|
Troop 783 History
Rolling Hills United Methodist Church was founded in 1960 and moved to its
current location on Crenshaw Blvd. in 1964. As an outreach to the
community, church leaders decided to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop, and Troop
783 was chartered in 1965. Since that time, hundreds of boys have had the
opportunity to participate in outdoor and community activities. Many of
these activities outlined in the Troop history below. The Troop has had
several Scouts earn the rank of Eagle, the highest level of achievement in
Scouting.
1988 – 1989:
The Scoutmaster was Ray Bonesteele. The Assistant Scoutmaster was Darren
Roberts. The Troop had about 10 Scouts, 7 of whom became Eagle Scouts
(Lionel and Leon Rodriguez, Mark Springer, Mike Walters, David Steadham,
Casey Overcamp and Brandon Long). The Troop met at the Rolling Hills
United Methodist Church (RHUMC) at the corner of Palos Verdes Drive North
and Crenshaw Boulevard. With so few Scouts things were handled with
considerably less organization than became required just three years
later. For example, on the annual (at that time) Memorial Day weekend
trip to Havasu, parents drove the backpackers to Kingman, Arizona, and
spent Thursday night in a motel. On Friday morning they had breakfast at
Denny’s in Kingman, then drove to the trailhead, parked and started the
hike. On the trip home they drove back as soon as everyone made it to the
parking lot. As preparation for the Havasu trip, every Scout had to prove
his fitness by carrying a fully loaded backpack from Del Cerro park (near
the top of Crenshaw Boulevard) south down the trail to the gate at Palos
Verdes Drive South (near the site of the former Marineland) and back up to
Del Cerro park. The only other event was the night the Troop came to
Soleado School and built a tower using wooden staves and lashings as a
demonstration of Scout skills for Cub Scout Pack 955.
1989 - 1990:
The Troop almost doubled in size when a group of about 10 boys from Pack
955 all joined in September. Ray Bonesteele and Darren Roberts remained
in their leadership positions. The Troop went to Havasu again over
Memorial Day weekend. In the Spring the Troop invited the Webelos from
Pack 955 to a weekend camp out at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. The Scouts
stayed in tents and participated in workshops held at the Scout Center at
Cabrillo Beach. It was an effective recruiting method as many of the
Webelos subsequently joined the troop.
1990 – 1991:
The Troop membership swelled to nearly 30 when about 10 former Cub Scouts
from Pack 955 at Soleado and a Pack that met at Vista Grande joined in
September. Ray Bonesteele and Darren Roberts remained in their leadership
positions. They attempted to get parents to coordinate one activity each
during the year. The Troop Committee Chairman was Jim Overcamp. Parents
meetings were held the first Monday of the month to review the calendar
and address other items of importance. Jim Overcamp chaired these
meetings and found parents to volunteer whenever extra help was needed.
Activities included a camp out at Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach which
was an easy way to get the new Scouts acclimated to camping. In November
the Troop attempted an overnight backpack to Tamarack Valley above Palm
Springs. The weather turned cold and windy, and the decision was made to
come home Saturday night. The group made a forced march to the tram
station and got the last ride back to the parking lot. Annual events
included the Scout Swim Meet at Chadwick School in September, Scout Skills
Field Day at Harbor Park in February and the Pancake Breakfast at Ernie
Howlett Park in May. Also in February the Troop participated in the
Morning Prayer service at RHUMC to observe the national Scout Sunday
program. Over Memorial Day weekend the troop once again went to Havasu.
For summer camp the Troop went to Camp Emerald Bay on Santa Catalina
Island (which I believe was another annual tradition of many years
standing). Early in the summer, Herb Raymond (father of Dan Raymond, who
later became an Eagle Scout) organized a backpack to Convict Lake in the
Sierras. There was a lot of rain that year, and the rivers were much
higher than normal. It was a rugged hike with at least one treacherous
river crossing. People talked about the difficulty of this hike for years
afterwards.
