Camp Meriwether Summer Camp 1995 Camp Meriwether Summer Camp 1995Last Updated: October 20th, 1997
"Robert Grey Troop are we Exploration, Discovery Being the best that we can be"
That's our verse in the Hullabaloo song.
On our way to Meriwether we had stopped at Beaver, Oregon to get lunch supplies for Aaron and Gary, two of the boys that didn't bring lunches from home. We have thirteen boys attending summer camp this year and the required two adults. Dale Berggren the scoutmaster will stay the first night then return later in the week. J. J. Jones, another old scoutmaster, will also arrive later to replace Greg and I.
We arrived at the parking lot on the Cape a little before the appointed time of 12 noon. It's always good to be early for an appointment. This gave us time to get the packs out and enjoy our sack lunch from home before the camp staff arrives to escort the boys down the Cape trail to Meriwether.
After we have taken a few of those before summer camp photos when everyone is still clean, the boys met our staff ranger who will work with the Senior Patrol Leader and lead the troop into camp. This year the SPL is my own son, Zach, a Life scout. We have two Life scouts; Zach Veley and Luke Zedwick, six Star scouts; Joseph Quinn, Brian Wyse, David Quinn, Reid Wyse, Eric Berggrin, and Jeremy Filip., two First Class scouts; Aaron Rummerfield and Tavis Crocker, a Scout; Gary Brittson, and two just out of the box, spanking new boys, Adam Quinn and Thomas Quinn. The two new boys are twins with three older brothers in the troop.
Scoutmaster Dale Berggren, Committee Chairman Greg Filip, and I arrived at our campsite before the boys. Our site is a large one and is shared by another small group, Troop 874 from Scholls, Oregon.
The troop hiked in, toured the camp to see where everything is located, did their medical checks and took the swim checks. Everyone passed as swimmers and will be able to participate in all water front activities.
While the boys were getting their swim checks completed, the adults attended an afternoon roundtable to get some basic instructions and updates to the way things would happen. This is when the camp director asks people to share their skills on special projects around camp. There always seems to be a few plumbers and carpenters around.
Sunday dinner was turkey, potatoes and gravy, string beans, with milk, juice, bread, peanut butter, and Jam. They also had a salad bar available.
Meal time at Meriwether is always lively and loud. At dinner, the staff did their version of the Hullabaloo song. It was quite an introduction and set the tone for the week.
After dinner, about half of us went to the chapel service. Chaplain Don Jackson gave us a very ecumenical service. The Chaplain has about 30 years in scouting and is a real nice guy. He sings well and gets a lot out of his audience which keeps the boys attention. After the service he handed out free books full of stories of faith. I picked mine up later when I met him on the trail. He carries a back pack basket, from the old days. Very interesting person.
A little later in the evening, we had a fire drill for safety and all gathered in the meadow near the flag pole to count heads and receive more instructions. From there we proceeded to the opening campfire program.
Meriwether has a campfire bowl with seats facing each other across the bowl. There is a good bonfire in the center to provide light for the stage which is to the side. The stage and the seats are high so that everyone can see and hear well. Our troop sat on a top row with a back rest to lean on. Best seats in the house!
Monday morning.
Zach wanted me to wake him at 6:30 to get things going. He has everything running smoothly with duty rosters and positive leadership. It looks like this will be real vacation for the adults.
We awoke to blue sky and a pounding surf. I explored around camp while waiting for the troop to get up. We have our own troop 2 bulletin board set up with agendas, programs, rules, rosters, and a pin out board to help us keep track of everyone. It isn't always accurate, but it does provide places to start looking for a lost scout and by the condition of the pin holes we can see where they are spending most of their time. This morning it showed everyone in the campsite.
Robert Grey campsite is up on the bluff just south of the dinning hall. There are two trails to the dinning hall. The main trail has been called "Cardiac Hill." The other takes us out to the end of the bluff then down some switch backs to the meadow. The later is the most scenic, giving us a view of the waves, beach and the Cape as we descended to the meadow. It's also the quickest way to the dining hall. We took this route to breakfast.
