2007 Canada Canoe Odyssey

The Great Adventure

 

ATTENDANCE: 

 

                Troop                                     Scouts                                    Adults                                    Total

               

                 T80                                        49                                            26                                            75

 

                T404                                       6                                              3                                              9

 

                T252                                       17                                            9                                              26

 

                TOTAL                                  72                                            38                                            110

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING SCOUT AWARDS – These awards goes to the best Scout in each crew that showed exceptional teamwork, leadership, and attitude.                                         

 

Crew 1 – Forrest Lorenzen

Crew 2 – Jimmy Paslay

Crew 3 – Brandon Sena

Crew 4 – John McCune

Crew 5 – Garrett Nuttall

Crew 6 – Alex Sanders

Crew 7 – Sammy Darnell

Crew 8 – Paden Tillery

Crew 9 – Adam Jones

Crew 10 – Dustin Neef

 

 

 

THE FRED POPPE OUTSTANDING SCOUT OF THE WEEK – This award goes to the scout that shows the best attitude, leadership, and service throughout the week.  This is the top award given to a Scout on a Wilderness Camp.  The Scout that was nominated received a hand carved neckerchief slide by Fred Poppe with the original wilderness patch that has been around since 1964 when Troop 80 camped in Questa, NM.  Everyone is welcome to view Fred Poppe’s carvings in the scout museum at the Troop building.  This is a high honor and rare award.  This year’s 2007 Outstanding Scout of the week went to:

 

LUKE KNIGHT

 

 

 

THE BONE AWARD – This is an award that is presented to an adult that is his first year at a Wilderness Camp.  It is the highest award that an adult can earn at a Wilderness Camp.  The adult who receives this award is recognized and nominated by the youth leadership of the Troop.  This award shows the respect and hard work a new adult does to help make the Wilderness Camp a success.  This year’s Bone Award went to:

 

PETER FRIEND

 

 

SPECIAL RECONGNITION – A large trip like this just doesn’t come together.  It takes a lot of sacrifice and dedication.  I would like to thank the following people for help making this trip possible.

 

John Standish – Mr. Standish is our Nationally certified Aquatics Director that spent a lot of time and efforts in getting us ready for this trip.  Because of him, we were able to take 14 Lifeguards.  He also got every adult that was on this trip certified in Safety Afloat and Safe Swim Defense.  He helped many Scouts earn their Swimming, Lifesaving and Canoeing merit badge.

 

 

Stan Fithen & Steve Tillery  - These guys made all of our overnight accommodations going to Canada and coming back.  We stayed at some nice facilities and the hospitality was great.

 

 

John Dryden – Mr. Dryden, who owns the Fire Place Center and Paradise Cushions, donated his supplies, money and labor in refurbishing over 30 bus seats for both buses.  Many of our seats were torn and cut.  Thanks to Mr. Dryden, he made sure we had comfortable seats to sit on.

 

 

Gary Wood – Mr. Wood, who owns Glass Inc, donated his supplies, money, and labor in replacing about 10 broken windows in both buses.  Thanks to Mr. Wood, he made sure all our windows were usable for the touring and viewing of our trip.  Mr. Wood wasn’t able to make it on this trip so we thank him for all he did.

 

 

Danny Finley – Mr. Finley has spent many days and nights getting all our vehicles ready for the long trip.  Between all the maintenance from oil changes to replacing bearings, he made sure we had safe vehicles to ride in.  Between both buses, we had 14 new tires and 14 new rims.  We didn’t have any vehicle problems. He also made sure all of our camping equipment was in good working condition.  Mr. Finley also was not able to go on this trip but sacrificed a lot so 110 people could have a great time.

 

 

 

 

NEW FRIENDS:

I want to say on behalf of Troop 80, thank you to Troop 404 for being our guest.  Troop 404 is from Pampa and they went on this trip with us all the way down and all the way back, never leaving our side.  I appreciated their patience and help on this trip.  Myself and the kids within Troop 80 became good friends with them and I hope that they can attend more camps in the future.  Troop 252 was from South Dakota and they too became our newest friends.  The Reed brothers who are now in that Troop came from Troop 80.  Their father, Randy Reed, was unable to attend due to health reasons and he will continue to be in our prayers.  We hope to him a speedy recovery and hope to see all of them soon within the near future.