1991 – 1992:
Troop membership continued to expand, reaching around 40 scouts this
year. Ray Bonesteele and Darren Roberts swapped leadership positions,
Darren becoming the Scoutmaster and Ray becoming an assistant. The Fall
Court of Honor was held at Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach. It involved
a potluck dinner at picnic tables near the entrance and then a bonfire at
the amphitheater. There appeared to be a tradition of having the senior
patrol light the bonfire in some novel way. That year they attempted to
send a flaming arrow on a wire from the top of the amphitheater into the
pile of wood. Unfortunately the arrow kept sticking on the wire. In
November the Troop went car camping at Joshua Tree National Monument over
the three-day Veteran’s Day weekend. The main activities were rock
climbing (“bouldering”), rappelling, stargazing and telling stories around
the campfire. Rob Sherwin (whose son Chris later became an Eagle Scout)
brought a telescope and located various obscure astral phenomena. At that
time the Park Service was not terribly concerned with safety, so we set up
our own ropes for rappelling, under the guidance of Jae Kim (whose son Sul-mo
later became an Eagle Scout). Jae was an experienced mountain climber, or
so he told us. Annual events once again included the Scout Swim Meet at
Chadwick School in September and Scout Skills Field Day at Harbor Park in
February. In March, some of the scouts participated in a ceremony during
which Harbor Park was renamed for Ken Malloy, who had been instrumental in
its establishment. The Troop also participated in Scout Sunday in
February and the Pancake Breakfast at Ernie Howlett Park in May, cooking
and serving food as well as building a tower using, what else, wooden
staves and lashings. For the Memorial Day weekend backpack, the Troop
decided to try canoeing on the Colorado River. Bob Hamaguchi, one of the
Assistant Scoutmasters, organized the trip, which was very popular, but
unfortunately it was never repeated. We drove the boys in cars and trucks
to Nevada on Thursday night and tented at a sandy campsite. In the
morning we picked up the canoes and finally got everyone in the canoes and
on the water by about 10:30. Bob Hamaguchi trailed the paddlers in a
small powerboat. The support crew of Lynnette Overcamp, Steve Sperry and
Doug Kennedy spent most of the day shuttling the cars to a campsite
downstream in California. Friday night a few more Scouts and parents
arrived by car and truck. Saturday the expanded group continued down the
river in canoes to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. This leg turned out to be
quite long, and the Scouts were too exhausted to prepare dinner by the
time they arrived. We ended up at Pizza Hut instead. We drove back to
Los Angeles on Sunday. The Scouts were still so tired that they really
didn’t say much for most of the ride home. We stopped in Barstow for a
picnic lunch on the way home, using a map to pick out a park somewhere in
the city. I should note that Bob Hamaguchi did an abbreviated practice run
of the canoe trip before Memorial Day with the Venture Scouts. At around
this time the Troop leadership decided to offer extra, more challenging
events for the older Scouts, in an attempt to keep them interested in
Scouting. Although there is a “Ventures” program in Scouting, our program
did not conform to those rules. In our program any Scout who had reached
the rank of Star was invited to attend whatever activities the group
agreed on. This was an excellent idea, but the older Scouts typically
were too busy to put more time into Scouting. Also, most of their
suggested activities (e.g., paint ball wars) were on the prohibited list
per Boy Scouts of America. Summer Camp was again at Emerald Bay. Later in
the summer a small group of Scouts and dads went backpacking in the
Sierras. Herb Raymond organized the trip.
1992 – 1993:
More Scouts joined the troop bringing the total membership to about 45.
Darren Roberts remained as Scoutmaster and Ray Bonesteele continued as his
primary assistant. The Fall Court of Honor was again held at Wilderness
Park in Redondo Beach. The potluck dinner evolved into El Pollo Loco
take-out followed by a bonfire at the amphitheater. This year, the
bonfire was started “magically” by use of a battery wired to some sort of
flammable device in the middle of the woodpile. Annual events once again
included the Scout Swim Meet at Chadwick School in September, Scout Sunday
in February, Scout Skills Field Day at Harbor Park in February and the
Pancake Breakfast at Ernie Howlett Park in May. In November the Ventures
Scouts went to a high ropes course near Lake Arrowhead. The day consisted
of various team-building exercises and culminated in an afternoon spent
walking on cables stretched between trees and jumping off a telephone
pole. It was scary but not overly dangerous as we were always securely
tethered. It was a thrilling experience and has since become a popular
event for business teams. For the Memorial Day weekend backpack, the Troop
opted to return to Havasu. It was at about this time that the policy of
alternating between Havasu and somewhere else was established. For the
training hike before Havasu, we chose to hike from Mt. Wilson to Spruce
Grove on a Saturday, camp at the Spruce Grove campground and hike back to
the top of Mt. Wilson on Sunday. The trail is only 3 miles each way, but
it approaches vertical at the top of Mt. Wilson. Moreover, there is
poison oak beside much of the trail. Mountain bikers use the trail in
both directions, and Spruce Grove is something of a crossroads for hikers
in that part of the Angeles National Forest. On the positive side, the
scenery is magnificent, the trail runs through three different climate
zones and the campground is beside a small running stream. The stream was
dammed up in several places many years ago, but nature has rebounded
sufficiently that it is a very attractive area. The main function of the
dams today appears to be the provision of a dangerous place for the
younger scouts to play. A short hike downstream leads to Sturtevant
Falls, a 50-foot waterfall that attracts a fair number of visitors who
hike up from the road below. As far as I know, Steve Sperry is the only
one from the Troop who has ever hiked this extra distance from Spruce
Grove. The Havasu trip became so popular that we chartered a bus to avoid
the long drive by the parents. Overall the cost increase was quite small
as much of the bus rental was offset by deleting the night in the motel.
