SUMMER CAMP – 2004
THE WHITSETT CHRONICLES
It was early, very early, on the
morning of
Sunday, June, 27, 2004
, when our band of 21 Boy Scouts and 4 Assistant
Scout Masters met in the parking lot on the corner of Fallbrook and Victory in
Woodland Hills. This was it…after
weeks and weeks of planning consisting of parent meetings, Scout meetings,
combined meetings of Scouts and parents, this was it.
After ASM Karen Osterheldt set up plans with each and every Scout about
the Merit Badges they were going to get, the prerequisites they needed, the rank
advancement they were going to achieve, the activities they were going to do,
the uniforms, shoes, sox, swimming gear, hats, medicines, sun screen, and
anything else they would need was discussed; this was it!
Here we were: Treasurer
Judy Osborne
was gathering last minute medical and permission
forms, our newest ASM, Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson was gathering medications
and instructions of administrating those medications, money was being collected
to establish the 2004 “Bank of Corky” and ASM Dave Ballew, along with Karen
were organizing who was assigned to what car and making sure each vehicle was
equipped with a walkie-talkie and a map of how to get to our destination.
Our enterprising, entrepreneurial, ever knowing, no longer going, on the
ball, man in charge, Scoutmaster
Alex Balian
, coffee cup in hand, was delegating the heck out
of all of us to make sure that our send off and our trip would be as successful
as all of the previous summer camps have been since his leadership began with
Troop 464
. Of
course, the parking lot was filled with anxious Scouts, anxious, nervous
looking, parents, sisters and brothers of Scouts who didn’t want to be there,
Scout Leaders who weren’t attending camp but were lending hands and supporting
those who were going and the usual suspects who attend these type of line-ups
(didn’t Jack Webb or Humphrey Bogart say that once?).
Finally, it was time to brave the
great unknown of the Sequoia National Forest in the Southern Sierra Mountains,
at an elevation of 4,300 feet, in Kern County, about four hours north of the San
Fernando Valley, about 35 miles north of Lake Isabella, in a mysterious,
enchanted, exciting place called Camp Whitsett, a Boy Scout Camp established in
1946 and filled with the wonderment of what’s-it-like?, what-will-I-do?,
what-will-I-see? And, most
importantly, what-will-I-achieve and will-I-have-fun?
Our merry band of warriors gathered together in their assigned chariots
and by 7sih we were off. Down
Victory to Topanga Canyon, up Topanga to the 118 East, North on the 405 to the 5
North and on to the 99 North eventually leading through beautiful Bakersfield to
the 178 East and into the metropolis (huh?) of Kernville and into camp.
On the way we stopped for a terrific
(urp, sic…um…interesting…how about filling?) breakfast at the Iron Skillet
and/or “Mickey D’s” and a fill-up at the local gas station.
Of course there were the usual comments of “we want to eat this”,
“stop here” and “are we there yet?”
We made our way up the winding hills, past the beautiful boulders that
line the highway framing the Kern River and we drove through the little towns
and villages housing the touristy things to see and do like white water rafting,
horseback riding, bird watching, hiking and any other outdoor activity one could
think of involving themselves.
Just
after
noon
, we arrived at the gates of
Camp
Whitsett
and took our place behind a line of vehicles
(and eventually in front of another line of vehicles), stopped as
Camp
Whitsett
would not let us in until 1sh.
It was hot and, by this time, some of the boys had shed their scarves and
“Class A” uniform shirts. We got
out of our cars and tried to find shade while some of the boys continued their
naps, complained about the wait, complained about the heat, asked more questions
and looked for bathrooms or should I say, areas of convenience, listened to
music on the CD’s they weren’t supposed to have and annoyed the local birds,
squirrels and bugs of the forest. Our
Scouts along with all of the other waiting Scouts managed to kick up dirt and
dust, scream, yell, have fun and build up excitement as they awaited the opening
of the gates into their new home.
After a wait of about an hour or so, we are let in and shown where to
park. We unloaded our gear on to the
truck of ASM Eric Cloud. We were
assigned a young lady staff member Arial who led us to our campsite called Piute;
(each camp sight is named after an Indian Tribe).
We hiked the ˝ mile to the site, a walk that we would get use to as that
was the same route we had to walk for each meal and for the majority of the
Merit Badge classes that would be attended.
Along the way we passed the enormous yellow tent (“The Big Top”) that
houses the cafeteria and meal tables, we passed the camp store/snack shop,
medical facility, flag poles and grassy area where the flag ceremonies took
place each morning and evening, the lake/waterfront, the camp fire pit, many,
many kybos, other campsites, and of course hundreds of Scouts who, like us, were
trying to find their sites, tents and establish some type of order before going
off for their mandatory medical conference and swim test.
