2013 Wildlife

It was an amazing trip for wildlife - we saw everything from Ants to Zombies (really, check out the pics).

Each boy seems to have a favorite animal or moment, but for me seeing 8 Eagles in the wild was the thrill of a lifetime.  Just take a look at this steely stare:

Or see how our own Dr. Dolittle (you remember the song, he talks to the animals) has a way with attracting deer:

and the crabs (he's the one on the left)!

or the bear.  Yes, we do have a pic of him.  It seems the photographer was in a bit of a hurry to move along (can't blame him there), but this pic should silence all the skeptics!  Look closely in the top right corner, or watch the slide show where I zoom in on him.  

Enjoy the show, or click here for the direct link.

2013 Day 7-Sea Kayaking

Tonight America’s two youngest and most famous newscasters; that would be me; Michael, and my loyal assistant Shay, will be talking about sea kayaking (very fun).

So we all woke up about 6:30 and ate a yummy breakfast of French toast and sausage. We piled into the van for a short drive to the outfitters and hopped out. We introduced ourselves and got started right away. Wiley Sr. and Wiley Jr. sat this one out and walked around town. We relearned the strokes and tightened up our life vests and were ready to go. We walked down to the dock and chose our kayaks. The guides pushed us into the water and we were off.

 They said to keep an eye out for crabs (not to be confused with cards), star fish, and seals. The guide picked a star fish off a pole and showed it to us. He told us how to peel them off correctly so I (still Michael here) grabbed one and passed it around the group. We paddled around some more and then out of nowhere a seal popped its head out right in the middle of the group. It did that a couple more times and then swam away. We rounded a bend and saw about thirty seals sitting on the shore. I think Mr. S took some pictures that you can view.

 We headed back to the dock and hopped out of our kayaks. The guides said we could try out their paddle boards. We rented three and you could guess who fell into the 45 degree water first; yes it was Liam. After we decided the water was too cold, we ate lunch.

 The plan was to go the marine aquarium next to the outfitters. But of course, first Will and Wiley had to go to the local tourist’s shop to buy some stuffed animals (long story).Then we walked in to the aquarium and the lady at the front desk told us the rules on the touch tanks and showed us around. After the talk everyone went over and poked the sea cucumber (longer story). We all scattered around and eventually met up in the screening room. Inside, they had a bunch of pillows in the room and the lights were dim so you can pretty much guess what happened. Most of us (including adults) fell asleep in the public aquarium screening room. We only scared away 6 young couples. Just the usual day, all right Shay just woke up so he will be reporting now.

Hey everybody! Are you ready to hear about the most exciting part of the day for most people? Probably not what you’re expecting… shopping! On the ride home we pulled over to the closest supermarket (happened to be Wal-Mart), and everybody found a buddy or two and ventured inside. I don’t know what happened with all the groups, but needless to say: there was candy involved. Lots of candy. After about ten minutes we all piled into the car and drove back to our camp to prepare for Big Burrito Pig-out Night.

There’s no other way to say it. The burritos were delicious (thanks to the cooks: Wiley, some adults, and yours truly)! We were so happy that the senior K’s could join us for dinner and skits. We also gave some of the new Scouts new nicknames. They are as follows:

Shay- Katniss

Mr. K- Mr. Keys

Liam- Vulture

Mr. G- Grizzly

Matthew- Piano Man
Mr. K Sr - Master Griller
Mrs. K Sr - Betty Crocker
Mr. C - Waldo

Click here for the direct link for today's pics.

2013 Day 6-Fly Fishin’ and Crabin’

By Michael and Wiley

And we’re back America!! Good Morning, this is Wiley and joining me today is our special news caster, Michael. The story today is about how you fly a fish… you got that right? Hello…. anyone? 

Any who, enough with the jokes, we went fly-fishing for today. But before we start with the actual story, we will start off with the start of our day. We woke up at 6:30 (some way later than others) and we had cereal with fruit and Pop Tarts. After breakfast, we packed up, and we began our journey to Waters West Outfitters (which is the shop where the guides worked in). It was a long and boring drive (because mostly everybody was plugged into something electronic or they were asleep). We finally arrived at Waters West and we piled into the shop. We then got a look at the shop and what material they used to make a fly (yes these are not real flies).  Did you know, that one fly-fishing pole can cost up to at least 1 grand!!! In other words, we were very careful not to break or smash anything in the shop. 