The bus ride was a huge hit due to the continuous movies played on the
VCR. We left on Thursday evening, stopped in Barstow at In-N-Out Burger
for a late night snack, and arrived at Denny’s in Kingman at about 3 AM
for breakfast. Another 2 hours in the bus got us to the trailhead just
after dawn on Friday for our hike. The hike starts in a parking lot at
the top of a cliff overlooking a canyon. The trail winds down the canyon
wall through a series of switchbacks. After the first mile the trail
flattens out and proceeds slowly down another 7 miles to the Havasupai
Indian village. When things are going well it is possible to purchase
iced beverages in the village. Another couple of miles took us by Navajo
Falls and Havasu Falls and finally to the campsite. About a mile further
down stream is the amazing Mooney Falls, accessible by a series of steps
and tunnels cut into the cliff wall. Saturday was supposed to be a rest
day, but Rob Sherwin, Craig Weston (a friend of Jim Armor – more about Jim
later – who joined us for the trip) and I hiked down to the Colorado
River, just to see it. We grossly underestimated the length of the hike
(maybe 8 miles each way), the time required to hike it (about nine hours,
including a 45 minute stay at the river) and the amount of water we would
need (at least 2 quarts each). Advice to future hikers is to bring a
water purifier, since the whole hike is along the Havasu River. Sunday we
hiked out of the canyon, jumped on the bus and headed for Los Angeles.
Unfortunately the toilet malfunctioned, necessitating our keeping the
windows open, and the bus overheated, requiring us to use our precious ice
water to refill the radiator. Worst was the continuous blare of the
television monitors, leading to a new Troop policy mandating a minimum
ten-minute break between movies. Later that summer a group of 5 Scouts and
their dads backpacked to Paradise Valley, along the Kings River. Paradise
Valley is a stunningly beautiful place in the Western Sierras. The hike
was arduous and exposed in places, but well worth it. The trail is a
larger loop that would be ideal for a long-term backpack. On the drive
home we visited Sequoia National Park, although I am sad to say we had to
pry the Scouts away from the VCR in Doug Mittlestaedt’s van or they would
have skipped viewing the trees. Summer camp was at Emerald Bay on Santa
Catalina Island. That summer, as part of an Eagle Scout project, we
conducted a summer scouting program. The troop met on Tuesday’s as usual,
but principally the scouts worked on merit badges. I thought it was a
remarkably effective program, but it pretty much used up the last
remaining reserves of energy held by Ray Bonesteele and Darren Roberts,
both of whom stepped down in August. They recommended we never do such a
thing again.
1993 – 1994:
The first order of business was the selection of a new Scoutmaster. Jim
Armor (whose son Jimmy became an Eagle Scout) volunteered and Steve Sperry
(whose son Andrew became an Eagle Scout) agreed to be the primary
Assistant Scoutmaster. It was at about this same time that Herb Raymond
became the new Troop Committee Chairman. Herb started another “tradition”
when he invited several of the more active parents to a meeting in August
where we planned out the basic calendar. Once the essential framework was
in place, the fine-tuning was done at the monthly parents meetings. Troop
membership remained at the 40 to 45 Scout level. As usual we started the
year with the Scout swim meet in September at Chadwick school. The Fall
Court of Honor was again held at Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach, with a
potluck dinner and a bonfire at the amphitheater. Other annual events
included Scout Sunday in February, Scout Skills Field Day at Harbor Park
in February and the Pancake Breakfast at Ernie Howlett Park in May. In
early November the Troop went to Tamarack Valley (above Palm Springs) for
an overnight. We drove to Palm Springs and rode the tram to the top of
Mt. San Jacinto. We hiked about three miles, mostly up, to the campsite.
