Boundary Waters 2011 - Big Sag Patrol

Hey everyone! Well, we're back and in one piece! Boys from our troop just got back from the high adventure outing in the Boundary Waters. You can view a map of our voyage on Google Maps.

The first day was beautiful! We set out from Voyager at 8:30am and were on our way. We went up Sea Gull River and into the Big Sag. After we reached the Big Sag we crossed and went around American Point by the border of Canada and the US. We then followed the border until we came to our first portage! After crossing the portage we crossed Swamp Lake to our next and final portage of the day Monument Portage. We followed the lake until we found a nice cozy little campsite nestled into a peninsula.

On day two we followed OtterTrack Lake to Little Knife portage which brought us to Knife Lake. After we passed a certain point of the lake and the lake widened, that's when things got though. Slowly at first the winds picked up to make our canoes rock back and forth gently, and then came the gusts.... The water turned from little ripples to swells in a matter of minutes. We rushed ourselves to get to a campsite as fast as we could! Luckily no one capsized... well Peach almost did, but that didn't count really... No offense or anything... We found a campsite and hurried in. The problem with the campsite was it was too small to fit us! We ate lunch there instead. As we ate we watched the white caps and we swear they were at least five feet high! After about ten minutes the wind died down a little but there were still waves that would give any person in a canoe a good scare. We thought it might be best if we parted ways with this campsite and found another one more protected from the elements. After fighting our way around the corner we found a little more calmness. It took us all of about five minutes to find a nice campsite that would be suitable enough if we got hung up for a day or two. That night we all had steak and fish that was well deserved.

On day three we found that even in our little safe haven the weather was ill suited to be in so the adults decided we were staying put for the day. Every one caught up on their sleep, finished books, and enjoyed long card games.

On the fourth day we found out again that the weather was sort of bad, but not as bad as the day before, so we set out in the rain. We took a small detour to save some of the time that we had lost the day before and made it to South Arm Knife Lake before we even ate lunch. We Passed Eddy Falls and from Eddy Lake into Jenny Lake and From Jenny Lake into Annie Lake and from Annie Lake into Ogish Lake. Once we got to Ogish we ate lunch around noon or so. We traveled lazily into the middle of the Lake until.... We found the other patrol from our troop! They were fishing in this campsite that everyone is dying to get their hands on because it has supposedly good fishing spots. To our great luck they already had another campsite and were willing to give up this one to us. Not being able to resist the offer we took the campsite.

Day Five brought with it good weather. We crossed the rest of Ogish and took the portage into Kingfisher Lake. After we came into Jasper Lake we crossed the portage into Alpine Lake where we ate lunch. At the lunch spot we decided that we wanted to cross the 105 rod portage. A rod is the length of one canoe, or about 16.5 ft. So if you times that by 105 then that is a mightily long way to be carrying a canoe on your shoulders. After we came out of the portage we found a beautiful campsite that gave a glorious view that not even the king could argue with. There we dried everything! Like I mean everything! I never knew that dry things feel fantastic!

On the last day we literally drifted the whole way back to Voyager Canoe Outfitters. Our two fishermen (Bryan and James) fished their little hearts out that day. And I do remember that at one point that the boys let one whole stringer full of fish just drift away! There were five fish that were being held to be eaten but no, they just floated away. They made up for their mistake and brought home seven more fish in total. That night we cooked up all the fish, took a shower, and played cards until we sank into our beds.

We all thought it a little odd that on the whole entire trip we never saw a single piece of wildlife except for fish and birds. On the morning that we drove home we finally saw a moose! Well so we marked that one off our To-Do list...

Over all we boys went fifty miles, and we traveled the whole way with big smiles on our faces! See you at Summer Camp Boys!

Jonah
Scribemaster

Polar Bear 2011

Polar Bear Photos Troop 175 had our yearly polar bear outing this year and we had a blast! It was full of excitement and we all had fun building our snow shelters! In the end we all survived except for a few cold fingers and toes. Join us next time next year for this once in a life time event!

Yellowstone Trip

Hello again. I'm am going to try something new about the Yellowstone trip blog. I'm going to have a guest writer. I'm crossing my fingers that this is a good idea and it works out ok. Well enough about my hopes lets read my guest writer, our very own SPL BFG!


BFG's
Yellowstone
Journal

6/23/2010 – 7/6/2010

For Jonah's Troop 175 Blog




6/23/2010

We met at the church around 6:30 AM, and left by 7:15. We stopped in Onalaska for gas, and ate lunch on the Minnesota side of the Minnesota-Wisconsin boarder. We drove straight through Minnesota, and stayed at Pallisades State Park in Garretson, SD for the night. The park is located 20 miles from Sioux Falls. We took a hike through the gorge there and had puggie pie pizzas for dinner, and it was a mess. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful night as well.


6/24/2010

We made breakfast which was eggs in a bag. We loaded the trailer, and set off for Wall, SD. The drive to Wall was about 2 ½ hours. We ate lunch at the Wall Drug Diner. I had a Buffalo Burger. We walked around the drug store, got our FREE ice water, and were on the road again. It took us another 2 hours to get to Spearfish, where we stayed for the night. We cooked ham steaks and corn on the cob for dinner on the gas grills that the campsite provided. That was a treat! It was beautiful weather all day and night.