 

We then left the shop and, guided by our two guides, went to a pond a few minutes down the road. Our guides, Mr. C and Mr. S, gave us an introduction on the poles used for fly-fishing. Then they told us to get into groups of two and follow one of them. Liam and I (Wiley) were in a group and we had Mr. S explaining to us how to construct our poles and how to put the rod in place. 

Then when everyone was done constructing their poles (adults included) we went into the Casting Academy. We learned how to correctly cast our lines and then we practiced our casts. But don’t worry parents, we didn't use real hooks for that (that part comes later).  After practicing our casts for a very long time, Mr. C and Mr. S taught us about the three main insects that the fish (trout) go for. Then after that, we were turned loose after they put our flies on.  We spread around the ponds, and we cast our lines into the water. Line after line we casted into the pond and time after time, no fish. Eventually I (still Wiley here) got something very huge and very heavy that I couldn't budge. It was, wait for it, a tree!! So after that I decided to move down a little and I tried to go big and un-winded a lot of line. Needless to say I failed at casting it and I caught a shrub. Enough about me, let’s talk about the others. Nobody even got a nibble for the first half of the adventure. So we decided to eat lunch, and guess what it was. It’s every man’s favorite food, hot dogs! And for motivation for us to eat healthy, Mr. K told everybody to eat the carrots first, or nobody will have dessert (besides the adults, of course). So Will and I and everyone else decided to eat carrots and the other two healthy foods, celery and tomatoes. While we were eating lunch, Mr. C caught a fish, but he lost it. Shortly after that, Mr. S reeled in two rainbow trout, and all the boys were in awe. Then we returned to eating.  The dessert portion was really a stampede, since dessert was candy. So after everyone settled down, we went back to fishing.  After what seemed like ten minutes, Luke caught a fish, but it evaded him. Another two minutes go by, and Luke catches another fish. It also evades him, but he said that it was a Blue Gill. After that, we began to pack up and leave. We helped Mr. C and Mr. S pack their poles. We then said our goodbyes, and we left. 

The car ride home was quite relaxing (but only because I feel asleep). We then arrived back at camp and we unloaded from the car. Here is our special news caster Michael for the next segment of the story. When we unloaded some of the scouts wanted to go down on the beach.  We rounded up a group and started to head down. Mr. R brought along some crab traps and we were going to see if we could catch anything. We went out on a dock and tossed them in. We had to let them sit on the bottom for ten to fifth teen minuets. Luke pulled one up and a small crab was hanging on. We tossed him back and put the trap in a couple more times. While we were doing that a man and his wife walked up and starter setting up a large trap. We started talking and learned they crabbed all over the U.S. We watched them pull up a large load of crab and started picking through them. Meanwhile we had pulled up a large crab and when over and asked the man what kind it was. He said it was female so we could not keep it. 

We started to pack up and stated to head to the campsite. Before we left he gave us a crab measuring device so we could figure out if we could keep it or not. When we got back to the campground dinner was ready. We eat steak and some of Mr. K’s awesome cinnamon, mustered, brown sugar baked beans. We sat down by the camp fire and read the blog posting and comments (keep 'em coming folks, we love them!). Well, that wraps up our top story today. Please stay tuned for more top breaking stories, and have a great finish to the work week. And remember, Stay Classy America!!

Editors Note: You can tell we finally had some camp time, I got to insert some pics in the blog itself!

Click for Today's Pics or see below.

2013 Day 5-Ozetta Beach Hike

By Luke and Liam

Well, it looks like the lazy twin get to blog!

Well, after recovering from the migraine, Luke joined us for this physical pain of walking on the beach. It was a long drive, so we started hiking at 1:15. At first the hike was a pain but then we did some fun activities. As soon as we saw the first stretch of beach we climbed twelve feet to the top of a boulder to eat lunch. After lunch we walked around looking for crabs, clams, and other sea life. After a few encounters with some unfriendly crabs we decided to move on.