This morning it was a breakfast of eggs, sausage, coffee cake, with milk, juice, bread, peanut butter, and jelly. There was also a cereal bar available. After songs and announcements, we were back to camp to fill out merit badge cards for the boys. Then they were off to the first round of classes.
Lunch came quickly; tomato soup, toasted cheese sandwiches, potato chips, with milk, juice, bread, peanut butter, and jam. (There is a pattern here) There was also a salad bar available and cookies for desert. Plenty of food for everyone. This was also our first opportunity to do our verse in the Hullabaloo song. It went by pretty fast, but we gave it our best shot. This is where the large groups really have an edge, with the extra voice power. We did okay.
After lunch, Greg and I attended the roundtable where we were instructed and certified in the Safe Swim Defense. Good for two years. Remember, BALLPADS.
Later in the afternoon, which was overcast, I went to take my swim test. I had to do four lengths with my strong stroke (I started with a crawl, but switched to a sidestroke) then two lengths with a basic back stroke, followed by a float for a minute or so. I passed.
I left my new red, white, and blue buddy tag on the buddy board with the rest of the troop, then stayed to watch Zach, Luke, and Aaron begin work towards the mile swim. I knew I would be called on to help with that event later in the week.
At the first round table I had announced that our troop was celebrating our 75 year anniversary as a troop and invited anyone who was interested to come talk with us about what the preparations were like. I directed my words to any that had already done that kind of celebration or would be in the future. One lady scouter came up afterwards to talk to me.
She and her husband have just activated a new unit after moving to Vernonia and finding no scout troop. He is the scoutmaster and she is the committee chair. They brought just two scouts to summer camp and were struggling. I listened and shared experiences.
In the afternoon I spent some time carving my new walking stick. I try to make a new one on every long term outing. Our ranger, Rob, is working on a short walking stick with a nice twist to it. His home town is Hillsborro.
When I was searching for the right piece of wood for my walking stick project, I also spotted some downed logs that have the diagonal cut which will be a start for some nice oval award stock. It took me about 30 minutes to cut it through with my pack saw. The teeth of the saw are too small for this piece of work. I'm considering coming back with the five foot saw to cut a slab or two for some large plaques. There are some really nice plaques up in the small lodge that have been left by other troops. I'll work on that later.
By dinner time it was misting, which turned into rain within the hour. Dinner was tortillas, sour cream, rice, salsa, turkey, cheese, lettuce, with (you guessed it) peanut butter, jam, milk, and juice. The salad bar was available. Desert was a LARGE serving of Tillamook Ice Cream. We had some kind of berry flavor. Yummy!!
After dinner, Zach led us to the big lodge to clean the concrete KYBO in the basement. He had signed us up for that service project when he attended the SPL breakfast. The wet sand is getting tracked in and there is the potential for plugged sewer lines. The boys complain a little, but Zach gets them working together and the job is soon done.
There are supposed to be several large capture the flag games this evening, but with all the Oregon sunshine falling it's likely that the games will be postponed. Our guys are in the tents playing card games and talking. We have set up an additional tarp over one table. The card game has moved to that table. . We are using eight tents plus one for troop gear nearest the water and KYBO. The other troop has available another eight or nine tents near a wood chopping area. Aaron and Brian have gone to bed early, being somewhat tired. I am writing in my journal.
One of the lantern glasses got broke last night. We had a tent set up for equipment, but then Jeremy moved into it. The next night, Eric and Reid moved in and by morning the glass was broken. We had the quartermaster, Travis, move the equipment to another tent. He even moved the Library for Jeremy and Eric, even though they didn't ask him to do that.
Zach had me wake him at 7:10 this morning. He was up by 7:20 to wake the rest of the troop. He sent Aaron and David off to the dinning hall to be waiters a few minutes after 7:30. We were late by several minutes in getting our flag up. Color guards were Tom, Joe, and Eric. They didn't divide the job well and were slow getting it up the pole. It had to be unfastened and refastened due to a knot that would not go through the pulley. I told Zach that I will be a resource and go over the operation with each color guard to ensure that it goes smoothly in the future.
Even with the hang ups, we got to the meadow well before the camp flag went up. They were late also.