Around noon on Saturday, thinking we were near the intended campsite, I
sent two Scouts ahead to locate the site. After ten minutes they had not
returned, but we could hear noises of human origin (rocks and large sticks
being thrown) from their direction. It turns out they had found the
campsite but didn’t bother to come back to tell us. They explained that
they knew we wouldn’t wait forever, so they just set about amusing
themselves. Otherwise the campout was notable for three things. First,
there was a beehive in a decaying log near our camp. The Scouts felt
compelled to throw rocks at the hive to see the bees swarm around looking
for predators. The only Scout to suffer a bee sting was Nick Stahl –
perhaps the first time, but by no means the last, that Nick took the fall
for someone else’s mischief. Second, that night coyotes surrounded our
campsite and howled repeatedly. It was a Jack London sort of moment.
Finally, it got so cold overnight that on Sunday morning the adults were
falling over each other to get some instant oatmeal – an item that
Saturday afternoon no one could understand why we had brought at all. It
was still chilly at the tram stop when we arrived there a bit before noon
on Sunday. But down in Palm Springs it was in the eighties. Being a non-Havasu
year, we originally planned to do the canoe trip again. When no one
volunteered to organize the trip, we decided to take a bus trip to Zion
National Park in Utah. We left on Thursday evening, drove all night and
arrived outside the southern entrance to Zion about dawn Friday. We ate
breakfast at a restaurant just outside the gates, then set up our camp
inside the park. Friday afternoon we rode the bus up to the north end of
the park and hiked about a mile up the Virgin River toward the narrows.
Saturday we rode the bus over to an eastern spot and hiked about 11 miles
back into the main canyon. The variety of rock formations and foliage was
astounding. Unfortunately, it was also very hot, and there was no potable
water on the trail. To compound matters, no one had brought water
purifiers and so the hike turned into an ordeal. At its conclusion back
at Zion lodge, the dads were all ecstatic about the beauty of the hike and
the Scouts were all extremely upset over the heat, the lack of water and
the overall pointlessness of hiking for the sake of hiking. At night Jim
Armor showed us that for two or three hours after dark it is possible to
locate satellites in the sky. Most satellites orbit 200 or more miles
above the surface of the earth. As a result, while it is already dark on
the surface, there is still sunlight where the satellites are. They look
like stars, except they move quickly from west to east, then appear to
“blink out” when they finally pass into the Earth’s shadow. Occasionally
we would see a polar orbiter, which travels from north to south. If I
hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it. This year we broke with the
tradition of attending summer camp at Emerald Bay. It was announced in
late 1993 that the owner of Emerald Bay was going to convert it to some
kind of tourist site. Every Scout Troop in Los Angeles suddenly had to
find a new summer camp. Local options booked up quickly, forcing us to
widen our search considerably. We eventually decided on Camp Kern, which
is near the Sierras, two or three hours north of Bakersfield. The Troop
rented two Econoline vans to haul about 20 scouts up to the camp. It
turned out to be wildly successful, leading to a new tradition of
alternating between Camp Kern and Emerald Bay for summer camp.
Interestingly the public outcry was sufficient to pressure the owner into
renewing the lease on Emerald Bay with the Boy Scouts.