As we were walking down the beach we could see the outline of a bird on a rock in the middle of the sea. After we took a closer look we realized it was a Bald Eagle! After that we continued down the trail climbing boulders along the way. On a few of the boulders (some reaching heights of twenty feet) some scouts slipped on a few rocks, but no worries no one got injured except a few small scrapes.

As we were climbing a particular boulder the adults pointed out a Bald Eagle in a tree. When we reached the top of there were not one, not two, but three Eagles in the tree, what a surprise! Finally we got back to hiking picking up crabs along the way. When we were almost ready to leave the beach and go onto the boardwalk we saw a fifth Bald Eagle flying towards us. Then we realized it was carrying Salmon in its talons. We watched fly from tree to tree and finally we left.

When we got back to the van (at 7 PM) we drove an hour and a half back to Port Angeles. We had a wonderful dinner of pizza and soda (Mr S limited us to one refill) since we would have gotten back to the campsite after 10 pm (again!) Our donor had given us some “mad money” for the trip as well, so that paid for the great meal (Bless you!) while we rested our tired feet.

Editors Note: Once again, I had so many pics to choose from, and there are actually a few of the best ones still to come once I get my hands on Mr K’s camera! This was another tough hike but the boys performed well, even when I told them they had to pick up the pace or miss out on pizza. I think we are all looking forward to an “easy” day of fly fishing and hot spring hiking tomorrow, even though we still have to get up at 6:30 once again.

Direct Link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/bsatroop820/2013Day5OzettaBeachHike?authuser=0&feat=directlink




Links to previous days pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/bsatroop820/2013Day0Preperations?authuser=0&feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/bsatroop820/2013Day1Downtown?authuser=0&feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/bsatroop820/2013Day2HohRainforestHike?authuser=0&feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/bsatroop820/2013Day3WhaleWatchin?authuser=0&feat=directlink

2013 Day 4-Little River Trail Hike

Hey there people of the internet. It’s your two favorite scouts Will and Patrick bringing you the story of the best day of hiking in the history of the outdoors.

It was the best hike any of us could possibly imagine. After waking up a bit later than usual (late being relative. It was 7:30) we had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon expertly prepared by our five star chefs here in troop 820. Then we all piled in the car and headed for Hurricane Ridge for some serious mountain hiking.

After stopping by the ranger station for some much needed advice, I (Will) decided to take the boys up the Hurricane Hill trail. I will be the first to admit, it was not an easy day even though it was awesome because I planned it. We hit the trail at 1:15. The first two and a half hours were spent executing a hill climb of 45° and even more in some places.

Once we broke free of the woods we entered a meadow with beautiful wildflowers and views of the surrounding snowcapped peaks. After enjoying the view for a while we went up to scale some nearby rocks for a better view and then headed out to finish up the trail. Continuing on the trail we got, wait for it, more hills. Luckily this was made better when Seamus and I found a large snow bank. Obviously there is only one thing that can be done with a giant snow bank in the middle of the summer. The following twenty minutes were spent having snowball fights, making snow angels, and skiing on our boots. Finally deciding to finish up our hike we once more traveled up some more hills until reaching Hurricane Hill.

There we saw some of the first wildlife yet. There were multiple deer and marmots scurrying about in the meadows, some no more than five feet away. After enjoying some nature we finished up the final one and a half miles and went on our way back to base camp. It was 8:30 when we got back to the van!  On our way we stopped by McDonalds for the dinner of champions, burgers.

While I have the chance I would like to add a correction to Saturday’s blog. Wiley and I were in no way lost, but sometimes you must get “lost” so the new scouts won’t follow you. Also, I would like to add how proud I am of the boys and adults on the hike today. This was in no way an easy hike and even the senior scouts were having some serious trouble. The terrain was some of the toughest I’ve ever seen and being in the woods for so long just going up can be very discouraging, but they all held in there and persevered to the top. I have great hopes for this group of guys and know that I can leave this troop in very capable hands.

