2021 Klondike a Success! (In spite of the wind)

 

The 2021 Old Ephraim Klondike Derby was a huge success in spite of the bitter, cold arctic
wind that blew most of the day on Saturday. A total of 13 troops, including two girl troops, participated in this year's derby. Nearly 100 youth participated (99 to be exact) and nearly 50 adult leaders were there as well.

Almost all of the troops camped Friday night, mostly in snow trenches, but there were a few snow caves and tents as well. Fortunately the wind didn't blow as much in the camping area and it snowed a little all night long so everyone was able to sleep warm and cozy. 

Activities on Saturday included searching for a person (which looked a lot like a bag of candy) after an avalanche, lighting fires with just two boards, a cotton ball, some petroleum jelly and a few ashes, and putting together a personal first aid kit. The ROTC unit from Utah State University helped man many of the stations and even demonstrated a flame thrower. For more great photos of the entire event you can click here. There is also a 13 minute video of the activities on Saturday (a snippet of the video is at the end of this blog). The photos and the video were all recorded and shared by Michael Gordon.

Of course, the days events were capped off by the traditional Klondike sled race. The course this year was much longer than the past so troops weren't required to have a rider on the sled, but they still appeared exhausted by the end of the course. Kudos to everyone that was there for surviving the wind all day!

A big thanks to Paul Harris and his volunteers, the USU ROTC cadets and of course all of the scouts and their leaders for making this event a big success.  Also thanks to the US Forest Service for allowing us to hold the event at Sunrise Campground and thanks to UDOT for allowing us to use the Bear Lake Overlook parking area and restroom. We will see everyone again next year!

Meet Troop 1

 Scouts BSA Troop 1 in Logan is the oldest Troop west of the Mississippi.  For our 2021 summer camp we will be at Camp Tifie June 14-19th and of course we will have other campouts, hikes, and service projects.  Typically we plan an annual high-adventure trip two years in advance, and hold fundraisers to help defray costs.  Some of our past trips include treks at Philmont, canoe trips in the Boundary Waters, camping exchanges with a Troop in England, hiking the Uinta crest, float trip through Desolation Canyon, rappelling at City of the Rocks, and exploring Canyonlands.  

We have had at least one Eagle Scout completion every year since 1984 (127 total).  Our Scoutmaster has four Assistant Scoutmasters plus an active Troop Committee with nine committee members.  We serve Scouts of all denominations. We use the patrol method designed by the founder of Scouting, Lord Baden-Powell.

To join in the fun with Troop 1, contact Committee Chair Andy Hofmeister, 435-770-8180 or purplevwpeople@gmail.com.  For a great experience for younger boys in Cub Pack 1, contact Committee Chair Jackie Hendrickson 801-854-8463 or beareverest@gmail.com.

The District Membership Committee is Ready to Serve You!

 

The district membership committee is busy helping units in all phases of Scouting retain and grow their membership. At this writing, the committee has three members.  Kim Hawkes, who lives in North Logan, is serving as our New Unit Organizer; Opal Jenks, who lives in Perry, is serving as our Webelos-to-Scouts BSA Transition Chair; and Darwin Sorensen, who lives in North Logan, is the Committee Chair. We are hoping to add a New Cub Scout Event Coordinator and a Scouts-to-Venturing Transition Chair in the near future. A district membership plan for 2021 has been prepared. The plan will be modified as new committee members are added and they prepare plans for their work and as the needs of units are recognized throughout the year.  Our year-round objectives include: populate pins for BeAScout.org, make sales calls for prospective chartered organizations, help new units organize, recruit leaders, and assure that families find units. We want to grow new Cub Scout Packs by 4 and add 276 new youth to the district enrollment this year. We will also encourage having a New Member Coordinator in each unit's committee. These are ambitious goals and we will be very grateful for every Scout leader and every youth who helps recruit members and leaders. We are delighted that Cub Scout Pack 30, in Preston, has chartered and will be the first new pack in our district in 2021.

We will be  building and employing a district Save-a-Scout taskforce to contact dropped Scouting families over the next several weeks.  If you would like to help with this effort, please contact Darwin Sorensen at 435-760-4148 or darjo3@comcast.net.

We hope that all adult leaders in our district, both at the unit and district levels, were able to access and learn from the Crossroads of the West Council's Membership Webinar that was held the evening of January 27th.  If you would like to view or review this information-rich and helpful webinar, it can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e1C3NUErxg&feature=youtu.be.

Thanks for helping Scouting Grow!