We discovered that we were sharing our campsite with Troop 988 from
Torrance
(9 Scouts and 2 adult leaders).
SPL Riley and ASPL Kurush, under the guidance of Eagle Scout Blake were
assigned tents in the main area of our campsite and they assigned tents to the
remainder of the Scouts. Hutch set
up his medical tent, Dave set up our Troop flag, Karen established herself in
the front tent so she was close to the Troop leaders and she was able to monitor
all who entered and left camp. Riley
had the Scouts “count off” and made sure everyone remembered their number
for attendance purposes and we were off for medical inspection and swimming
test. During that afternoon we also
took part in a leadership conference explaining the do’s and don’ts of
Camp
Whitsett
and a fire drill.
The first evening we were allowed to wear anything that we wanted, though
“A” uniforms were requested, not insisted upon, for breakfast and dinner.
After dinner, we went back to camp and set up our tents, played cards,
listened to Blake and Joey play music, talked, did last minute preparedness for
Monday and hit the hay by 10ish.
Monday morning came real early. It
was off for breakfast and then back to camp before classes.
Kurush decided he was going to get eight Merit Badges, Evan made up his
mind that he was going to do the mile swim each day, Karen said she would join
him, some of the other Scouts like Ethan, Jake and Orion also said they would
swim the mile, some of the leaders and Scouts signed up to do the “Otter
Swim” at 7AM on Tuesday, some of the leaders and Scouts signed up to make the
4 mile hike up to Sentinel Peak at 4:45AM on Wednesday morning.
Monday found some of the Scouts like Riley, Ben and Colin catch fish.
Riley and Ben released their fish but Colin didn’t and he proceeded to
carry that poor, dead fish around for the next three days (eventually over ice
in a zip lock bag) until the adult leaders made him bury it.
Eventually Colin and Ben earned the fishing Merit badge.
Colin had better received that Merit Badge as seemingly he was fishing
all of his waking hours. Most of the
time, Ben was fishing with Colin but many of the other Scouts hung out by the ol’
fishing hole near the man made waterfall.
On Monday evening there was a
campfire that included all of the Troops down by the waterfront.
The weather was clear and nice, in the upper 60’s and with the fire
going, it was real pleasant culminating with a some of the staff dressed as
Indians coming across the lake in a canoe carrying burning torches.
Quite a sight!
Each day, as I walked around
Whitsett with Dave or Karen, I saw our Scouts having a great time learning many
things like how to do woodwork, earning their totin’ chip, leatherwork, first
aid, tying knots, shooting guns and archery.
One day I went to the stables and took an hour ride through the forest
with Scouts from other troops. The
only Scouts from Troop 464 that went horseback riding were Evan & Riley.
Camp
Whitsett
is a jewel of the Boy Scouts not only for its
beauty but for the history and Indian Lore surrounding that area and some of the
Scouts earned their Indian Lore Merit Badge studying about past civilizations
that lived on this land.
Tuesday morning was the first
“Otter Swim” and it was attended by Karen, Dave, Hutch (I took pictures) and
many of the Scouts. The water was
cold but I hear it was not as cold as it was during the “Polar Bear Swims”
in
Emerald
Bay
or in
Oregon
at
Camp
Mukwala
. At
Camp
Whitsett
the “Otter Swim” is conducted using the
“Simon Says” method. All of the
participants line up with only their toes in the water and one of the
Camp
Staff
conducts the event.
As participants don’t follow what “Simon Says” they must walk
further and further into the lake until in about ten minutes, they are waist
deep and getting colder and colder. The
event came to a crescendo when “Simon Says” splash the other participants
and…well, where is my towel?
On Tuesday evening after our gourmet (?) dinner the Scouts were able to
make home made, or should I say, Whitsett Made Ice Cream.
We had two big wooden buckets and a steel grinder/mixer/cruncher that
were filled with good, good, goodies including Reeses Pieces and M & Ms.
All of the boys got to grind and grind and grind under the big, bright
yellow big top. They looked more
like organ grinders than Scouts and… you can only guess who the monkeys (sigh)
were. One of the Ice Cream grinders
worked very well. Each of the boys
built up a sweat grinding and crunching the ice & rock salt and stirring the
sugar, vanilla, candies and milk mix, with Riley, James and Karen doing much of
the work at the beginning. Both of
the grinders were feverishly being cranked but, one of the grinders didn’t
work. Of course that wasn’t
discovered until Scout after Scout worked and worked and worked for nothing.