6/25/2010

Today we had hungryman for breakfast. We once again made the most out of the gas grills that were provided for us. We set the Dutch ovens right inside the grills. It worked quite well, and we were on the road by 8:30. It was a hot day- the car thermometer hit 94º F. We stopped in Bighorn National Forest for lunch. After lunch, we spotted snow and had a snowball fight in June! We then drove to Cody, and ate dinner at a Subway. It was nice to be in Cody again. I recognized many landmarks in Cody from the last time my family was there (2002). We then set out for Yellowstone as we started to climb the Rocky Mountains. We set camp in the Grant Village Campground in Yellowstone. It was a chilly night, dipping into the 30º’s!


6/26/2010

I woke up to the sound of rain on my tent, and thought it was going to be a long, wet day. We had French toast for breakfast, and set out for Old Faithful by 9 AM. By that time, the rain had passed. We took a hike through the Old Faithful loop and saw Old Faithful go off. After that, we walked through the Old Faithful Lodge. It is spectacularly built. We ate summer sausage at a picnic table, and set off to see Morning Glory Pool. On our way, we climbed 200 ft. on a ½ mile trail called, Old Faithful overlook trail. We watched Old Faithfull go off again, and continued our hike. I was disappointed to see the state that Morning Glory is in; vandalism over the years has almost totally destroyed the brilliant blue color of the pool. We continued on an unpaved trail, and saw two hot springs that were as blue as Morning Glory in its prime! After seeing Morning Glory, we took a 5 mile round-trip hike to Fairy Falls. It is an amazing waterfall, falling 200 ft. It may not be the most spectacular waterfall in Yellowstone, but it was very cool to go right underneath the waterfall.


6/27/2010

Today we had pancakes for breakfast. While Patrol 1 took showers, Patrol 2 made breakfast. Patrol 2 took showers after breakfast. We then set out for Mammoth Hot Springs, and saw plenty of wildlife on the way. On the way we saw elk and bison. The hot springs were magnificent. We stopped in the Mammoth Hot Springs village to have ice cream and to see Fort Yellowstone. We then started our trip back to camp. We again ran into plenty of wildlife. We saw black bear twice, bison, elk, osprey, bighorn sheep, and a grizzly bear with it's cubs. The grizzly bears was only 100 yards away from us! I was sleeping though, and only pick up its head once. Once we got back to camp, dinner was made quickly, but cleanup took until midnight.


6/28/2010

Today we slept until 6:30, so we didn’t get on the road until 10:00. Our destination was Firehole Lake and the Paint Pot geyser basin. The paint pot mud pots were awesome! We had lunch next to a scenic creek, and set off for our primary destination of the day. On the Nez Perce River, there is a section that is fed by hot springs, and is the only designated swimming site in the park. The area was closed at the time due to the high water levels, but we found a nice section of creek to swim in. The water was swift, and warm as bath-water! We swam for an hour, and started back to camp. We went to the Grant Village Grocery and decided that the prices were too high. We decided to make a night drive to the Cody Wal-Mart.


6/29/2010

We had oatmeal for breakfast, and unloaded the groceries from Mr. Brown’s van. We set out for Yellowstone Canyon around 9:30. We stopped at overlooks all morning, and did a lot of climbing up and down trails that led to overlooks. We went to Uncle Tom’s Cabin which is a 328 step stairway to a platform overlooking the Lower Falls. We packed our supper, and ate it at a picnic area so that we could go wildlife viewing in the evening. We saw a herd of buffalo chase a black bear, which was quite interesting. We also saw a few pronghorn. On the way back to Grant Village, we got caught in a big storm with powerful winds. When we got back to camp, our dining fly was blown over, and damaged.

6/30/2010

This morning we had a quick breakfast of oatmeal, and tried to dry our gear as best as possible. We packed the trailer, and headed for the showers. After showering, we set out for Grand Teton National Park. It took 2 driving hours, and we set up camp after we arrived. Our campsite was much bigger than the one in Yellowstone, but the bathrooms and dump station was a hike down the road unlike Yellowstone where it was just across the street. We signed waivers at the Grand Teton Lodge so that we could go on the rafting, and horse-riding trips. After we ate supper, we went on a nature drive, and saw a herd of elk about 200 in size. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes in the process, but it was worth it to see the elk.

7/1/2010

Today we had French toast for breakfast and were on our way to the rafting trip by 8:30. It was a WWII replica raft that they used for temperary river bridges during the war. The float was 2 hours long, and we saw pronghorn and a bald eagle during the trip. After we unloaded the raft, we had lunch. A burger, salads, and a brownie the size of 4 decks of cards! After we got back from the trip, we set out for the Rockefeller Reserve where was jumped from a 22 ft. high rock into Phelps lake. On our way, we saw a cow moose! The hike was 4 miles round trip, and it was the most beautiful hike we took the whole trip. Phelps Lake is a snow-melt fed lake surrounded by the Tetons. The rock was fun also. I jumped twice, but Jack jumped off 10 times! (10 jumps=220ft.)