1994 – 1995:
Again we needed a new leader, and Mike Garcia (whose son Grant later
became an Eagle Scout) volunteered to be Scoutmaster. Steve Sperry
continued as the primary Assistant Scoutmaster. Troop membership remained
at the 40 to 45 Scout level. Once again we started the year with the
Scout swim meet in September at Chadwick school. The Fall Court of Honor
was again held at Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach, with a potluck dinner
and a bonfire at the amphitheater. Other annual events included Scout
Sunday in February, Scout Skills Field Day at Harbor Park in February and
the Pancake Breakfast at Ernie Howlett Park in May. In planning for the
year, we tried something a little different. Jim Armor had recognized
back in February that we could use Field Day as motivation to encourage
the Scouts to master the fundamentals of Scouting. With the concept of
preparing every Scout in the Troop to earn the Block E at Field Day, we
laid out a month by month plan to cover all the fundamentals. In November
we backpacked to Cooper Canyon in the Angeles National Forest. It snowed
early that year and we arrived at the trailhead to find about a foot of
snow covering pretty much everything. Undaunted, we plunged ahead with
the hike and campout. Once again we made several mistakes. Our “map” was
a fifth-generation photocopy with a heavy highlighter stripe denoting the
trail. Unfortunately the actual trail line had been obliterated, leading
us to believe the hike was about one-third of its actual distance.
Although some of the scouts and dads had been on the trail before, none of
us had seen it in the snow. We staggered into camp at dusk, scrambling to
find enough wood to sustain a large fire. In the morning we discovered
that the newspaper fire-starter, which had been left out overnight, was
just damp enough to prevent it from really catching fire. Several of us
were approaching hypothermia by the time we got the fire going. In March
we traveled to Santa Catalina for an overnight backpack. There had been
considerable rain that spring, and the island was greener than any of the
adults could remember. We took the high-speed ferry to Two Harbors, hiked
by the “bump gate” and the buffalo corrals to Little Harbor where we
camped out. Our campsite was a bit mushy as a result of the recent
rains. On Sunday we hiked back to Two Harbors and caught the ferry home.
In an attempt to interest the scouts in hiking as opposed to backpacking,
we scheduled a few day-hikes this year. One was to Solstice Canyon in
Malibu. This hike was quite interesting, as the first half is along a
stream and has the feel of an eastern forest. The second half of the hike
was at higher elevation through typical West Coast chaparral. Being a
Havasu year, we did the Mt. Wilson to Spruce Grove backpack. At Havasu I
again hiked to the Colorado River, this time with Phil Belleville, who is
Mike Garcia’s father-in-law. For summer camp the scouts returned to
Emerald Bay.
1995 – 1996:
Mike Garcia remained as Scoutmaster with Steve Sperry as his primary
assistant. Steve Freije (whose son Kenneth later became an Eagle Scout)
and Joe Arroyo became Assistant Scoutmasters. The scout membership was
still around 40 although it fell a bit during the year. Once again we
started the year with the Scout swim meet in September at Chadwick school
followed by the Fall Court of Honor at Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach.
Other annual events included Scout Sunday in February, Scout Skills Field
Day at Harbor Park in February and the Pancake Breakfast at Ernie Howlett
Park in May. During the year we scheduled a series of hikes around the
Palos Verdes Peninsula. There is a 20-mile loop trail that (almost)
circles the peninsula, and over a two year period Steve Sperry and Lyle
managed to hike the whole thing. It is a remarkable trail, covering
multiple climate zones (forested canyons, chaparral, and cliffs
overlooking tide pools). It links well-known peninsula sites such as
Ernie Howlett Park, the Little League field at Dapplegray School and the
reservoir. It is also poorly maintained, impassable in places and
frequently shares horse trails much to the consternation of the horse
riders. In January we managed to squeeze in a Ventures activity. The
older Scouts went to a climbing wall on a Sunday afternoon. There are a
few of these around, including one at REI, which is now located in
Manhattan Beach. In March we returned to Santa Catalina Island, repeating
the Two Harbors to Little Harbor hike. This was the year of the
moon-sized comet, which was strikingly visible from the Little Harbor
campsite. With a ridge blocking the ambient nighttime light from Los
Angeles, the comet and its amazing tail became increasingly bright as the
night wore on. In April the troop did a training backpack in the San
Gabriel Mountains. We started at a parking lot off the Angeles Crest
Highway near the Switzer picnic area. The trail goes past Switzer Falls
and then angles left up Bear Canyon, alongside a creek. The Bear Canyon
campsite is about 2 miles up the creek. On Sunday we continued up the
creek, eventually scaling a ridge and coming out on a fire road that
skirts San Gabriel Peak and intersects the road into Mount Wilson at Eaton
Saddle. On Saturday evening we were approached in the campsite by a young
man and woman who were obviously lost. They had been to Switzer Falls and
