‘We all scream for ice cream’ … and awards!

Troop 50 Scouts and their families gathered at the Camden Ridge neighborhood pool on Sunday, Sept. 26 for a fully stocked ice cream sundae bar and swimming—and to celebrate Scouts’ efforts toward earning merit badges and advancing in rank.

Assistant Senior Patrol Leader Olen (right) congratulates Harrison (left) for earning the Star rank.

In all, the troop awarded 59 merit badges and recognized four Scouts—including two new Eagle Scouts—who advanced in rank. Most of the advancements presented were a result of work completed over the summer while Scouts attended Camp Sequoyah.

One of the troop’s newest Scouts, Reed (left) earned Art and First Aid merit badges
in addition to completing his Firem’n Chit and Totin’ Chip at summer camp.

As expected, Eagle-required merit badges were popular among those awarded. First Aid Merit Badge topped the list, followed by Environmental Science, Communication and Cooking merit badges. Scouts who attended summer camp took the opportunity to earn popular summertime elective merit badges like Archery, Small-Boat Sailing and Canoeing. Among the less-common ones presented were Metalwork, Painting, Pottery and Sculpture merit badges.

Scoutmaster Andrew Baird celebrated Scouts’ other summertime accomplishments. At summer camp, the troop earned first place in the weekly Campsite Inspection Competition and received the Commissioner’s Spirit Award. It also placed second in the camp’s water carnival. He also singled out Beck and Dillon for completing the Mile Swim. In fact, Dillon was the youngest camper to complete the feat the week the troop attended Camp Sequoyah.

Jake (left) and Rhett (right) with Scoutmaster Baird proudly displaying the 50-miler Awards
they earned canoeing Northern Tier.

He also presented Jake and Rhett, who attended the Northern Tier High Adventure Base with 50-miler Awards. These recognize Scouts and leaders who cover 50 consecutive miles by foot, canoe or boat over a period of five or more days.

For more photos from the court of honor, visit the troop’s online photo album.

Summer efforts pay off for Scouts’ progress toward earning new merit badges, ranks

Troop 50 Scouts demonstrated at its post-summer court of honor on Sunday, Sept. 8 that attending summer camp and the troop’s monthly outings can pay off big. The court of honor, held at Auburn United Methodist Church, included 94 merit badges and 11 ranks Scouts earned since the troop’s last awards program court of honor in June — and an awesome ice cream bar with all the fixings provided by troop families.

James (right) receives six merit badges from Everett (right) as a result of his
summertime efforts, including Astronomy, Kayaking, Metalwork, Robotics,
Space Exploration and Wood Carving.

Senior Patrol Leader Everett and Assistant Patrol Leader Luke presided over the ceremony, along with Scoutmaster Andrew Baird. In addition to awarding new merit badges and ranks, the troop installed additional troop leaders appointed since the June court of honor, and officially presented its James J. Baird Jr. Honor Scout Award.

Many of the merit badges Scouts earned included popular summertime topics like swimming, fishing, canoeing and lifesaving, as well as Eagle-required merit badges like the Citizenship series and Environment Science. However, this round of awards also included specialized-topic merit badges like Engineering, Metalwork, Chess, Energy, Theater, and Salesmanship — just to name a few.

Likewise, summer camp participation also helped a number of the troop’s newest Scouts progress in rank to Tenderfoot. The group also included a few Star and Life ranks, as well as an additional Eagle Scout palm.

Scoutmaster Baird administers the oath of office to (left to right) Joe, Camp, George and Rhett.

Following the presentation of advancement awards, Scoutmaster Baird recognized a few additional youth leaders who were appointed to positions since June. Those included the addition of two new junior assistant scoutmasters — Joe and Camp — who were scheduled for their Eagle Scout Boards of Review in September. The installation ceremony and oath of office also included the appointment of George and Rhett to Instructor in addition to Rhett’s continuing duties as the troop’s chaplain’s aide. Olen was later installed as the new troop Historian.

