There's Gold in Them There Hills - the Klondike Derby

 Every other year, the troop participates in a council wide event called the Klondike Derby.  Most councils in the cold regions of the US (and Canada) hold some version of this race.  It's held at the same scout reservation as the Highland Games.  And as in years past, we only go for the Saturday events, rather than camping the entire weekend (26 January).  A lot of troops do camp, but I'll bet they were sorry they did this year. More on that later. 

The Klondike Derby is an homage to the dog sledders of the Iditarod and the Klondike Gold Rush.  Each patrol (and we had 2 this year) has a dog sled with tow rope for the "dogs" to pull the sled.  The troop is given a list of gear needed for each sled as well as a general idea of the events that the scouts will be participating in.   There were seven events this year, and each patrol would participate in three of them - but wouldn't know which ones until the day of the event.  The patrols compete in groups of three (two patrols from other troops) and are awarded "gold nuggets" by each event organizer at their discretion.  They take into account teamwork, sportsmanship and skill in awarding the nuggets.  The nuggets are weighed at the end of the event to determine the winners.  First, second and third in each group, so everyone is a winner.  And to really torment the scouts, the nuggets are gold wrapped candy. 

We spent the last few meetings honing scout skills such as knot tying, fire building and first aid.  The sleds were built years ago and are in very good shape.

Because we weren't camping, we had to travel down to the camp on Friday night for a pre-event meeting.  And of course, there was a small snow storm.  We ended up getting a couple of inches that night with the temperature in the teens.  Me, the scoutmaster, Simple J and the Pudge drove down (on some icy roads) to attend the meeting.  Fortunately, it's only about a ten mile ride.  And it was cold.  I felt sorry for those poor bastards at the meeting that were camping. 

We gathered the boys at our church bright and early at 7:00AM on Saturday morning.  It was a balmy 15 degrees.  Opening ceremonies started at 8:00AM at the camp.  There were probably two dozen or so sleds entered in the event.

As soon as we arrived at camp, the boys got the sleds out of the van and started puling it over to the parade field.  This was sled #2 with a lot of our younger scouts.

 

This was sled #1 with the Pudge (he's the one with the white ski tag on his chest) and the more senior scouts (including Simple J on the far right).



I followed the Pudge's patrol around for the day.  Their first event was the frozen lake crossing.  They had to use materials they packed (rope, staves, etc.) to build a rig that would allow them to take their sled across the "frozen lake" (tarp) with out the sled touching the lake.  The scouts were allow to walk on the lake but it wouldn't support the sled and the scouts at the same time.  They ended up rigging a line between two trees.

The first station was the frozen lake crossing exercise.

Their second event was archery.  Although they all love archery, what made this tough was they had to take their gloves off to shoot.  They did really well in this event.

The second station was the archery range.  That's the Pudge shooting.  He put his first arrow over the dirt backstop. 

The third and final event was the shepherd's sling (think David and Goliath).  They had 30 minutes to sling as many small super balls as they could at a stack of cups.  They received points for each cup they knocked down.  Pretty simple, right?  Two other patrols were in the gaming area the same time as our patrol, and between them they knocked down 4 cups.  But our patrol had a secret weapon - Simple J.  He is a tall, awkward boy that can barely walk, but he knocked down over 20 cups.  It was a good day for him.

The third station was the shepherd's sling.  The camp has a wooden "Fort Apache" type fort and this event was inside the fort.  I'm on the upper level looking down into the fort. 

Here's the fort from the outside (courtesy of the Southern New Jersey Council site).

Lunch Time!  Every scout (and leader) that participates in the Klondike is required to bring a can of soup (tomato or broth based) with them.  All of the cans are dumped into two large pots for the "Commissioner's Soup".  Scouts bring up their cups/bowls/thermal mugs and get their choice of soup - as much as they want.  It's surprisingly good - when you've been standing out in 20 degree weather for 5 hours. 

The boys taking a well deserved rest at lunch time.

One of the small ponds on the reservation.  I thought it unusual that so many ducks were in the water.

Oh My God!  Someone save those poor ducks!  Relax, they're just decoys.

See, the ducks are fine.

After lunch, the boys practiced their wood cutting skills by sawing logs with two-man saws and log splitting with hatchets and axes.  The wood was used for the evening bond fire, which we did not attend.

