Givens Hot Springs

In March the Scouts decided to head to Givens Hot Springs to pass off some of the swimming rank advancement requirements. We headed off on Friday afternoon and were some of the first campers at the pool, which was nice because Givens can fill up with Scout troops quickly. We set up camp and went swimming. We passed everything off and then played some games. One-breath-underwater-distance-swimming, water basketball and squirt guns were in order. After swimming we headed back to camp and enjoyed some excellent Skybaby Special, prepared by our historian. We were all worn out from playing hard in the hot water so we hit the sack. The next morning we rolled out of our tents late, enjoyed a breakfast of oatmeal and boil-in-the-bag omelets, packed up camp and played ultimate frisbee and California football until it was time to leave.

Enjoying breakfast.

Waking up is hard.

The Scouts found these little fish in some puddles. We thought they were 

tadpoles at first but they are really little fish. Not sure what they kind they are. 

Successful fishing. All of these did get set loose.

  Our only request was that they not get muddy.

Picture time.

The scars of ultimate frisbee.

Grimes Creek

At the end of November there was enough snow in the mountains of the Boise National Forest that the Scouts decided to try to go sledding. We found a nice camping area at Grimes Creek and set up camp. After a dinner of chili the Scouts spent the rest of the evening pelting one another with snowballs and trying to start a fire. That night we recieved a couple additional inches of snow. We ate breakfast, broke camp and headed to the snow hill. The sledding was fun, though bumpy and all was going well until one of our Scouts unintentionally left our sledding area and came face to face with the snow hidden branch of a fallen tree. That quickly wrapped up our camp out as we performed first aid on our comrade and got off the mountain and to the urgent care. It was very much a blessing that all he required was eleven stitches. We are glad that his recovery was quick and that it wasn't more serious.

Packed and ready to go.

Waking up to couple new inches of snow.

Darn, forgot to pull my backpack into the tent last night. Oh, and there is my sleeping pad too.

 Time for fire building 101. Notice the Scout in shorts. 

Playing snowball fetch with Trigger the dog.

 Success!!

Breaking camp.

Now what next?

Cleaning mess kits.

Like a professional.