The scouts went up to the Solana Power Plant. It was lots of fun and adventureful. The food was great. They did golden spoon a contest to see who made the best dinner dish and the phoenixes patrol won! The scouts got to learn about how the power plant works and how it is very useful for energy. It’s constantly on except for 4 hours. It uses the sun to heat up oil in pipes that oil creates steam to turn a turbine. They use electric magnets to turn the force from the turbine into energy.
The scouts went camping up by Jerome Arizona. It was an enjoyable trip. They got to see Montezuma’s Castle; cliff dwellings that were used by the Sinagua people. They were very high up and looked amazing. They also went to Montezuma’s Well; its deepest point is 124 feet. The Scouts also toured the ghost town of Jerome. Jerome is an old mining town used for many minerals. One of the highlights was visiting The Audrey Shaft. The Audrey Shaft is a 1900-foot-deep shaft that was used to get to the mines. At the top is a glass floor, so you can look down into it. They had a museum for you to look at the history of Jerome.
The scouts went up to Lake Pleasant to go kayaking. It was so much fun, some people learned that their tent was not good enough for the rainy weather. It poured a lot, and we had a little skunk visit us during the rain. While out on the lake It started to rain and we got off the water onto an island and waited for the rain to stop. Then we went back to the campsite and went on a hike. We saw lots of wildlife while on our adventure. Then we got dried off and ate dinner.
The scouts went up to Maverick. It was a lot of fun! On Saturday, they made an amazing breakfast with sausage and eggs. After flags, they split up into patrols and played some games. One station was Pokémon Go with a compass. Then, they went to do a good turn by helping with the service project, which was clearing out the trees and fallen debris from the path. After a long day of work, they went back to a delicious meal with pie, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a turkey cooked in a box. It is a tradition to cook a turkey in a box every Maverick. On the way back from camp one of the parts on the trailer broke but because a Scout is always prepared we had a spare part and fixed it.
This was an amazing campout. The scouts had so much fun climbing in the trees. Flag-X is a climbing course with zip lines, rope courses, rickety bridges, and so much more. At Flag-X there are 5 different courses that connect to each other. Black is the hardest of them all and we had a lot of people finish it! After a long day in the trees, we went back to our campsite and ate an awesome meal that each patrol cooked. We had our golden spoon award that went to the Green Bar patrol they made an amazing cheesy kielbasa.
The scouts went to Geronimo for a week. It was lots of fun, The food was great and everyone enjoyed playing Gaga Ball. They had Shooting Sports, Aquatics, Horsemanship, and Art and crafts merit badges. Ext. It rained for a while, but thanks to great planning, no one got too wet. It was really rewarding at the end of the day to go to the campfire and watch skits or cooking competitions. Overall all the scouts had lots of fun and it was a great time
The Troop went hiking in the Grand Canyon on Bright angel trail. Some of them went all the way down to Indian Garden. It was hot out but because of our excellent planning, we had lots of water and stayed cool. Overall it was really fun with a great view from down in the canyon and good food.
This campout was largely designed to give the new scouts a chance make new friends in our Troop and so they can see kind of how things work on a campout. We did a 6 mile hike on the Highline Trail, then came back and everyone learned some Scout skills – even the Adult Scouts!
One of our two fundraisers for the year was held on 16 April. We had a great turnout of Scouts as well as parents and collected ~$1200! Thanks to those who promoted the event, came to get their car washed, and helped actually do the washing! Special thanks to Gunnell’s Tire and Auto for letting us use their parking lot and water!
3-5 Feb our Troop visited Kartchner Caverns State Park. We did a service project, visited the caverns, cooked, enjoyed the “Dark Skies” and a campfire (because it was cold! 20 deg F!)