Editor Note: There are many, many pics in today's post.  I grabbed Mr. C's chip and it had 478 photos, just form today!  That right there tells you how stupendous our hike was!  I have also heard form at least one mac user having troubles seeing the flash-based slideshow, so here is the direct link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/bsatroop820/2013Day4LittleRiverTrailHike?authuser=0&feat=directlink

    

Olympic Music Festival (OMF)

The location of our service project yesterday really deserves much more digital ink.  It was a fantastic place - a relaxing set of gardens and soothing environments, plus a beautiful setting for outdoor or indoor music.  Our service project focused on pulling weeds and clearing brush from the many gardens and short trials.  The Scouts had a good time doing some hard work, and the folks at OMF sure appreciated our efforts.

The indoor is held in an old dairy barn which has been outfitted with benches and hay bales for seating.  The acoustics are much, much better than I can portray here, but hopefully you get the idea.

http://www.olympicmusicfestival.org/

Oh, yeah, we also have some talented scouts and dads who like to entertain us all if you give them just half a chance...

Orca Hunters!

Hello!

By now you  have seen the awesome pic Mr K. got of the whale breaching, and the other close ups we had with the Orcas.

Here is a quick video of how close we got to nature.  Enjoy!

2013 Day 3-Whale Watchin’

Hello guys, here are your favorite MCs Wiley and Luke here (Wiley starting off). So here is the story hot from the pressing machine for today.

We figured that we should start the day off with waking up at 6:00 in the morning. We ate some cereal with raspberries and blue berries (what a healthy breakfast!) After breakfast, the boys and three adults went down to the pier that is connected to the campsite, and we threw in our plankton net that we made yesterday. We stayed there for ten minutes collecting water from the sea. Then we headed towards the science lab to look at our sample that we collected. We met Jake who gave us a tour of the labs (and what he does as a federal agent in Washington State) and gave us a history lesson about the land. After that, we looked at our samples from the plankton net. There were so many things in the water that you couldn’t even see! There were Anthropoids, Medusas, and many other things.

After that we went back to camp to repack our bags and change into warmer clothing for our whale watching tour. But before we could begin our tour, we headed down to do a service project.

For the service project we cleared weeds from the many gardens at the Olympic music festival. There is a funny story about organic farming but to cut to the chase, when a farmer asks you if you want gloves, you better say yes! Then we had a healthy lunch consisting of sandwiches, Doritos, Rice Krispy Treats, and fresh raspberries from the farm. Then a few of our most musically talented scouts preformed a piano solo at the barn (right by the farm) and it was fantastic.

Then we loaded into the van for the drive to Port Townsend for whale watching. The ride to Port Townsend was very loud (due to a few of our scouts being more “energetic”). We arrived at Port Townsend an hour early, so we hung around the pier and looked at the ocean. Our boat, The Olympas, finally arrived and we boarded her. The captain then explained that the earlier group didn’t see any whales because the fog was too thick. And then she told us some good news; that we might see a rare Super Pod (which is the three pod groups being together in one huge area). We then took off and we went through the Strait of Wandafuka (it is a real place) and we went north towards Canadian waters. We traveled through the ocean for about an hour and then we saw our first sign of the whales. At first, you could only see their tails, but then their heads popped up. The captain told us that these were Orca whales (also known as Killer whales). We watched them slap their tails, and come out of the water. There was one whale that was 10-15 feet close to the boat, but then it turned and popped out at the back of the boat. After that, we began to make our voyage home. Before we got back to shore, we saw two Baleen whales (which are filter-feeding whales).

Then we returned to the pier and drove back to camp. We are now preparing dinner and readying our Skits. Until next time folks, this is Wiley and Luke signing off.

2013 Day 2-Hoh Rainforest Hike

(As told by Seamus & Matthew)

This morning we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast, and hopped in the van for a three-hour car ride. It was long. When we finally arrived at our destination, Hoh River Rainforest, we prepared ourselves for a ten mile hike.

Our trail was called the Hoh River trail. We lasted about a mile before we got distracted by a tree fallen over a river. Will promptly decided to attempt to cross it. Fortunately, nobody took a swim, although we did catch some adults scooting, rather than walking across.