Breakfast was bacon, pancakes, bread, peanut butter, jelly, milk, juice, cereal, and fruit bar.
It had stopped raining in the small hours, and by day break, the trees were no longer dripping on us. Still over cast at 9:30am and misty off of the beach. I think it will clear by afternoon. Robert Grey is about 200 yards from the bluff, so we are some what protected from the weather by the fir and spruce forest.
Greg left for the little lodge to take a shower. I will meet him there at 10am for round table. At this minute, Zach and I are the only ones in camp. Everyone else is off at merit badge classes.
We had a problem Sunday and Monday with water. It seems the valve that regulates the water coming into our campsite is in sight of a main trail and get's turned off by pranksters. We now know where the valve is located and can quickly take care of it if it happens again. From our campsite we can see an old water tank on the hill behind us. At first we thought it served our site, but now we think it is no longer hooked up to the system.
Last night, we set a line from our tent flaps so that the flaps formed an alcove in front of our tent. This gave us a dry spot to set our shoes and thereby keep our tent floor clean.
It's getting close to 10am so I will go to the little lodge to meet Greg. Blue sky is forming over head. We will probably still see mist from the ocean for awhile, but clear weather is on the way.
Round table was good. The camp director told a story about the meanest criter he ever saw, a duke spelled DUCK. He tells stories in an old codger, voice with lot's of interesting backwoods phrases thrown in. He also told a story at the opening campfire about him and an eccentric fur trapper named Bill.
Lunch today was tacos with beans, sour cream, salsa, cheese, lettuce, juice, milk, juice, bread, peanut butter, jelly, and a fruit and salad bar. Cookies for desert.
I've been making the rounds of the program areas to take pictures. I will continue that all week. This afternoon I got some good shots of the guys on the climbing tower.
We are having some difficulty getting the guys to sign in and out of camp. It will get better.
Dinner was a deep dish lasagna with peas, peanut butter, bread, jam, milk, juice, salad/fruit bar, and Tillamook Ice Cream. Rob, our Ranger, served our patrol/troop the ice cream and gave us heaping bowls. Many kids could not finish theirs. After dinner I checked the mail and found a letter for Zach and one for me from Marian. Thank you.
After dinner, Jeremy, Eric, Reid, and Brian left for some special evening programs at the rifle and black powder range as well as the shotgun range. The others formed a triathlon team for competition with ten other scout teams at the water front. Adam and Luke were runners, Zach and David were swimmers, and Tom and Gary were rowers.
The competition was pretty exciting. Adam was the first runner starting at the waterfront and going to the shower house. He tagged Luke who then ran back to the waterfront, way ahead of the next team. Then Zach and David hit the water with a big scream and continued our big lead. Gary and Tom had some difficulty with the row boat, it just wouldn't go the right direction. Tom gave us the best show of the night by jumping out of the boat to turn it around. He then continued to push the boat all the way around the course, while Gary kept the oars under control. At one point he had to push another boat away from him to keep from getting squeezed between the boats. I was a little worried about him, but he did fine. At the end he turned the boat and pulled it up to shore. After that, other boaters took his cue and would jump out to pull their boats to shore as well. It was a great show and pleased the crowd, but we didn't win the contest. I think we came in about 4th overall.
Later that evening, David built us a fire with the help of twelve other scouts offering advice. The circle of light allowed us to play one of our favorite campfire games, "The Man in the Moon," which lasted several hours. Eric showed his skills of observation fairly early by discovering the secret of the game. Towards the end, both David and Gary got the secret at about the same time. David was so excited that a neighboring camper asked us to be quiet because we were disturbing sleepers.
After that, Jeremy, Eric, and Reid went to the beach for astronomy class. They came back after everyone else was in bed and asked for a flashlight to help a lost scout find his way back to his campsite. His group had went off without him. Our heroes successfully got him home.
Our flag was up earlier this time and Zach had time for several announcements before dismissing for the walk to the dinning hall and the flag raising in the meadow. The announcements included some discussion about the need for a skit and song for our area campfire program tonight. Zach will be the MC for the program. Also, we have a service project this afternoon, near the nature area. This will help us get honor patrol.