then had taken the wrong trail, ending up at our campsite instead of their
car back near the picnic area. They had little water and no map, food,
flashlight, compass or extra clothing. We gave them water and a map and
pointed them in the right direction. They had about 2 hours of daylight
to get back to the parking area, which was just enough if they didn’t take
any more wrong turns. The dads speculated that night about whether we
would hear about search parties in the news the next day. Early in May we
set up a Ventures hike to the top of Mount San Antonio (“Old Baldy”). In
order to get an early start on the hike we drove out Friday night and
camped near the trailhead. Only one Scout, future Eagle Sul-Mo Kim,
attended along with three adults (Mike Garcia, Phil Belleville and Steve
Sperry). It was a rigorous climb, taking about 4 hours to cover the 4
miles to the peak. There was snow circling the top of the mountain,
although the peak itself was bare and rocky. We found a surprising number
of people on the top, although they all left abruptly about 15 minutes
after our arrival. We took a longer route down and stopped at the ski
lodge for a cool drink along the way. Every time it is clear enough to
see Mt. Baldy I think about the day we climbed to the top. This was a non-Havasu
year, so we chose Escalante in Utah for the Memorial Day weekend
backpack. Braving snow and wading much of the time through a stream, the
backpack was quite successful. Unfortunately, several of the hikers ended
up with severe cases of poison ivy, apparently due to poison ivy plants in
a tributary to the stream. Summer camp was back at Camp Kern.
1996 – 1997:
Mike Garcia remained as Scoutmaster with Steve Sperry, Steve Freije and
Joe Arroyo the Assistant Scoutmasters. Jot Hollenbeck took over as the
Committee Chairman. The Scout membership hovered around 40, although the
number of active scouts was somewhat lower than that. Once again we
started the year with the Scout swim meet in September at Chadwick school
followed by the Fall Court of Honor at Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach.
Other annual events included Scout Sunday in February, Scout Skills Field
Day at Harbor Park in February and the Pancake Breakfast at Ernie Howlett
Park in May. In October the troop went to Tamarack Valley for an overnight
backpack. Another annual event is the theme park outing the Saturday
before Christmas. That Saturday is generally the day after school ends
for the holidays, and the Scouts enjoy going to Magic Mountain. Some
years they have gone to Disneyland instead. In March we tried a new place,
Leo Carrillo State Beach which about half way to Santa Barbara. Although
it is possible to car camp there, we chose to park about 3 miles away in
the hills above the campground and backpack into the park. We then stayed
overnight in the hiker-biker section. During the day on Saturday we went
over to the beach (a 5-minute walk from the campsite). Some of the Scouts
surfed while others played touch football on the beach. It was a
thoroughly enjoyable day. On Sunday we hiked back up to the cars. This
was the beginning of our training regime for the Philmont trek in August.
In April we went to Santa Catalina Island for an overnight backpack. This
time we tried a different campground, Parson’s Landing, which is north of
Two Harbors. The hike is more interesting than the hike to Little Harbor,
but the campground is not nearly as appealing. It is near the shore, with
lots of sand and rocks. There was another comet visible at that time, but
the cloud cover obscured it on Saturday night. Jot Hollenbeck sailed his
sailboat over to Catalina and met us at Parson’s Landing. More accurately
he brought his dinghy up on the beach, as Parson’s Landing has no pier or
dock of any kind for landing larger vessels. Late in April we went to Bear
Canyon again as a preparation hike for Havasu. Unfortunately, this time a
few things went wrong. One of the Scouts put an unopened can of beans in
the fire. The can exploded with a nearly deafening sound. Fortunately
the closest anyone came to being injured was one Scout who was sprayed
with a couple of hot beans. No one ever admitted to putting the can in
the fire, but some remedial safety instruction took place afterward. Then
the next day we discovered that three of the cars parked at Eaton Saddle
had been vandalized overnight. No perpetrators were ever found. For the
Havasu trip we again took the bus and followed the standard plan. On the
“rest day” no one wanted to hike down to the Colorado River, so we spent
the day touring the three waterfalls near our campsite. Late on Saturday
Grant Garcia accidentally stabbed himself in the leg with his “Leatherman”
knife. This knife is essentially a block of metal about the size of a
man’s pocket comb. Fortunately the blade is only a couple of inches
long. Mike Garcia used a couple of butterfly bandages to close the wound,
and the next day Grant hiked out. We kept him near the adults for most of
the hike, just in case he ran into trouble. As it turned out these
precautions were unnecessary as Grant ultimately beat all of the parents
to the top. We scheduled a Sierra backpack in July, as further preparation
for our trek to Philmont in August. This time we went to Woodchuck Lake,
which is at the conclusion of a very rugged hike above Wishon Reservoir.