About halfway through, we stopped for lunch, and to climb the waterfall. We had a fest of summer sausage and cheese. After lunch we scaled the waterfall. Finally, we reached our end destination, Five Mile Island, and it turned out there was no island. We rested there for a while and soaked our feet in the river, then headed back.

We had just started out on the trail, and Will Seamus, Wiley, Luke, and Patrick were anxious to get to dinner, therefore we were walking a little ahead of the group. We were walking along talking, and then we suddenly looked up and saw a bear sitting less than ten feet away from us. We immediately ran back to the group, and told them that there was a bear ahead. Of course nobody believed us, probably because we were laughing so hard (mostly out of relief). But when they saw the bear they believed us alright! We all cautiously walked past the bear and began to head back to the van for dinner.

After hiking for another 5 miles, (completing our ten mile hike,) we began to prepare the spaghetti. While the spaghetti cooked, we all played a game of “Jackpot”. The spaghetti was fantastic and the meatballs were too. Later, we all piled into the van and drove back to camp, not arriving until almost 1 AM. We all hit the sack; excited for the next day!

2013 Day 1-Downtown

(As told by Liam and Patrick)

Today we left for the summer trip. We met at the airport this morning. After we had our baggage checked and went through security we were ready to get on the plane. Finally we were able to get on the plane. On the plane we did a variety of things, we worked on oceanography, played electronics, read, and slept.

After four hours we got off the plane. We were in Seattle! When we got into Seattle we stopped to have lunch in fountain gardens. After lunch we visited the famous Space Needle. As we were coming down from the Space Needle we saw a bunch of zombies, Yikes!

Then we drove to downtown Seattle. In downtown we visited the fish market. We had walked around for an hour when we realized we lost Will and Wiley. After looking for ten minutes we decided to call them. Once they assured us that they were safe, we went to meet them at the ferry, Thank Heaven! (Scoutmaster Note: To be clear, they were also with Mr C.)

When we got to the ferry gates, we saw Mr. K behind bars. Then Liam, Matthew, and Patrick somehow appeared at the other side. When they tried to come back the gate wouldn’t budge. At the ticket stand Mr. S bought three extra tickets anyways, because a Scout is always truthful, even when they go off the trial!

On the ferry they fed some seagulls with Mr. Kane’s homemade bread. When they got to the other side the Sr. K’s and Mr. Ulrich welcomed them for dinner. Mr. Ulrich was very nice and gave us patches and a book about the birds of the Olympic peninsula. They had the best dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit, beans, chips, and soda. And extra we had Copper River salmon from the fish market. After dinner we thanked our hosts and Mr. Ulrich then headed to our campsite. Along the way we told jokes and listened to some music. At the campsite we set up our tents and hammocks and went to sleep. That’s how our first day went.

 

2013 Day 0-Prep

After many months of planning, the 2013 trip is ready to roll! We are headed off to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest for a week of camping, hiking, kayaking and whale watching.

Chuck Rekow ( www.chuckrekow.com ) knocked another one out of the park again this year, capturing all of the themes of our trip! Chuck has been a huge supporter of our troop for many years, and every year he continues to amaze us with his talent and generosity. Thanks Chuck!

We will be posting at least once a day, more often if we can, and maybe even from the trail. Please comment often on our posts – we always like to hear from home. Then we also know you are following along instead of… well, enjoying the peace and quiet and out doing fun things without us :)

The K’s arrived a few days early to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa K, plus do all of our grocery shopping for us. They have also provided firewood, propane, small stove, our transport to the car rental place, a B&B for the K’s and S’s… the list is nearly endless, and this is all before the trip has even started! Thank you Mr. and Mrs. K!

We also need to take a moment to sincerely thank our donor for the 2013 summer trip. As airfare continued to ratchet up, our trip was threatened as the cost had become too great for most family’s budgets. We had a person who heard of our plight and they stepped up anonymously and donated a great deal of money to offset the airfare. What a testament to scouting, this person’s generosity, and the grace of God! Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you!

I include a few pics of Vancouver and downtown Seattle just to get this party started.

Stay tuned!