I can’t believe we will be heading home in the morning, it has been a fantastic week. The weather was ideal with cool nights and beautiful sunny days. The scouts are worn out as each one logged in an average of 5-7 miles of walking per day. Our first year scouts completed their Mountain Man course with a ceremony and new shirts to celebrate (see pic below). After lunch everyone enjoyed their last afternoon of free time and spent every last nickel they had on junk from the Trading Post. After our bbq dinner we attended the closing campfire to conclude the week. Hopefully everyone will shower tonight so we can hit the road first thing in the morning. Be prepared for lots of dirty laundry. Until next year………

Day 5 was a busy one that started with a 5:30am polar bear plunge, we had a few brave scouts who participated. After morning classes and a delicious chicken sandwich lunch we ventured to the climbing tower for bouldering, climbing and rappelling. Then it was our troop’s turn to clean the bathhouse, I was amazed by some of the cleaning skills. Then we wrapped up the day with free time, dinner and a campfire. One more day to go!

We are rocking and rolling as the scouts are knocking out their merit badge requirements and dominating free time with rifle shooting, swimming and hatchet/knife throwing, archery, playing cards and buying junk food at the trading post. Other highlights: we broke out into patrols at each grade level and elected leaders, some of our scouts attended a flag retirement ceremony with 21 shotgun salute. Some cool wildlife has been spotted such as deer, racoon, and bats. We picked up the church bus from the repair shop and it’s ready for our trip back to Birmingham. For the record each scout has showered at least once. Two more days to go!