout camp at Steiner and finally, a 3-day/2-night hike to Duck Lake in the Uinta Mountains.

[MAJOR SIGH]

This will be a lengthy, albeit entertaining post. I hope.

The Camp Steiner signage. It was 56 beautiful degrees when we arrived. Did you know Steiner has been around since 1930 and is the highest elevation scout camp in the United States at 10,400 feet above sea level?

The first morning consisted of a "float test" for the boys and a "swim test" for all else who were dumb enough to wait until camp to pass their swim requirements...which included yours truly. If it was 56 degrees outside, then the water had to be in the low 40's, maybe in the 30's. 'Twas a tad nipply....er...nippy. That said, I PASSED! OK, I was wearing a wetsuit, but do you blame me???

The scouts had a bit of a learning curve when it came to cooking. It was fine because on about the 3rd try, they learned that they had to be careful, or suffer the consequences. This boy's reply: "Hey! Mickey Mouse isn't BLACK!"

I am wearing my winter coat...wore it 90% of the time. I don't think it ever got above 65 degrees that whole week. Our troop's first fish caught out of Scout Lake. The smallest fish we pulled out of that lake was no less than 10 inches long. They were delicious as well!

I caught 4 of those fish in a single afternoon. The other 3 were caught by Erik and Gaven (under my tutelage...er...wormage).

Brad's (the scoutmaster) first experience fishing since he was maybe 10 years old. We lost a bubble while he was 'practicing'. "Nice and smooth, Brad. Nice and smooth." And no, he did not catch any fish...on THIS trip.

Our place of residence for the week. A nice 3-sided Adirondack cabin. My air mattress popped on an exposed nail the first night, so I slept in slightly less comfortable accommodations than others. Still better than a tent when the nights got into the 30's. Brrrrrr.

The Ol' Tradin' Post where many-a-boy spent many-a-dollar on cheap things that were broken before the week was over. What the heck does a boy need 6 pocket knives for?!?!

This nicely carved canoe earned this boy the woodcarving merit badge. Well done, Dustin!

Future Iron Chefs, I tell you what!

Our staff liaison Lyssa. The boys were quite enamored with her. She kept us updated on camp activities and escorted us to all our major events during the week. We were the only troop to EVER invite her to eat dinner with them. She even had cobbler with us one night and sat around the fire for a while. Nice girl.

I always have to include a good "Lord of the Flies" picture from my campouts.

The scoutmaster's birthday was on August 14th, our 4th day at camp. The boys made him this wonderful "cake" and sang to him. He was impressed and we all enjoyed eating the cake with him. The bottom layer is Rice Crispie Treats, then granola bars, then Hershey's chocolate bars. MMMMMMM.

We were in serious bear country. We even had to store all of our food and toiletries in huge steel "Bear Boxes". Although, any smart bear would have no problem staying away from a bunch of stinky, loud boys.

A nice view of Mount Baldy on the left.

Firearms in all their glory were in full use at this camp. 22's and 12-gauge shotguns. Our camp was about 200 yards from the shotgun range...which consisted of a large rock where you could stand, overlooking an expanse of forest floor that was littered with 50 years of clay pigeons.

The "swimmer" board. If your little circle was red and blue, you were a certified swimmer. If it was just red, you had to be accompanied by a swimmer. If it was white, you couldn't get near the water at all. We were the "Lookout" group.

If you got into the water, you had to place your swim badge on the opposite side of the board. If you leave the lake and leave your badge on the other side of the board, they will assume you have drowned and take appropriate action by dredging the lake for a body. This boy had 2 strikes against him and had to re-do his swim check. A 3rd strike would have seen him banned from the lake for the duration of camp.

The Battle of Steiner. It's basically a competition where you get in a canoe and tip over everyone else. And then dump the water back out, get in and do it all over again, and again.