Then came the final activity of the day - the Iditarod Race.  This is a sled race from the lower parking lot up to the parade field.  It's about a 1/2 mile with about a 40 foot elevation change.  The boys raced in groups of 3.  Sled #1 (the Pudge's) race looked like a scene from Ben Hur or Gladiator.  Their sled runner got caught with another sled, and that sled flipped over, dumping all of it's gear.  One of the other sled's boys got hooked on the side rail of sled #1 and he was dragged several feet.  Fortunately, no one got hurt and sled#1 won the heat.  Sled #2 came in second in their heat.

The boys resting up for the dreaded Iditarod Race.

The boys of sled #1 (on the right) sprinting from the start of the Iditarod race.  I'm actually backpeddling as I'm taking this picture because they came at me so fast.

All said and done, after the nuggets were weighed, both Sled #1 and Sled #2 came away with 2nd place finishes.  A fine effort on a really cold day.  The boys took consolation in the fact that they were going home and the 1st place teams were camping out that night.  The temperature topped out at 27 degrees!

The Pudge and I couldn't stay for the awards ceremony because The Mrs bought tickets to see Heart down in Atlantic City that night.  I got home, showered (and thawed - my feet were frozen) and off we went to AC (no ticket for the Pudge).  And I'm glad we saw the concert.  We had good seats and Ann Wilson sounded great.  They encored with Led Zeppelin's Black Dog and that was a great song to end on.  I slept pretty good by the time we got home - at midnight.  A long day in the Yukon!

Halloween - November 5th?

Well, enough about politics and the total destruction of the American way of life.  Let's talk about Halloween.

With New Jersey still feeling the sting from Hurricane Sandy, Governor Chris Christie moved (by official, executive, double-secret decree) Halloween to Monday, November 5th.  This worked out great for The Pudge and his buddies who work the annual haunted house.  They did their last haunted house on Saturday (November 3rd) and that freed them up to go trick-or-treating.  Even though it was pretty cold, they had a great time.  And I didn't have to go with them - which was a big plus.

Some of the boys you know from past blogs.  Simple J is the Detective, The Pudge is the Standing Ghost (you'll have to take my word on that) and Birch is on the far right (I'm not sure what he was supposed to be).

Supposedly, someone took a video of a stroll through this year's haunted house.  If I can find it, I'll post it.  It was really impressive this year.  They had a midget - for real.  

Hey, Ya Blouse-Wearing Poodle-Walkers - It's the Highland Games - Ach!

The Highland Games - a whole weekend of Groundskeeper Willie imitations, Braveheart yells of "Freedom!", haggis jokes, some Scottish games of skill and - wait for it - catapults!  About every 2 -3 years, our council holds a camporee at one of it's scout reservations to promote the age-old traditions of the Scottish clans - throwing stuff.  This was a weekend camp from Friday night to Sunday morning, with the actual games held all day Saturday. 

The day started with a 6:00AM revelry.  We needed to be up and the troop fed by 7:00AM.  We had hot and cold cereal, fruit and granola bars.  We had 3 patrols entered (the Flaming Eagles, the Phoenix and the Raging Ravens - the boys like fire and anger), each with 5 - 6 scouts.  To even out the skill levels and prevent troops from stacking patrols, the events had 2 classification - heavy weight and light weight.  Boys in high school or above the rank of First Class were considered heavy weight.  We're a young troop and we only had one scout in the heavy weight class.  There were about 18 troops, 35 patrols and over 200 scouts participating.  One troop actually showed up in kilts, which was pretty cool.

Get your Haggis right here! Chopped heart and lungs boiled in a wee sheep's stomach! Tastes as good as it sounds! ~ Groundskeeper Willie

All nice and quiet just before we got the boys up.  It was a balmy 32 degrees!

"It won't last. Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!" ~ Groundskeeper Willie

The games consist of 15 skill stations that each patrol must negotiate.  Most of the skills required throwing something - rocks, stones, cabers, spears, etc. The remaining stations were feats of strength like the tug-of-war or log drag.  And each troop had to host a station and have it set up, ready to go at 7:30AM. Our station was the Hammer Throw. Our scoutmaster made light and heavy "hammers" out of free weights, 1" pipe and clamps. They worked great and I think we had one of the better stations at the event.

We only had 3 adult leaders on this trip, so the scoutmaster and other leader set up and ran our station while I followed the three patrols and hustled them around to make sure they got to the correct station at the right time. A monumental task made more difficult by a bunch of un-prepared troops. When the games officially started at 8:30AM, about a 1/3 of the stations weren't ready or even identified. It was slow going at first.

Here's our station - the Hammer Throw.

The Pudge doing the log throw.  He used a windmill technique that got him the 3rd best distance of the day.

