YM Encampment

At the end of May, the young men in our ward went camping.  This is not just any camping trip - this is the Young Men's Encampment.  There were merit badges to be earned, fun activities, firesides, and a general bonding of the boys and their leaders.  Get ready for lots of pictures!  This is a shot of the classroom where merit badge work began.

Adam is ready for the rifleman merit badge.

Next was the orienteering merit badge.  Adam was excited about this one because he loves maps.  He learned how to use a compass and was a natural.

Adam - burning a piece of wood with a magnifying glass and the sun.  You will notice most of the pictures are of Adam.  That's because Adam was Dan's buddy.  Dan saw little of Bryce who was off with the Teachers, but he and Adam did everything together.  When Dan was asked to go to the encampment, we realized that Adam would turn 11 on the first day of the camp, and would officially be able to earn merit badges.  In LDS troops 11-year-olds only camp out a few times a year, and then with their fathers coming along.  Dan got permission from the leaders, and it worked out for Adam to go with him.  Adam earned his merit badges for Environmental Science, Astronomy (both taught by Dan), Orienteering, and Rifleman.

As twilight set in, Dan prepared the boys for some sky watching.  One of the requirements was that the boys had to look at the sky in the evening and then again at 3 am so they could see the movement of the stars and planets in the sky.

On Sunday, everyone donned their white shirt and tie and hiked over to a beautiful meadow for church services.  They are standing in front of Dan and Adam's camp which someone tagged as the "Taj Ma Dahl".  They had a set up a nice campsite with a pop-up canopy over the front of the tent and a tarp on the ground to keep the tent clean.

Finally a shot of Bryce along with Dan and Adam on their way to church.

Dan reported that everyone was given a general conference talk and sent off in the woods for a period of time to study and prepare to share it with the group.  When everyone was prepared, they only called on about six speakers, but no one knew who would be called on, so each person was motivated to study and be prepared.

Bryce with Adam in the background at church.  It was chilly in the morning at Bear Canyon Lake, and during this week there was a lot of wind.

Dan said Adam kept his warm coat on most of the time and was toasty and comfortable.

A future eagle!

Dan with Jeff Hodges checking the wind speed.  The Hodges live in our neighborhood.  They were looking for a scout troop for their son, Nick, to join, so we matched them up with Brother Lamoreaux.  That was about 2 years ago.  Nick just earned his Life rank and will soon be working on his eagle project.  Brother Lamoreaux drafted Jeff to be an assistant scoutmaster too.  He says Jeff is from the St. Anne's Ward (meaning the Hodges attend the St. Anne's Catholic Church).  Everyone gets a good laugh out of that - including the Hodges.

Adam doing his "Dilbert" imitation.

The wind was very active while they were at camp.  Here is Dan's wind gauge measuring the wind at 31 mph.  He said it got up to 38 mph while they were measuring, but they didn't get a picture of that reading.

Just a fun shot of Adam playing with some fellow scouts.

All the boys enjoyed the tomahawk throwing.

These were the favorite men in camp - the cooks!  Jack Crum, Bill Tanner and Dave Stradling.  After Dan and the boys got home, they couldn't stop talking about all the great food they ate.

Adam doing more orienteering.

Bryce with using his "David's sling". 

Shawn Hanks used a magnifying glass to burn words into this stick.  It says, "Sons of Elliot - Bear Canyon Lake (picture of a bear)" and on the back side it says "Chief Hanks".

Dan, Adam and Shawn Hanks went geocaching.  I'm sure Adam will be earning his geocaching merit badge soon!

Edwin Lamoreaux helping Adam make his "David's sling".

Bryce with some of his teacher friends.  He hung out with these guys a lot.

Adam on the monkey bridge the troop built.

Dan teaching environmental science.  Not a great picture - but we had to document the teaching since he spent so much time on it.

Adam recording his plot for environmental science.

Some of the information and materials Dan hauled up to camp to teach Environmental Science and Astronomy.

Adam getting ready for a canoe ride.  That was another merit badge the boys could earn - Canoeing.

Adam and Dan took a little ride to explore.  This is the tower where Bernard Magnusson worked many summers.  Dan often spent time with the Magnussons there in the summers.

Another geocache.

Some of my pictures are out of order, but reordering the pictures is beyond me in blogger.  So here is a shot of the whole group as they left the church to start their trip.  Bryce is just barely visible on the left side in the third row.  Dan and Adam went up later in the day after Dan got off work.

Bryce throwing the tomahawks.

Dan encouraging Adam in rifle shooting.

Bryce attempting to make a didgeridoo.

Ryan Hanks and Bryce canoeing.  Bryce was about to grab the oar and tip the canoe over.

The teacher's quorum after cutting down a dead tree with their machetes.

They all came home full of stories of their adventures, the firesides and all the yummy food.  It was another successful young men's outing.  Thanks to all the YM leaders and those who were drafted into helping.  You made lifelong memories for these boys.