We had a great trip, but we didn’t bring any camera equipment so I’ll have to write about our experiences instead of show pictures.

Troop Guide Steven Wilbourn did a great job of leading the outing and was ably assisted by Patrol Guides Scotty McComas and Grant Harmon.  We had four drivers (John Crouch, Kien Vi and Howard Look plus me) taking up 14 Scouts so our ratio of adults to kids was also excellent.

The Mountain Man staff at the Boulder Creek camp was expecting 400 Scouts for the Rendezvous (the camp is supposed to hold 300) so they were very meticulous about a tightly packed parking lot and filling the lower campsites first with Weblos and first years.  We were set up in Cubland on Friday night and if you recall that area it is like a sloping football field.  It was filled with a sea of nylon tents and we all shared the covered pavilion with picnic tables for meals.  Naturally, making fire and playing in the fire ring consumed most of that evening and everything was pretty loud and crazy.  But a well-timed rain at just after 10 PM chased everyone into their tents and quickly to sleep.

The morning broke with a slight overcast and quickly burned off to blue skies and perfect temperatures.  Breakfast was dollar pancakes, sausages, oranges, and hot chocolate.  (I forgot coffee for the adults and we searched in vain for the Mountain Man Starbucks!).  We met for a camp wide Flag ceremony and then spent the day going to the various Mountain Man exhibits.  They had Black powder rifles, archery, tomahawk/knife throwing, Dutch-oven cooking, Indian Lore, Spanish vacqueros, candle making, blacksmithing, flint & steel firestarting, panning for real gold, rope-making, and a number of other old-time set-ups.  The volunteers were dressed in period costumes and did an outstanding job of keeping things moving so the throng of boys could get to as many activities as possible.  There was also a trading post where boys could buy “assorted trinkets & mercantile.”