When we arrived at the meadow for the camp flag service we were about the 3rd troop to arrive. This makes an old scoutmaster smile.
After breakfast I decided to follow the boys around to the merit badge classes to see how things were going and to take some pictures. The sky was overcast and there were a few showers from time to time. I started out with rain gear, but soon shed it to stay cool.
Going around to the merit badge classes made me a little late to round table. Greg told me that I missed a good story and a skit. There was also some discussion of the lost scout that our three had helped last night. The other troop had started a search but couldn't find the boy. They had contacted the staff who was just getting ready to start a full camp search when our three brought the lost scout in. They then sent runners to tell the staff that the boy had been found. Their scoutmaster invited our three to come over for a thank you treat. It turned out to be a big deal. For our guys, it will help to balance out the mischief they have caused with the hole in the tent and the broken lantern.
Lunch was sloppy joes, bread, peanut butter, jam, milk, juice, oranges, salad bar, and cookies for desert. The Hullabaloo Song got pretty loud. One troop brought a gong to make extra noise with. The clean table award is getting out of hand also. We are beginning to see table clothes and candles.
After lunch we went to work on an environmental project. It was work on the trail that goes around the lake. All of us went except Brian, who seems very tired. While we were there we also collected several good walking sticks from the materials that were being removed from the trail.
Back at our campsite things are quiet this afternoon. A few kids are sleeping, but most are off doing activities. I've started a project plaque that we will hang up in the little lodge at the end of the week. The boys will finish it. It will tell who we are and where we stayed. Next I will start one for our troop display at home.
In late afternoon, when everyone was back in camp, the scouts began to put the skit and song together for the evening program. The skit will be the leaking box that they wouldn't let us do at camporee. The song is "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea," which Luke will lead.
It started to rain as we were finishing the practice. We brought our flag down and the color guard did a fine job this time. It was a wet hike down to the meadow, but we arrived in plenty of time for the camp flag service, then into the dinning hall.
Dinner was pizza, string beans, milk, juice, bread, peanut butter, jelly, salad bar, oranges, and Tillamook Ice Cream. During dinner the rain came down very hard. Some deer crossed the meadow, undoubtedly on their way to some shelter. Everyone seems to be getting more to eat than they probably need.
Before returning to our campsite I dropped in at the big lodge to see if there was any mail for us. No letters today. Not a problem, no one seems the least bit homesick.
The campfire program was in the Lookout Shelter. I remember attending a campfire program at that shelter several summers ago when I was the actual scoutmaster for the troop. This program tonight had some problems getting started. The troop that was responsible for building the fire couldn't seem to get it going with all of the wetness. A scout asked to borrow my flashlight so that he could return to his camp for some fire starter. I neglected to ask what kind, but since he was part of another troop it didn't occur to me at the time. He showed up later with a can of liquid fire starter which is strictly against BSA rules. One of their adults had taken over, and the fire did flare up real nice. I had to pull our twins back to safety and explain to them that this was definitely not the way good scouts start a campfire. The next teachable moment came quickly, because since they didn't know how to lay the fire, it went right out in a couple of minutes. I saw matches, flint sparks, lighters, but no tinder, kindling, or lasting fire. I took pleasure in pointing this out to those that were near. I would also bring it up at the next round table.
Zach did a good job as MC. He kept it moving along and pretty focused. The skits were mostly average. Several were worse than our "box" skit. There were even some decent songs. Zach put our troops song and skit near the beginning, so after that we could relax and enjoy the rest of the program.
After the program we returned to our own site and proceeded to fire up our lanterns. Of course they were low on fuel. Thanks for flashlights. One of the lanterns flamed up when we lit it. Brian gave us instructions from his tent that were helpful. TURN IT OFF! I did.
The boys played a round of BS with Tavis's Meriwether cards while the rain pattered on the tarp, then we all went to our respective tents for the evening.
I can still hear voices from the nearest tents, but I can't make out the conversation. My tent roof is drum tight and the rain and dripping trees are playing rhythms to help me go to sleep. The surf also sounds loud. At about 10:45pm a lightning flash and clap of thunder jars me out of my slumber. It seems to be about four or five miles away. In a few minutes the wind and rain pick up and we have a huge down pore. It was still raining when I woke up at 4:00am to make a run to the KYBO.