After all of the stations were completed and lunch was eaten (the council's Order of the Arrow group at the camp had a hoagie sale - yea, no cooking!), it was time for the much anticipated Catapult Siege.  The troop actually prepared for this 3 Saturdays in advance of the games by constructing our catapult and trailering it to the camp (allowed by rule).  Also, the catapult had to be constructed of timbers (no dimensional lumber) and lashed together with rope (no mechanical fasteners). 

“"Bonjoooouuuuurrrrrrr yer cheese eatin' surrender monkeys"” ~ Groundskeeper Willie on the French (or other troops in the competition).

The power for the catapult could come from the boys (boys pulling a rope), springs, bungees or counterweights.  We chose to use counterweights and two garage door springs.  The catapult had to throw a full, 2-liter soda bottle as far as possible.

Here we are on the "line" preparing our catapult to lay siege.

Another view of the catapult with ammunition.

“Now we're wasting more energy than Ricky Martin's girlfriend.” ~ Groundskeeper Willie

There were nine catapults in all.  I don't have pictures of them (for the public).  It was an interesting group of engineering marvels.  All different in varying degrees, most not really functional.  After the order was given to commence firing, you could fire as many times as you wanted, tweak the catapult for maximum distance and you would be measured on your longest shot. 

Mid-shot.

The catapult that ended up winning didn't look like much, but it clearly out-distanced the 2nd place winners by a good 30 - 40 feet.  And those 2nd place winners - would be our troop.  We narrowly edged out the 3rd place winners (and a rival cross-town troop at that) with an unofficial distance of about 50 feet.  Doesn't sound like much, but it was good enough that day.  

"Come on ya pansies, I've seen fiercer fights in parliament." ~ Groundskeeper Willie

The camp provided a dinner of chicken, pulled pork, ham and ziti (guid Scottish fare), so no cooking again.   Unfortunately, we couldn't have a camp fire because of drought and fire restrictions, so we had a camp-wide meeting under the large pavilion for the awards.  Out of a possible 45 ribbons in the lightweight class (15 games, 1st, 2nd and 3rd places), our patrols took home 15 ribbons.  Most by the Flaming Eagles (9, I think), the rest by the Phoenixes (Phoenii? - we always have this discussion) with the Raging Ravens getting skunked.  But the one that really mattered to us, the catapult siege 2nd place ribbon, was truly a troop effort and currently hangs from the troop flag pole.  Not bad for our first time in the Highlands. 

The boys after a very long competition and guid dey (good day).

Groundskeeper Willie: I'll bring those kids back dead or alive!
Skinner: Not DEAD!
Groundskeeper Willie: Aw, you never let Willie be Willie!

Boys Shouting* - Neckerchief Slide Conclusion

* - A nod to Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna.  Anyone remember that sketch?  Well, I sure do.

Way back in January, I told you all about my quest to get the troop to Class "A" status with their uniforms by ensuring that all of the boys had neckerchief slides.  To that end I think I was successful, although, like most eveything I do, it turned into a much larger project than it should have been.

In addition to the troop, we hosted not one, but two Webelos Dens that were ready to "cross-over" to the Boy Scouts and were checking out our troop (boys age out of Webelos at 11 years old and have the option of choosing a boy scout troop in which to transfer or leaving the scouting program). 

Most of the scouts (the best I could hope for) were well behaved, attentive and brought interesting and unusual items to be made into neckerchief slides.  I had over 50 blank slides in black, green and brown (black being the favorite) that I had pre-made during the weeks leading to the neckerchief slide nights.  I say "nights" because of scheduling problems (on the part of the Webelo leaders) we actually had 3 neckerchief slide nights.  Here are some of the highlights.

Turns out that Mr. Kill was the only one to get burned with the hot glue gun.

A hamburger eraser with the scout's initials.  You could see that if this was any where close to in focus.  The Boy (now an Assistant Scout Master) was here this night taking the pictures, so I am blameless for these.

This was a popular slide.

I don't know what to say about the one on the left with the teddy bear.  The one on the right is some kind of video game symbol with guns, which was kind of cool.  One Webelo brought his grandfather's  lieutenant's bars.  We didn't let him use those.

I wasn't sure about a British Flag on an American Scout uniform.  The scout in question knew that Sir Baden Powell, founder of American Boy Scouts, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army.  How do I argue with that?

This is The Pudge's slide.  You may recognize the guitar pick from our concert a few years ago.  Several other scouts used guitar picks too.

Last but not least, Mr. Kill's slide.  Believe it or not, this is a stone from the Roman Colosseum that I "acquired" some 25 years ago on my one and only visit to Rome.  The boys thought that was pretty cool.