Camp shows off his James J. Baird Jr. Honor Scout Award.

The final item on the court of honor’s agenda was officially recognizing Camp on his selection as the troop’s 2019 recipient of the James J. Baird Honor Scout Award. Camp was selected for the award in May, but due to a personal conflict, was unable to be presented with the honor at the troop’s June court of honor. Likewise, Scoutmaster Baird also presented him with a handmade neckerchief slide that has become the symbol of those who have served as senior patrol leaders. Camp served in the spring and his tenure concluded along with the June court of honor.

For more photos from the September court of honor, visit the troop’s online photo album.

Rafting, ice cream, and guns

     Our final day of Zip and Splash put us on the French Broad River near Asheville, NC for our last day of rafting. Carbon dating has indicated that the French Broad is one of the oldest rivers in the world. Much like the Pigeon, the section we were rafting has Class III and IV rapids. We arrived at the NOC outpost for the French Broad just after 10:00 this morning and went through the obligatory signing of the waivers and standard safety briefing. We can now quote parts of the safety video and began to chant various passages in unison. After a snarky look from the lead guide, we were fitted with helmets and life jackets before loading aboard the bus for the river.

Trey, Joe, Nick, and Hunter are ready to raft.

     The four boys plotted among themselves when the raft assignments were being decided. They decided that Mr. Williams should ride with another group and only the scoutmaster would accompany them. This was obviously for nefarious purposes. No sooner were we on the water than the boys began to splash with their paddles in an attempt to get us as wet as possible.



One of the other rafts shoots the rapid known as the Maze.

We passed Turtle Rock heading into another rapid.

     When we got to a point in the river where we could swim, the scoutmaster wasted no time in pitching Hunter and Nick into the water before going in behind them. This happened with such haste that we lost one of the paddles, which Joe swam after and retrieved. After we returned to the boat, our efforts to splash one another caused us to hang up on a rock, which required some maneuvering in the raft to free ourselves. We put the guide to so much trouble that we wound up tipping her extra for the frustration.

Using the bottom of a raft as a dining table, we had a nice lunch. 

 

     As lunch time approached, the raft guides brought us up to a sandy area and fed us lunch. They pulled all sorts of sandwich fixings, crackers, salsa, pickles, cookies, and trail mix for us to eat. After we had eaten every scrap, it was back to the river for the last set of rapids.

 

The only house left in the town of Stackhouse.

 

     The take out point was at the former site of a town. In 1960, a flood inundated the town of Stackhouse and swept away most of the structures. A lone house still stands above the river. A sign on the porch, salvaged from the former train station, still reads Stackhouse. Following the ride back to the NOC outpost, we changed clothes and headed out in search of ice cream. A local citizen of the town of Marshall had told our camp staff leader that there was an ice cream bar at the local country store right in front of the gun store. We found that he meant this literally since the ice cream was served from a freezer in front of a wall of guns.

 

 

Mr. Williams awaits his order at the ice cream and gun store.

 

     As befits any good country store, there was a checker board set up ready to be used. This was deja vu for us since the ice cream store from the previous day has also contained a checker board. Joe challenged some of the other scouts in our crew to a game of checkers. Using the same analytical style that he uses for playing chess, Joe easily took out his opponents on both days. 

 

 

Game number one was played at Jack the Dipper.

Game two at the ice cream/gun store.

 

     Following our satisfying snack of gun store ice cream, we piled back in the van to head on to camp. We made one other stop along the west fork of the Little Pigeon to admire the view and dip our feet in the water. Some of the scouts wound up dipping more than their feet and had a wet ride the rest of the way to camp.

     As we get our campsite, and the van, cleaned up, we look forward to a good night's sleep before we return to Auburn on the morrow. It has been a good week of camp and a great adventure trip for both the boys and the leaders. More photos from the day are found at this link.