Recap of 2007 Mountain Man Rendezvous
Posted by scout_master on October 24th, 2007 filed in Outings, 2007 Fall
Here’s an email from Mark Christopherson, the Troop 57 ASM outing leader at the 2007 Mountain Man Rendezvous.
Hi Dave,
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.”
Some of the boys cooked their lunch over an open fire to earn that requirement for Second Class while the rest snacked on sack lunched from home. Dinner was Hobo Stew and each Scout and adult had to fashion their own foil pouch and fill to taste with hamburger, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, carrots, etc. After about 30-40 minutes over the coals, we had our feast. Most of our party pronounced dinner as a success; although, a few struggled with keeping their pouch well-sealed and had a somewhat drier evening repast!
We then spent the evening at a camp-wide campfire with a very talented folk singer/guitarist and a cowboy singer. Any songs about “road kill” or dismemberment were particularly well-enjoyed by the boys, while the standards like Blowin’ in the Wind and Puff the Magic Dragon were better aimed at an older (much older) audience. After the long day, some Olympic-caliber log rolling sapped the rest of the group’s energy and it was lights out.
Our breakfast was a mixture of bear claw pastries, bacon, oatmeal and any leftovers. We quickly struck camp and headed down the mountain in time to get the first year Scouts back to Palo Alto in plenty of time for their Skill Session.
Next year will be the 20th Mountain Man Rendezvous and they hope to make it even better.
Regards,
Mark Christopherson
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