Steiner 2013

The Scouts had such a great time last year at Camp Steiner that it was natural that we should go again. We had an even bigger group this year. The troop included Kaden Staker, Charles Reid, Adam Blank, Sam Baldwin, Noah Lamont, Hayden White, Gavin Lamont, Aiden Rice and Jack Baldwin. Half of them were at the same camp last year.

For me it wasn't as fun as last year. Maybe because I was there last year it seemed kind of stale. This year I was not as impressed with the staff. It felt like it wasn't as well run. I went to the rank advancement class with Gavin and Jack and they didn't have anyone to teach it except the cook. So I ended up teaching the whole class knots and lashings. How is it that this camp cost $135 each if I have to do the teaching myself?

Another issue is my senior patrol leader (Charles) wasn't a natural leader. I'm not a big rah-rah kind of guy so I was out of my element trying to get them to do troop cheers at flag ceremony. Contrast that to last year's patrol leader (Spencer Jorgensen) who got them to practice cheers while they were sitting around camp and was excited to participate in every camp activity. The same boys followed him while this year all I got was "We don't want to" from Charles and the older boys. Maybe the novelty had worn off for the boys too and the patrol leader had nothing to do with it. For whatever reason it was more fun last year.

 I stayed until Thursday evening when Matt Staker and Richard Reid came to relieve me. Mike Easton was with me the first 3 days. He must have had some altitude sickness because he was lethargic and had a headache the first day. We shared a campsite with another troop that only had 4 boys. I'm sure we were much more annoying to them than they to us. When we went to bed the boys would yell taunts back and forth to the other cabin that got kind of nasty. I had to threaten to put some of ours in solitary confinement (the changing tent) to get them to shut up at night.

We ate most of the same food as last year, simple stuff like chili dogs, hamburgers, ramen and canned stew. I brought my hammock this time and got a lot of reading of Anna Karenina done. I only read that book when I don't have anything else to read. We had a nice campfire program when Todd Manwaring came up representing the bishopric with Dan Thomas representing the stake young men presidency. Todd had some fun games and a lesson, and I did a scoutmaster minute trying to learn a useful lesson from my Hardcore History podcast.

Gavin Lamont, Jack Baldwin and Aiden Rice at canoeing merit badge

The boys got at least 4 merit badges each. I always enjoy watching them do canoeing and rowing with all the swamping and getting in the water. They teased their emergency prep teacher a lot because he was such an unrepentant nerd, dressing up like a jedi knight one day and carrying on about some role-playing card game. Our troop friend was Kirby, kind of a different sort who never got tired of telling Mike to tuck his shirt in. At least he showed up and made sure we got to our activities.

Troop friend Kirby, Kaden Staker and Noah Lamont with our service project sign

I think that's the last year we will be doing Steiner for a while. I don't get tired of the rugged beauty of the place, and I don't think any other organized scout camp can compare in that regard. Next year we will only have 2 or 3 scouts and we may organize our own camp.