This was our fifth consecutive December campout at Blackhawk Forest Preserve (2001 2002 2003 2004.)
This year something new...videos!
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Braden hauls in the troop box, with Ben pushing. Or riding perhaps?
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First task: get the fire started
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Night Hike -- paying homage at the graves of the Black Hawk war soldiers who rest just a couple hundred yards from us. See previous campouts for more details.
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Checking out the older memorial, before the actual graves were located in recent years.
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Br. Hagen gets a game of Balderdash going, with Ben picking the words from the dictionary.
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Cozy cabin
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Hmm...how thick is this ice? Br Stevens says, "Eric, our troop doesn't have a good track record with ice…"
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That's better.
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Now that's some horsepower (Br. Hagen and Staley)!
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Mush!
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Seth and Eric sledding on the tracks. Don't worry, the trolley musuem is closed for the winter (I think...).
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Cooking up breakfast
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Lined up for breakfast
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New troop mess kits work out fine.
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Seth and Braden get ready for the winter hike.
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Br. Stevens prefers to do the hike on skis.
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Little hills along the hike provide for fun distractions
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Seth, Eric, Justin, Robert
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OK, the leaders have to take a run: Br. Stevens
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Br. Staley
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Br. Hagen
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Ben and Braden
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Shelter
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Ben and Ross
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Ben took the record for longest trench dug by a face.
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Ross watches Robert's form
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First Aid merit badge opportunity
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Now for the videos. Br. Staley's new phone can record videos. They look better on the phone than on a computer, but you get a sense of the action and sounds.
- Watch out for that tree! (Br. Stevens). Go
- We started a game of oneupsmanship, trying to break distance records. Go
- Br. Stevens kept on setting new marks, raising the challenge. Go
- The scouts finally got a system down, using two or three boys on a carefully navigated sled. The final record took even more ingenuity (not shown in a video, alas). The solution is to place one scout on a plastic toboggan as cargo on the troop sled. When the sled hits virgin snow at the end of the run, it comes to an abrupt stop, and the scout on the toboggan shoots out, catches a few feet of air, followed by a couple more feet of slide. Congrats, boys. Go
- Seth discovers that sliding down on a dead tree is more painful than on a sled. Go
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Copyright © 2005 by Rob Stevens. Last updated February 11, 2006.
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