Breakfast was biscuits and gravy, etc.
J.J. Jones, another old Troop 2 scoutmaster, arrived at mid-morning. He hiked in three watermelons for us which has become his tradition over the years. I was glad to see him at summer camp again. I walked back to the parking lot to help him with the rest of his gear and filled him in on how things were going for the troop this summer. We had to drop his medical form off and pick up a parking permit for his rig. By then it was time for lunch.
Lunch was chicken burgers on a bun with all the fixings including, you guessed it, peanut butter and jelly. A couple of our guys got nailed for messing up the table and JJ asked them to clean it up. They wanted to leave it for the waiter. I backed JJ in this and it sort of got done. Our waiter was by himself this time and would have been there for awhile because of someone else's foolishness. It was another of those teachable moments.
After lunch JJ and I walked up to the parking lot to post his parking permit. On the way back down the hill we are met by Brian and another scoutmaster. I am informed that behavior has been a problem. This leads to two sessions with a discussion of the scout oath and scout law, followed by some confidence building to get the problem taken care of and the guys back on track.
Back at our campsite, JJ gets some interest in his wood carving and soon has a group of boys around him working on their tote and chip. He makes it all seem so easy. I began work on a walking stick and neckerchief slide from a nice piece of Rhododendron that I had collected at our trail project. I just couldn't see wasting that beautiful piece of wood.
Dinner was spaghetti, etc.
After dinner I purchased a camp shirt for Zach at the trading post. He also asked for a candy bar at JJ's suggestion, to be eaten when he woke up in the morning as part of his preparation for the mile swim.
At 7:00pm we headed for the beach to make sand castles. Some of the guys are finishing merit badges, but 5 or 6 of the guys plus JJ and I do the beach. Zach designed a whale like the one on the Camp Meriwether shirts and organizes the guys to sculpt it in the sand. It turned out really good, worthy of pictures. The sun set was spectacular.
Later in the evening Dale Berggren, the actual scoutmaster, returns to camp. The scouts try to start a fire and are successful, but the fire is short lived. The neighbor troop on the other side of our site is invited over to share the watermelon, but most of them are already asleep. Too bad, it was good watermelon. Thank you JJ.
The flag went up smoothly and we arrived in the meadow early for the camp flag. The staff did the ceremony this morning, complete with three black powder salutes. It was very effective with the blue sky and the surf in the back ground
Breakfast was pancakes and sausage. I also had some raisin bran today. Zach ate a pretty good breakfast even though he wanted to go light. I think he was trying to settle his stomach. Luke said he gets nervous before his wrestling matches.
After breakfast we had about 15 minutes to get to the water front for the morning activities.
There is a sign at the water front that says the water is always about 69 degrees and that we shouldn't worry about the temperature anyway. We should only worry if the water is dry, because that would be a problem.
Luke and I were the first to arrive and were asked by the staff to raise their flag. The sun was beginning to warm us by this time. Three of our scouts, Zach, Luke, and Aaron will be doing the mile swim this morning along with about 4 other boys. Dale and I signed up to be rowers. Looking back at this, I wish I had taken my camera into the boat for some really good action photos of the boys up close. Dale had to finish his swim test before they would let him row.
It was decided that Zach would go alone with one boat and the other swimmers would double up with two to a boat. The water front guy knew that zach was a faster swimmer. Each boat had one extra person along to hold a safety pole if a swimmer gets in trouble. David went with me to hold the safety pole while I rowed for Zach.
They wouldn't let him do any warm up swimming before the mile. He didn't like that, but it is probably to keep the time he spent in the cold water to a minimum. Each swimmer left about a minute apart with Zach going out first. I had to row really hard to keep up with him. The swimmers had to first swim to a bowie at the east end of the lake then seven times back and forth to the bowie at the west end, then back to the shore by the dock.
