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| Camp for 2004 was at Camp Lowden, along the Rock River, near Oregon, Illinois. It was an all LDS, three-stake camp, with a focus on the Duty-to-God Program. Our traditional troop photographer had a work commitment this year, and was unable to join us, so Rob Stevens tried to fill the gap with these pictures. | |
| Arrival |
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| Heading down to the firebowl for the opening campfire |
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| Cameron fuel |
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| Nice hat, John! |
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| Freetime |
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| Nick! Go to sleep! |
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| Assembling all the young men for a group picture after Church. How many of those white shirts stayed white? |
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| Dale Blotter and Keith Chapman look on. |
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| Troop 5 on "The Rock" behind our campsite |
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| Motley Crew |
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| Sunday Duty to God activity - preparing for a mission. |
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| Reading personal letters from the Bishop, as well as from the Assistants to the Mission President |
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| Making leather camp patches |
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| John's patch |
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| About to go forth with our new troop T-shirts |
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| Message on the back of the shirt. Our troop's most photogenic side? |
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| Justin & Ross at the rifle range |
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| William, Nick, and Cameron get ready to swim |
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| William, how's the water? |
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| Kirk and Matt |
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| Carlos, Nick, John |
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| We had a dining hall camp again this year, but had one day where we cooked in camp. Foil dinners. |
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| We joined together with a Naperville troop for some evening treats and entertainment. |
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| Well, I guess you could call it entertainment. |
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| Cameron, Wake Up! |
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| Matt and Kirk tend to the pancakes |
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| Rob Niewold joined us for two days. Our troop - and virtually the entire camp - was awakened by Rob's dawn-piercing renditions of "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!" |
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| Getting lined up for flag ceremony. 'Line' defined loosely. |
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| Jeff at the archery range |
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| Robbie, Carlos, and John join in a pick-up game of field hockey with some of the camp counselors |
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| It's hard to get lined up in scoring position |
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| Visual proof of Kirk and Nick working on a Duty to God requirement |
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| Requisite picture of Chris eating |
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| Always plenty of good food in the dining hall. |
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| Ben and Derek |
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| Justin, representing our troop, was the first one to completely nail the scripture memorization. |
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| Glen Kozlowski, former Chicago Bear, and BYU football player, and current WGN sports commentator was our fireside speaker. Carlos poses with Glen |
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| John and Robbie with Glen |
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| Glen and Justin. Glen stayed long to take pictures and sign autographs for anyone who wanted them. |
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| Chug-a-lug |
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| Kirk: "man, my hands are sticky." Troop: "dude, that's Gatorade!!" |
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| Now was this a Duty to God or a Scouting requirement? |
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| Ross and Derek left candy in their tent. A Racoon was happy to help himself to it, but deciding clawing his way to it was easier then coming through the door. |
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| Our troop spent A LOT of time at the rifle range, and cleaned up on the awards at the end of camp |
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| Sharpshooter Ben |
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| Sharpshooter Justin |
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| Waterfront - the Rock River |
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| Jason (rear) gets ready to pass off a canoeing merit badge requirement |
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| And he's off -- heading up the river to an island and back |
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| Derek on the climbing wall |
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| Pull the string and ring the bell to signal you have made it to the top. |
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| Ross about to make it to the top. |
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| Jeff and Kirk in woodworking. |
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| Carlos, Alex, Matt, and Nick work on Citizenship in the World. This was an all LDS camp, but the counselors were not. This camp counselor would often discuss the boys' expectation of future missionary work in the context of this merit badge. |
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| Justin (center) works on Pioneering. |
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| Chris at the shotgun range. That gun has a kick, and this activity is closely supervised. |
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| Robbie at shotgun |
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| Clean and tidy tent. |
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| Our camp was only a little more than an hour away from home, so quite a few parents joined us for family night on Wednesday. |
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| The Chicago South mission president sat with our boys for dinner (Troop 5 leaders are thinking, "OK boys, best behavior!") |
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| Nick had another visitor for dinner |
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| Sanchez family visits the camp on family night |
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| This picture's a keeper. |
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| Reynolds family |
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| Devault family |
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| Del Muros |
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| Families leave -- let's get back to working on those requirements! |
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| Scoutmaster Dale Blotter telling some stories |
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| Cameron at the rifle range |
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| William at the rifle range |
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| Former Troop 5 Scoutmaster, and Sycamore ward member Jim Stewart |
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| John in basketweaving |
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| Robbie in basketweaving |
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| Firebuilding and other camp skills |
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| Ross is extremely proud of this knot. Buddy Derek made it for him. They were "playing catch with some rocks." |
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| John's camp gadget requirement. |
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| Kirk at shotgun. |
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| Ross and Derek after the obstacle course. |
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| Mud facials -- good for the skin. |
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| Hey Ben, how about a hot dog with your ketchup? |
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| Believe it or not, this is a game in progress |
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| Bishop Badal arrives to spend Friday evening with the troop. |
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| Bishop Badal and John. |
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| Troop 5, leaders, and Bishop Badal. The boys have instructed the bishop on the proper wearing of a hat. Alex shows the example. |
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| Picking up some of our awards at the closing campfire |
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| Camp staff farewell. |
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| Patriotic closing campfire. |
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| Out-of-focus troop campfire and testimony meeting with the Bishop |
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| Matt presents Br. Blotter with a 50th birthday and thank-you gift for his years of service to the troop. |
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| Annual traditional burning of Carlos' socks to bring the camp to a close. |
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Copyright © 2004 by Rob Stevens. Last updated December 11, 2004.
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