HELLOOOOO from the frozen North. Sixteen youth and nine adults braved the winter weather of Cisco Grove on February 17th to compete in the Klondike Derby. We arrived late Friday evening and set up camp in the dark. We are getting pretty good at this. Acting Scoutmaster Michael Kuykendall and acting Senior Patrol Leader, Charlie Potter attended the cracker barrel to discuss the weekend events. There were 4 troops in attendance. Unfortunately, there were a few troops from another district that did not show and were in charge of a number of events. With a ‘Be Prepared’ attitude, the adults in attendance stepped up and volunteered to cover some events, donated the use of a flag and pole, and officiated over the Interfaith service on Sunday.
Saturday started off with Mountain Man Breakfast to ready ourselves for the days events. The scouts collected ‘gold nuggets’ at nine events. They showed their skills in knots and lashings, first aid, blindfolded stretcher race, compass, and fire building. We broke for lunch to warm and fuel our bodies with bowls of Chicken Soup and PB&J sandwiches. Later that afternoon, our mushers participated in an Iditarod race, dog sled race without the dogs. Our young men took many first and second place awards. At closing flags, it was announced that the flag was to be retired. Afterward, we all enjoyed a free for all snowball fight. We prepared our Dutch ovens for dinner and sat around the campfire while waiting for the hearty stew to brew. A few scouts forgot to drink water and suffered a bout of hypothermia to much of our chagrin. Some forgot to pack extra shoes and warm socks and sustained mild frostbite. Thanks to our ever-vigil adults, we did not have to leave any scouts under the frozen tundra.
We woke early Sunday with anticipated frenzy; packed our belongings, broke camp, loaded the sledges, and mushed the gear to the trailer. Breakfast was Oatmeal and pastries. At morning flags, we saluted the moon, then held an Interfaith service. We loaded up and returned home, dried our tents and stowed the gear in anticipation of next years’ Klondike Derby.