Naturally it wasn’t all work, Steven Ruiz ended up with a few ice burgs
down his back and I believe the fun was in the making of the ice cream more than
the eating (though I could be wrong). Eventually
it became “Pick on Evan Cloud night” and Evan got to grind and grind and
grind until his arm was very sore. The
stuff tasted great and everyone wanted seconds, thirds and whatever was left.
On Wednesday morning, in the dark,
starting at
4:45AM
, Karen and Dave led a pack of 9 Scouts up the 4
mile hike to
Sentinel
Peak
. Over
50 others from different troops joined in the hike that lasted until around
8AM
.
On Wednesday afternoon,
Camp
Whitsett
had something called the Aquacade.
This consisted of different contests that allowed everyone who wanted to
(and some that didn’t want), to participate.
Hutch was our representative in the “Scoutmaster’s Biggest Splash”
event; sort of the Scout Belly Flop contest.
Hutch didn’t win but in our minds his splash put all of the other
contestants to shame. Warren and
Colin came in 4th in the “Sponge Squeezing Contest.”
David was part of the “Sandman” (Dirtiest Scout) contest and he could
have won but he didn’t want to get sand on his face or in his hair (how do you
win that without getting dirty?), There was a sand castle building contest that
had almost every Scout from the Troop participating in. Mr. Ballew had to pull
Riley in the “Kayak Pulling Contest” and they came in second, just being
beaten out by another leader and Scout who, shall we say, uh…seemed to know
the judges. Joey and Kurush came in
(or maybe they never came in at all) last in the “Canoe Paddling Contest”
and then Kurush with Jake on his back won the “Water Wrestling Contest!”
Wow, Wow, Wowwwww, Ya Don’t Mess With Jake!
With Kurush as his foundation, Jake pulled down Scouts much older than
him and twice his size.
Wednesday night after the Aquacade we had our own campfire that we shared
with Troop 988. Our boys did skits
and though I didn’t see anything that warranted an Oscar, I would say that
everyone had a great time. Watching
Kyle get dirty, seeing Ryan dancing, seeing the great acting of Nick and Nathan
and Orion and Ethan and everyone else who took part, listening to Kurush sing,
hearing Joey and Blake on the guitar, listening to Blake on the harmonica
playing songs and ending up the campfire by playing taps was just terrific.
I’ve got to say that seeing the smiles on everyone’s face and hearing
the laughter from all who attended made this a real Scouting memory.
Thursday morning found four intrepid
people getting up early to do the open water mile swim.
Three of those people, Ethan, Evan and Karen were from Woodland Hills
Troop 464.
Thursday night was make cobbler
night. With Hutch’s master
directions we made three different sets of peach cobbler.
Several other Troops were making ice cream that same night so we swapped
cobbler for ice cream and had quite a feast.
Friday morning was the second
“Otter Swim”. This time instead
of “Simon Says” everyone had to play “Red light/Green light”. When the
first person reached the end of the dock everyone else had to swim there as
well. Then we all had to walk like
an otter and roll into the water. Quite
a sight! Later on Friday, we had 14
people in the water at one time doing the mile swim! Three
others managed to complete a ˝ mile at that same time.
Friday night was the closing
campfire. At that ceremony, Woodland
Hills Troop 464 (there were two Troop 464s during that week at
Camp
Whitsett
) was presented a special award.
Our Troop established a
Camp
Whitsett
record – “Most Mile Swims By One Troop In A
One Week Period” – 29! Can you
believe that? Twenty-nine mile swims
in one week by one troop. Not too
shabby! The camp fire also had the
mandatory Boy Scout skits by the staff members and there were some presentations
made to a few of the campers for various events during the week.
The Scouts who attended camp were,
Blake S, Riley A, Kurush I, Kyle B, Jake B, David B, Jeremy C, Evan C, Orion F,
Michael G, Warren H, Nathan L, James M, Joey M, Nick M, Ben N, Colin O, Ryan O,
Daniel P, Steven R, Ethan V (alphabetical order other than the first three
leaders)
All and all, I only heard about one Scout who told his parents that he
didn’t have a good time. I would
like to put him on the polygraph to see if that is true.
If it is, he should be an actor as he was sure convincing when I heard
him laughing and saw the joy in his eye during his camping experience.
Thanks for coming and thanks for all
of the great times and memories. Karen
has posted pictures taken by many people during the trip.
You can buy copies of those pictures with the proceeds going to Troop
464. Have a great summer and see you
at the next meeting.
Corky Straus, ASM