We left on a Thursday and drove to Kings Canyon campground for a night of
car camping. On Friday we drove to Wishon reservoir and started the
actual backpack. Although all of the hikes in the Sierras I attended were
difficult, this was truly the toughest of them all. Most of the other
people we saw on the hike were on horseback. We ended up stopping the
first night an hour or two short of our intended destination. Then on
Saturday we continued up the mountain to Woodchuck Lake, where we stopped
for lunch. We continued back down a different trail to Chimney Lake where
we spent Saturday night. On the trail there was a point from which we
could see Mount Whitney. The campsite at Chimney Lake was as beautiful a
place as I have ever seen. It made the whole experience worthwhile.
There was good trout fishing in the lake, and several of the scouts caught
impressive sized fish. We had talked about going to Philmont for several
years. It is not easy to reserve a trek at Philmont, so the beginning of
the trip actually occurred about a year and a half earlier when Steve
Freije made telephone contact on the one morning that reservations are
accepted. In the intervening time we signed up 4 adults (Steve Freije,
Mike Garcia, Joe Arroyo and Steve Sperry) and 10 Scouts (Kenneth Freije,
Grant Garcia, Anthony Arroyo, Andrew Sperry, Sul-Mo Kim, Farhad Sachinvala,
Neal Dodson, Colin Robinson, Justin Go and Roger Hollenbeck), made travel
arrangements, selected a hiking route at Philmont, and engaged in a
variety of training exercises. Our departure date was August 1st.
The plan was to fly Southwest Airlines from LAX to Albuquerque, then
charter a small bus to Santa Fe for some sightseeing and shopping. Then
we would ride on to Philmont for an evening arrival. The Scouts were
instructed to be at the airport by 6:30 AM because if we missed the flight
the whole trip would be threatened. Remarkably everyone was on time and
we checked our packs to Albuquerque. After that everything changed. None
of us had flown on Southwest before so we didn’t realize that we needed to
obtain boarding passes at the gate until there were only 2 seats left on
the plane. We quickly shifted to Plan B by boarding buses to Burbank
Airport and flying to Phoenix, then on to Albuquerque. The charter bus
driver met us in Albuquerque, and we got back on track, although several
hours late. At Philmont we endured a day and a half of training, medical
inspection, an opening bonfire and cafeteria food. Finally we started our
trek, number 26, the toughest they offer. Over the next 11 days we scaled
New Mexico’s version of Mount Baldy (over 12 thousand feet), Mount Philips
(over 11 thousand feet) and several peaks above 10 thousand feet. In fact
we hiked over passes that were above 10 thousand feet! There are rangers
(staff personnel) everywhere and on occasion they would perform skits or
musical revues for us in the evenings. We were re-supplied about every
four days, which made for some pretty difficult hiking on the days we
carried four days worth of rations. We learned to eat everything we
cooked (no leftovers!), compress our daily trash into a miniature cereal
box, and do without paper products entirely. We saw many deer, a deserted
gold mine and hiked through a campsite where a Scout had suffered a bear
attack (fortunately very rare) only a half-hour before. The Scout was back
with his crew a day later. We spent an afternoon thinning out the forest
for our conservation project. Although cutting down trees doesn’t sound
like conservation, the idea was to clear out the small trees to prevent a
devastating crown fire in the future. There was an area nearby that had
been thinned a few years before we were there, and it looked great. Philmont
gets 20 or 30 thousand backpackers every year, yet it is remarkably
undisturbed by all the traffic. The rangers strictly enforce rules about
staying on the trails and not despoiling the area in any way. Leaving
behind graffiti results in immediate banishment for the entire crew. There
were other lessons to be learned at Philmont that escaped us. The daily
rituals are supposed to teach the value and importance of planning,
teamwork, and setting aside immediate personal comfort for the benefit of
the group. Our scouts never understood these concepts and as adult
leaders we were unsuccessful in communicating the message. Unfortunately
these failures left some bitterness to the experience that resurfaced
later. One of the best parts of Philmont is meeting Scouts and Scouters
from all over America. After a couple of days on the trail, pretty much
everyone is looking for some conversation. Frequently at night in the
camps we would meet other crews and ask where they were from, what camps
they had visited, and how they had prepared for Philmont. One group we
met was from Florida, where the highest elevation is about 150 feet above
sea level. We were very interested in finding out how well they had
adapted to the 8000-foot-plus elevations at Philmont. The younger Scouts
went to Camp Whitsett for summer camp a few days after we returned from
Philmont. Of the Philmont crew, only Colin Robinson attended summer camp.