 

 

 

RANK ADVANCEMENT EARNED:

Noah Friend – 2nd Class                                                      Quinn Spellmann – 2nd Class

Chris Buchanan – 2nd Class                                                John McCune – 1st Class

Mason Sharp – 2nd Class                                                    Mason Sharp – 1st Class

Stormy Sharp – 2nd Class                                                    Dustin Gray – Star

Alec Fithen – 2nd Class                                                        Matthew Braden - Star

Cody Morris – 2nd Class                                                      Michael Byrd - Life

Bryce Watson – 2nd Class                                                   Matt Dryden - Life

Luke Knight – 2nd Class

 

 

 

MERIT BADGES EARNED:

Michael Byrd – Safety, Citizenship In Community, Citizenship In Nation, Citizenship In World, Personal Fitness, Camping

 

Taylor West – Citizenship In Community

 

Matt Dryden – Personal Fitness, Citizenship In Community, Citizenship In Nation

 

Dustin Gray – Citizenship In Community, Citizenship In Nation

 

 

 

CAMP SUMMARY – First of all, I want to say WOW, what a great trip!  This was a 2,674 mile round trip.  We left the Troop building on time but when we stopped for lunch at Hefner Park in Oklahoma City we got behind schedule.  And no, I was not driving or navigating.  We arrived in Troy, KS at the National Guard Armory that first night and it was a nice facility.  Before the trip, we found out that the daughter of the Staff Sgt. who was letting us in was her 6th birthday.  The Troop bought her some dolls as a birthday gift.  Since it was late, she wasn’t there for us to sing happy birthday to but we were able to get the gifts to her.  The second day we stopped at Cabellas and let the kids buy more camping gear and outdoor toys.  The second night we stayed in Duluth, MN at an Army National Guard facility right off Superior Lake.  It was really nice especially at night with all the city lights.  The next morning we loaded up the buses and went to the lighthouse on Superior Lake and hung out there for about an hour and half.  That afternoon, we stayed at Fall Lake campground.  This is where it got hectic.  You had to camp by crews but the problem is that they had all the crews scattered throughout the campground.  You were lucky if you had a crew within 100 yards of another crew’s camping spot.  All the gear was scattered and not loaded properly the night before so we had to unload everything and then reload by each crew and drove around to each campsite to disburse gear to each crew.  The next morning we had to drive around again and pick up crews and pick up their gear.  When we reached our Outfitter at Moose Lake, things went much better.  Crews assembled last minute food and gear.  We held church service, ate a great lunch and then departed on the water.  We had 3 drop off points:  Moose Lake, Snowbank Lake, and Lake One.  Day one and day two on the water went well for most crews.  Day 3, a terrible front came through with high winds around 40 – 45 mph which created white cap tides.  It made it tough and interesting to canoe in.  Day 4 and 5 continued to rain off and on.  We managed to only damage 2 aluminum craft canoes, one on a rapid and one on a rock.  We ended up having to pay $200 for total damages.  That’s not too bad considering the damages.  We have great photos of the damage we’ll put on the web.  When we got off the water everyone showered and had some free time in Ely, MN to buy souvenirs.  The first night off the water we stayed at a Lutheran Church.  The troop there bought us pizza and soft drinks.  The second night off the water on the way home we stayed at Trinity Academy School in Wichita, KS.  The school and friends at Attebury Grain there provided us free subway sandwiches, drinks, and cake.  We stayed in a gymnasium and the boys played basketball.  We were due to arrive in Amarillo at 5PM but we managed to get back at 4PM.  It was a memorable trip and definitely one for the books.  Despite the weather in the boundary waters, it was really nice.  It was still absolutely beautiful.  It is the consensus of the men on the trip not to wait another 6 years to go back.  Hopefully we’ll be going back in 4 years.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped make it possible.  Everyone will be telling stories of this trip and stories of their crew activities for years to come.  We’ll let you decide whether to believe it or not?

 

 

Photos

Doug Walker Photos             Bill Bankhead Photos            John Standish Photos             Hobbitt Photos

 

Peter Friend Photos - Group 1

 

 

Other Information Resources on the Boundary Waters

Superior National Forest Web Site: http://www.snf.superiorbroadband.com/

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Web Site: http://www.bwcaw.org/

University of Minnesota BWCA Web Site: http://bwcaw.micro.umn.edu/

Private BWCA Web Site: http://www.bwcaw.com/

Private BWCA Web Site: http://canoecountry.com/

Private BWCA Web Site: http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/lists/geography/fisher.html

Private BWCA Web Site for portages: http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/portages/

Town of Ely private web site: http://www.ely.org

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