Brandan and Gibson spent the week at the Boy Scout Camp Makualla, pronounced muh-KWAH-luh. It is on Crescent Lake north of Crater Lake near Diamond Peak.
Most of the camp is nestled in pine trees, with areas for different learning activities: nature, first aid, knots, guns, archery, woodcarving.
The first activity of the morning when we arrived was taking a swim test. Only those who pass the test are allowed on the waterfront, where they can swim and use watercraft such as canoes, kayaks and sailboats.
Notice the smoke visible across the lake that the wind blew in from a fire near Crater Lake -- nothing like the Rogue Valley. 3 airplanes flew to the lake several times that day, skimming the lake surface to fill up with water and go dump it on the fire. Fortunately the fire was a long distance from our camp.
The camp provides 3 meals a day in the dining lodge. The staff start at 5:30 am and end at 7 pm. They moved 240 people through in 30-45 minutes. Each troop took a turn serving and cleaning.
Gibson took the Astronomy merit badge. We went on a star gazing party late one night where we used telescopes to look at the moon and other stars. We watched Venus set over the horizon. Here is a photo we took through the eyepiece of the telescope, looking at the moon near a tree. We could easily make out craters along the lower edge.
The next day the scouts played a huge dodgeball game outside the dining lodge. The fine dirt kicked up with every step, coating everyone in dust. They started out playing scouts vs scouts, then scouts vs staff, then adult leaders also joined in.
Bob and Robert made their signature chili in the scoutmaster chili competition.
The camp provided dutch ovens for those that needed one, as well as a huge pile of briquets. It was fun to see the different creations. After the judges took a sample of each chili, they drove each Scoutmaster's dutch ovens to their camp where we enjoyed it for our dinner. The boys ate 2 dutch ovens of chili.
Nearby was the area for the Chess merit badge, where Gibson and Eddie were playing games.
We had an evening of skits from all the troops. The audience sat on an amphitheater of log seats until our turn came.
The boys decided to do a skit called "Milk." They paired up, and sang:
Don't give me no tea, no tea
Don't give me no juice, no juice
Just give me that milk, moo moo
Just give me that milk, moo moo.
When they got to the first milk, one scout would put his hands up with thumbs pointing down, and the other scout would "milk" his thumbs. On the second milk, they would switch and the other would milk thumbs. Then they had the audience stand and sing it again, and everyone milked each others' thumbs. Short and silly. People had a lot of fun with it.
The troops competed in a relay. They had runners who ran between each activity area in the camp, with designated scouts at each activity who had a task to complete. Tyrone (second from left) was our first runner. Gibson's friend Ethan (first on the left, redhead) represented another troop.
Marcus and others are ready at their kayaks, waiting for the runners from the previous activity. Gibson's role was to tie a bowline knot. His rope had a frayed end that made it harder, but he was still fast. (see photos in other post)
Each morning and evening we lined up by troop for a flag ceremony. In the morning we also had announcements, and each troop did a troop yell. The troops were released to eat based on how their yell was, and how well they lined up. The staff lined up on the other side of the clearing. While the remaining troops waited for the earlier ones to wash hands and start through the meal line, different staff members would step forward to share a silly deep thought or sing a silly camp song.
This is inside the dining lodge. In addition to the tables down the middle where troops served the main courses, at each end of the lodge were fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and a complete salad bar for lunch and dinner, as well as juice and lemonade stations. The year before the food had been horrible from all accounts, but this year it was great and there was plenty of it.
Friday afternoon was camp games, with multiple stations in the central area near the dining hall. Here the boys are using 2 pallets to move from the starting area to the finish line, without touching the ground.
Here they are using 2 boards with ropes to snow shoe around a course. The photo in the other post imparts a sense of motion, but this is more accurate for how much they actually moved. It took them 1 minute just to get turned around. They kept stepping on the ropes, or tripping and nearly falling over. They had fun and laughed about it all.
Hatchet throwing was a fun activity. Eddie was really good at it.
At the end of the camp games was the Scoutmaster joust. A scoutmaster would kneel on a platform at the front of a canoe, and 2 paddlers would propel him toward the other canoe. They each had a large padded staff that they tried to push each other off with.
The camp must have a medic at all times. The camp medic had a family emergency, so Brandan volunteered to help. He carried a radio when he was away from the medic lodge.
He kept a log of all the people he saw. The drawers contain everyone's scout physical form with their health history.
Here is a bed where he could let people rest or be examined. The main problems that came in were rashes, bug bites, nosebleeds, ingrown toenails, sprains, abrasions, dehydration, abdominal cramps and a head injury that turned out not to be more than a mild concussion. One scout was horribly homesick, but with repeated talks and reassurance he made it the whole week. The orange and green bags on the table are go-bags for the rifle and shotgun ranges. Gratefully the staff on the ranges were very strict and no injuries happened there.
The smoke cleared for the second half of the week and we were treated to beautiful blue skies and blue water.
The last night of the camp the staff put on a show of various skits. Don Spriggle is the silliest leader of the staff, even though he is 50. He set up an amazing sound system complete with lights on the front porch of the dining lodge. Here several staff are singing YMCA. At the end of the evening Don told his story of injury as a veteran in Desert Storm in which he was paralyzed, then fought to walk again and now works to support scouts. He closed by singing God Bless the USA to us.
One of the troops brought an inflatable pink flamingo named Dave Jr. They brought him around to the activities in the camp throughout the week, and added different adornments. As the medic Brandan drew a mosquito bite on him and put a bandaid on his head. The staff presented him with his own pink certificate and made him an honorary staff member. Gibson was delighted and rushed forward to take a picture.
3 years earlier Brandan's mom passed away from cancer. The anniversary of her death was during the camp. It happened that the pillow case he used throughout the week was one she had cross stitched his name on when he was a kid.
