Saturday, July 02, 2011

Home From Camp

We just picked up my son who returned from Boy Scout Camp. Surprisingly, he had a great time, and despite the weather was still able to pass off a couple of merit badges. He got archery and wilderness survival. He also has some partially completed. Considering the fact that it rained for 36 hours straight, I say he did a pretty good job. One of his leaders said that it rained 2" in 1 hour!

My son said the bridge had 3 feet of water over it! After the water subsided, they were unsure about the structural integrity of the bridge, so didn't allow anyone to use it. The boys had to wade through the river to get to the other side.

Part of the problem from the flooding was that the mess hall was on the other side of the bridge. Each of the troops had a little bit of food, and didn't know how long they would be stranded, so rationed their food together. I think they mostly had things like twinkies, and makings for S'mores. (chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers) One of the troops rigged up a zipline to get food in from the cafeteria, but the Forest service told them it was against the rules, so they had to take it down. What do you think about that Dee Ice? But they were fine until the water subsided, and I"m sure that if it had been a dire circumstance, they would have been rescued another way, or food dropped in or something. They actually could have walked out, but it would have been one long hike through rugged Sierra terrain. But that's what scouts do, right?

Anyway, he is home safe and sound, and seems to have had a wonderful time. I told his scout leader that he was earning his "gold wings" in heaven. :) Actually, he earned more than that in my eyes because he made each of the boys shower last night before driving home in his car. :D

6 comments:

Nene said...

Glad he's home safe. Thanks for posting.

My word verification is "amworie"

I "amworie-ing" no more now that your son is home safe. :0P

Looney said...

It is a rare treat to get 36 hours of continuous rain in the Sierras in the summer. Where about was that?

Delirious said...

Looney, It is camp Wolfboro that is in the Sierras on the Stanislaus river.

Grannymar said...

Good news that the boy is home and in one piece. They are actually tougher than we give them credit for. I am with you on the scout leader asking them to shower, although it might have been for his own good. Imagine a car load of gangly unwashed as you tried to concentrate on driving! Neither a pretty sight or thought! lol.

Rummuser said...

Wonderful. Just imagine what he can tell his children and perhaps his grand children too about this adventure.

Charlie - Camp Staff said...

Mam, i was on staff. Tuesday night there was a little rain then found out it was going to be a 20 hour storm. The next day i got woken up at 6A.M. to help in the kitchen. We made hot choclate, make boxes of food, and things that they might want. They reason you got news of this is because some adult leader went to a high elevation rock to make a phone call becuase we have no cell service in camp. We have a phone for emergencies only. We did everything possible to try to get to them. The worse thing that would happen is that they had to do a 50 mile hike to get around the river. They would have been fine.