1997 – 1998:
Mike Garcia remained as Scoutmaster with Steve Sperry, Steve Freije and
Joe Arroyo the Assistant Scoutmasters. Jot Hollenbeck continued as the
Committee Chairman. The Sscout membership declined to 30 or so. Once
again we started the year with the Scout swim meet in September at
Chadwick school followed by the Fall Court of Honor at Wilderness Park in
Redondo Beach. Other annual events included Scout Sunday in February,
Scout Skills Field Day at Harbor Park in February and the Pancake
Breakfast at Ernie Howlett Park in May. In March we backpacked on Santa
Catalina Island again, this time camping at Little Harbor. For the
Memorial Day trip we returned to Zion National Park in Utah. Again we
took a bus, leaving on Thursday evening. Steve Sperry was on a business
trip, so the troop picked him up at the Las Vegas airport at about 2 AM.
This time we camped in a private lot just outside the park. The plan had
been to spend one afternoon riding inner tubes on the Virgin River. An
excess of rain had left the river a little too high and fast for comfort,
so the tubing was nixed. Instead the group took day hikes on each of
Friday and Saturday. Both hikes took us to spectacular viewpoints within
the canyon, much to the delight of the parents. Sadly neither hike seemed
to have much positive impact on the Scouts. Some of the ill will from
Philmont arose, with the Scouts claiming to have been left out of the
decision to forego the inner tubing adventure and the dads puzzled that
the scouts could be so inflexible.
1998 – 1999:
At this point Mike Garcia, who had moved to Orange County, stepped down
from his four-year stint as Scoutmaster. Steve Freije volunteered to take
over, with Steve Sperry and Joe Arroyo continuing as Assistant
Scoutmasters. The Scout membership started at 30 or so but soared over the
next two years as waves of former Cub Scouts began to join the troop.
Once again we started the year with the Scout swim meet in September at
Chadwick school followed by the Fall Court of Honor at Wilderness Park in
Redondo Beach. Other annual events included Scout Sunday in February,
Scout Skills Field Day at Harbor Park in February and the Pancake
Breakfast at Ernie Howlett Park in May. This was a Havasu year, and we
took the bus per the usual plan. On the “rest day” five of us made the
hike down to the Colorado River. The hikers were Steve Freije, Mike
Garcia, Grant Garcia, Kenneth Freije and Steve Sperry. Along the way we
saw two rattlesnakes. In three previous Havasu trips (including two times
to the Colorado) we had never seen a single snake. My impression is that
rattlesnakes really don’t want to be near humans, and as long as you give
them an escape route, they will gladly move aside.
2003 –
2006:
Mark Winkler volunteered to take over as Scoutmaster from Tom Laymon.
There were 9 Assistant Scoutmasters. Mark Winkler's two sons, Greg and
Eric, both became Eagle Scouts. The Troop size grew quickly to 100
Scouts. There were 11 active Eagle Scouts in the Troop. During Mark
Winkler's Scoutmaster term, the Troop produced a record number of Eagle
Scouts. More than at any other time in the Troop's history. A few
important items were created and changed during this years: a new Troop
web site was built, new Troop policies and procedures were generated and
approved, the meeting structure changed and the length of the meetings
were shortened to one hour (the game was eliminated as the Scouts
decided), parent participation was at 99%, the Ventures were set up for
the older scouts, and there were one to three outings or events per
weekend for the Scouts to choose to attend and participate in. A few of
the events we participated in yearly were: Camp Chawanakee Summer Camp,
Catalina Backpacking Trip, Scouting for Food, Scout Sunday, Eagle
projects, numerous hikes and car campouts, working on merit badges,
Scout Field Day and touring historic landmarks in California.
|
