Scouts 1/16

These pictures are from the Troop 100 2016 snow camping trip at Camp Serendipity. Twenty boys attended along with the scoutmaster, Bill Dunnell, four adult leaders, and their host Paul Martin. Paul arrived at 11:00, cleared the snow from the concrete staircase, warmed up the cabin with a fire in the wood stove, and had lunch. The troop arrived at noon on the troop bus, along with three cars.

The scouts' objective for the camp was to have as many boys as possible sleep in snow caves that they built and to learn techniques for dealing with avalanche hazards. They had a lot of fun playing in the snow, throwing snowballs, sliding down the hills, and digging their snow caves. The boys cooked and ate their meals down in their camp in the parking area. The adults and scout leaders cooked and ate their meals on the front porch.

Eight of the twenty boys slept in snow caves, all of them for the first time. Five of the younger boys slept on the front porch, and the rest of the boys and adults, except for Paul, slept in tents on the snow. Paul slept alone in the warm cabin.

On Sunday morning, after breakfast, the boys donned their snowshoes and followed the scout leaders Bill Dunnell and Chip McElearney into the woods for some training on avalanche hazards and survival techniques. Chip had buried an avalanche beacon in the snow ahead of time and the boys used a second beacon device and probes to locate the buried one. Then they returned to the camp area, packed up their gear, and headed for home at about noon. I stayed behind, had some lunch, and closed up the cabin. I left at 1:00.




1/9/16 Bill Dunnell, some of the boys, and the bus shortly after arrival at Camp Serendipity.




1/9/16 Chip trying out the exercise rope hanging in the front porch.




1/9/16 Ken Dunkelberg and a scout digging away at their snow caves.




1/9/16 Ken, Bill, a scout, and more caves.




1/9/16 More scouts and more caves.




1/9/16 The bus, the boys, and the caves.




1/9/16 Wet clothes drying in the cabin overnight.




1/10/16 Ernie showed up to get some food and strokes from the scouts. He is getting so old that it is surprising that he could make the trip, but he did. It was good to see him.




1/10/16 This a view of the camp area in the morning.




1/10/16 Bill and Chip getting ready to snowshoe into the woods to hide a beacon that the scouts will learn how to locate.




1/10/16 Bill and Chip heading into the woods to hide the beacon.




1/10/16 Chip is burying the beacon under the snow.




1/10/16 Here Chip is making false tracks to confuse the scouts who will be looking for the beacon.




1/10/16 Scoutmaster Bill is overseeing the exercise.




1/10/16 Chip and Bill are returning to the camp by way of the spring.




1/10/16 Chip and Bill on the other side of the spring.




1/10/16 Ken after having just climbed the staircase up from the bus.




1/10/16 The boys are getting instructions for the beacon locating exercise.




1/10/16 Bill is explaining how the exercise will go.




1/10/16 Chip is in the woods with the boys teaching them the hazards of tree wells.




1/10/16 The boys are using a beacon/locator and probes to search for the buried beacon.




1/10/16 Scoutmaster Bill




1/10/16 The group of happy campers at the end of the adventure.


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