It seemed to me that the distance was much more than a mile, but I'm sure it is correct. I had to struggle to keep the oars in the oar locks and really couldn't keep up with Zach. By the time I figured out how to work the oar locks, Zach was already to the first bowie and on his way back towards me. I decided to just wait for him to get to me. I got the boat turned then had to catch up to him as he went by. After a while I figured out a system and it worked out. I had to work hard to stay out in front of him so that we can lead him on the course. Then we had to worry about running into the other swimmers and boats. We managed this okay but then we found ourselves too far to the side and Zach began to move ahead of us again. David was nervous and asked if we shouldn't be closer in case Zach needed our help. I told him yes, but I was thinking to myself that it's more likely that we would need the help.
After a couple of laps, Zach pauses to stretch some muscles, look behind, then take off again. Towards the end he switched to a side stroke then a back stroke for a brief time then back to his crawl which is very efficient it seems because he again shot forward faster than I was able to row. He was interested in setting a good time and asked us to pace him. I wasn't sure what he needed, but he told me to get beside him shere he can see us. That made sense and he did seem to go even faster. After about 40 minutes he walked out on the shore some 10 minutes ahead of the next swimmer. By the time David and I had tied up the boat and joined him, he wasn't even breathing hard.
JJ arrived and congratulated him on his swim. Zach said towards the end, his mouth was getting dry. JJ asked him why he didn't just take a drink. He replied that he gargled some and that helped. Luke came in in good shape also, and immediately went to his life saving class. Neither boy looked like they had just swam a mile. Aaron came in next and had finished much faster than the year before. I remember how cold Aaron had been at Camp Baldwin. He had been blue and shivering. We had wrapped him in a blanket, set him by the fire and filled him with hot chocolate. Even then, he didn't warm up until the next day. Zach was already talking about beating his time and wanting to go again. During the swim, the water front guy would periodically yell out, "keep going mile swimmers."
All this time, JJ was carving on his neckerchief slide. Back at camp, the boys were putting every knife they could find to use. Luke had nicked his finger while carving before the mile swim and it bled the whole time. I don't think it hurt, but he was perturbed by it none the less.
When Greg arrived home he had called Dale and asked him to bring some model paint with him when he came. This he did, and the boys were busy adding the paint to the plaque for the little lodge.
I decided to skip lunch this day (I was told later that they had subways) and work on finishing the carved awards that I had been preparing. They were;
"Top Scout in Troop 2" to be awarded by the scoutmaster. "Top Patrol" to be awarded by the senior patrol leader. "Top Scout" in each patrol to be awarded by eacn patrol leader.
There were three patrols this year; Acme, Vamonos, and Aliens. I also made sure that Dale had some Troop 2 patches for presentation to any outstanding staff members that were of service to our troop. Zach suggested to me that our ranger, Rob from Hillsboro, should receive a patch. They will have to figure that out by Saturday.
I could hear the dinning hall getting rowdy all the way up in our camp site. Before they had finished lunch, I had packed up most of my gear and hiked it up to my truck. The hill to the parking lot seemed longer than I had remembered. I think I have been eating too much dinning hall food.
Most of the troop had gotten back to camp when I came up for my last load. I had to get my day pack which was full of dirty clothes, the axe, my briefcase full of scout books and notebooks, and my extra sleeping pad. JJ wanted to walk me back to the truck, so he carried the two defunct lanterns, my large flash light, and a piece of Rhody wood I was hoarding.
This had been a two walking stick camp out, so I had a walking stick for both trips to the truck. On this last trip I carried the stick over my shoulder with the rolled up sleeping pad dangling from the end. I told JJ it reminded me of a picture I recalled from my child hood of a boy with his lunch tied up in a bandana on the end of a stick.
We were both panting by the time we got up to the truck. We thanked each other for coming to camp and exchanged some pleasant thoughts about how we felt about scouting. I had to get back to work and would not be able to see the Friday night campfire program which was always good at Meriwether.
On my drive home I thought about the faces of the younger scouts and their excitement at trying new things. I was a little sad that I couldn't be there for the last day to take note of all the accomplishments. I saw a lot of good things done and only brief moments of problems. This was one of our better summer camps and will remain fresh in my memories for a long time.