7/2/2010

Today we got up early so that we could have breakfast and leave for our horseback ride. The ride was pretty cool. The name of my horse was Pluto. He had a mind of his own! The ride lasted 2 ½ hour, and I was glad to get off of the saddle! Although it was cool to ride a horse, I’m glad Henry Ford mass produce the car. After the ride, we had lunch and went to Jenny Lake where we saw Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. After the hike we took a ferry back across the lake.

7/3/2010

Today, we were on the road by 10:00 AM. We stopped for lunch somewhere in the middle of Wyoming. We continued on our 8 hour drive to Medicine Mountain Scout Camp where we planned to stay tonight and tomorrow night. We ate supper at a Pizza Hut, and the Juice Patrol almost got us kicked out! We then split; the trailer and Mr. Brown’s van set up camp while the MUZ and the Juice patrol went to the Wal-Mart in Rapid City to buy groceries.

7/4/2010

We had breakfast tortillas for breakfast, and it started to rain in the middle of clean up. We made a mad dash to get the trailer loaded, and headed for Mt. Rushmore. It rained for almost the entire time we were at Mt. Rushmore. We then went to Custer State Park to eat lunch. We ate burgers for lunch, and went climbing on the rocks around the lake afterwards. It was really cool. We then took the Needles Highway to Mt. Rushmore for the evening program. It was a beautiful drive, and we went through tunnels and cork-screw turns. The light show was very cool, and was about the best way that you could celebrate Independence Day.

7/5/2010

We ate pancakes, broke camp, and headed for Palisades State Park by 10:30. We ate at a wayside in South Dakota and continued on. On the way Mr. Brown's car's tire went flat and we had to put a spare on it and drive to Sam's club to get a replacement. The whole incedent put us back about two hours. We had BBQ chicken on the grill and corn on the cob for dinner. It was delicious.

7/6/2010

We had oatmeal for breakfast, and were on the road by 7:30. We drove straight to La Crosse for lunch. We ate lunch at an Old Country Buffet in La Crosse, and then headed home. On the way, the trailer’s tire blew, and we had to change it. When we got to Sussex, we ran the cars through a car wash, unloaded the trailers, and went home. It was an awesome trip!


Well there you have it folks the Yellowstone blog! Tune in next time for the Tesomas blog. Hopefully this didn't sound like a news report thing...

Scouting for Food, March 27, 2010

Hey Boys, as you know we recently did Scouting for Food. We were very successful, collecting a total of 14,634 items for S.O.S. (Sussex Outreach Services)! Great job boys! The participating units included Troops 175, 107, 39, 34 and 95. Participating packs included 175, 31, 39 and 62. Thanks boys, siblings, and parents for your help. I would especially like to thank Troop 175 for sorting all the food, and the parents who helped collect the food by driving their sons all over the place.

Eagle Cave 2010

Hey boys! Troop 175 just went to Eagle Cave on Febuary 13-14, and we had a blast!

2010-02-13 Eagle Cave

Scout Sunday 2010

Hey boys Troop 175 just enjoyed another Scout Sunday at St. James Church. Scout Sunday is where scouts worship God together.

On the morning of February 7th troop 175 woke up, put our uniforms on, and drove to St. James Church. We all met , then when everyone was there, we said grace and ate our favorite breakfast...donuts! While we ate we laughed around and socialized until it was time to go to Mass. After Mass we took our annual troop picture. Next we ate a hearty lunch of Cousins subs. The meal was delicious and boys knew that we were soon going to have our OA (Order of the Arrow) elections.Then we had our troop meeting and went home to catch the Superbowl.

Remember our next outing is OA lock-in on Febuary 20th. See you there!

Polar Bear

On January 16-17 Troop 175 held there annual Polar Bear at Mauthe Lake. The purpose of our troop Polar Bear is so the boys can experience what it is like to sleep in a snow shelter and have fun in the snow.

At this year's Polar Bear the boys found a buddy to make a snow shelter with and started their mound of snow (snow shelter). The heights of our snow shelters ranged from 6' to 7' tall. When our mounds were the correct length and height we waited for the mounds to settle. We waited by eating a hearty lunch, and warming up by the fire. When the mounds settled we began to hollow out the interior. We first sized a door so we could crawl in and then dug until we were 1' away from digging out through the other end. Second we started to make the ceiling go up till 1' from the outside and our walls go out till 1' from the outside. Then we put our sleeping bags inside and we were free to go goof off.

The two big highlights of the Polar Bear were spoons and destroying our shelters. You may be thinking how do spoons have anything to do with the Polar Bear. Well I'll tell you it doesn't, but half of the boys and leaders forgot their spoons. Then my friend had a crazy idea to take pine wood and cut 1'' pieces of it, and in the end almost everyone who forgot a spoon was using my friend's idea. But destroying the shelters was the best, everyone was jumping through their shelter's roof, and running into the walls until they colapsed. I have to say it was pretty fun.

We had a great time. Reminder our next outing is Eagle Cave on Febuary 12-14. See you there!