The troop 353 went to Escalade climbing gym for the February lock-in. Besides climbing their rock climbing walls, there was so much more to do. There was a rope ladder which hung from the ceiling at an angle. You had to climb up it hanging upside. There was also a climbing rope. We converted that into a rope swing.

            However, the real reason we were here was to climb. That was exactly what we did. The staff at Escalade gave us harnesses to wear. Then they hooked us into carabiners attached to ropes. The walls we climbed had handholds and footholds to hang on to. That wasn’t the exciting part. When we were ready to come down we just leaned outward into thin air. Then we had to walk down the wall. This was called repelling.

            We got to stay up until about 3’0 clock A.M. Then we had to go to sleep. It was hard with all the excitement. We finally fell asleep much later. When we woke up we had to leave Escalade. I didn’t want to leave because I had so much fun.

Grant Mercer

TBD

This past weekend Troop 353 went spelunking at Cumberland caverns. After a three hour drive we arrived. One of the first things we noticed was large yellow box marked “Cumberland Caverns.” We crawled through a hole in the side of it. Inside of it there was a tunnel.

            After we had gone through the tunnel several times we went gem panning. We grabbed bags of dirt and headed for the sluice. Several of us found large amethysts, emeralds, obsidian, sapphires, and pyrite.

            For  lunch we ate cold MREs. They were good even if they were cold.              After lunch we met our guide. He led us to the cave. There were 10 foot icicles outside the entrance to the cave. When we stepped inside it was 58 degrees. The first thing I noticed was the size. We were in a huge chamber. Next our guide led us to another chamber where we put our gear. After that we went on a tour. We crawled under rocks, climbed ladders, and slogged through mud. Near the end we turned off all our lights. There was no light, You could feel your pupils expanding.

            After we finished the tour there was another tour. This time it didn’t involve crawling. The guide showed us a light show, chandeliers, and caverns.

            Then we all went to bed.

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and left. Thinking back on it I thought it was a memorable experience.

Grant Mercer

It was mighty cold and dark when we arrived at Windy Water. Soon as we got there we immediately set about getting our HQ and barracks set up. After a round of Cracker Barrel, we all decided to hit the hay.

            The very next day we woke up early around 9 o’clock. After the warm tidings of breakfast, which for my patrol, were some jolly good pancakes and bacon with a cool glass of Sunny D. Then, Ms. Heiges arrived and gave us a quick tour of geocaching. We completed 3 geocaches. At each geocache, we left our mark by signing a piece of paper. They were as small as a water bottle to as a large as an ammo box. Also we made a neat discovery; a pink bicycle which we adopted to be our mascot.

            When we returned to HQ, we were met by three challenges which we completed to see who would select the menus. Well, it turned out we actually all tied. So my patrol selected the entrée and the opposing patrol selected the dessert. The judge, Mr. Lyons, judged us on three categories. They were tastiness, teamwork, and presentation. It came down to presentation which he awarded to the Wolverines. Later that night, we had a rousing tournament of cornhole. The final two teams were Mike Gwyn and Thomas Heiges and Alex Nikoukary and Evan Mercer. The latter team won. After another Cracker Barrel (no dinner), we all set off to what would a very rainy night.

            The final day, we all packed up our tents and HQ on the gloomy day. At the ex-HQ, we all shared our roses,  thorns and buds so we could improve our next cook off.

Evan Mercer

On November, 20-22 the troop went camping. This was no ordinary camping trip for this was the Sham wars campout. We came, we saw, we shammed.

            On that Friday we arrived at our campsite near a lake. It was already dark by the time we got there. Then we spilt into two teams in preparation for the next day.

            The next morning we woke, made shams, and started the first round. All was quiet for the first few minutes. Oh how the flour flew on that fist round. The second round was even whiter. Then the adults and the Knights of the Apocolypse. After that Sham dueling a free for all battle  happened. Then we ran out of flour. So we started wrestling.

            In the fire pit there was a lonely wood tower. It stood there until we burned. We told jokes and sang songs and ate parfaits. Then we went to bed.

            I was sad to leave the next morning, I had really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for NEXT years Sham wars.

Grant Mercer

Philmont

                   Philmont was a great adventure.  We saw bear tracks, hiked through rain, and even summated a mountain.  We also got to see some beautiful scenery.  The rangers were friendly and we got to hike over 50 miles.

            We first started off at base camp, and there we got our food.  We met our ranger who was going to be guiding us for the next 2 days.  We spent 10 days hiking at Philmont.  The next day we went out.

            Our first day, we got to see a preserved dinosaur footprint and we learned how to hang our bear bags.  For the rest of the time, we did our trek and did activites.  One particular thing is that we got to climb Mount Baldy.  It was a difficult climb but the view was rewarding.  Philmont was a very rewarding experience.

By: Kyle

Our Fishing Camp out 

By: Conor

        First, when we got there we set up the dining fly and then our tents. We didn’t do a lot of fishing on the first day because it was kind of too late. The next day, we ate breakfast burritos for breakfast. We took 30 minute trips in a paddle boat around the lake and did a lot of fishing that day. We had pizza for lunch. Chris, Alex, Alec, Jay and I made a fire and Chris roasted the leftover hot dogs that we had from dinner over the campfire.

 I went to the Camporee with the other scouts and it was fun.  It was remembering how things never change over 100 years.  We did activities that scouts did back then 100 years.  We (troop 353) hosted the tripod lashing game.  The Exploding Chinchillas(Phoenix patrol and Atomic Penguin patrol) came in 1st for that.  The new scout's patrol was the Phantom Bunnies, we came in 1st for the First-Aid game.  They had firemaking, blindfolded tent building, flag pole raising, and alot of other stuff.  The 2nd night there it sprinkled a little but not bad enough to ruin any part of the campout.  We had to wake up at 6:30 a.m.  It was very fun at the Camporee.

Evan, one of our Star scouts, recently went to the state geography bee. He placed fourth in the state. Evan spent a lot of time studying at the March camp out. He was able to stump everyone with his knowledge.

Troop 353 is very proud of this accomplishment by one of our own.

Jake H. Eagle Project Progress

          On my Eagle Scout project I am restoring a Nature Trail at Ford Elementary. I am putting in a new trail entrance, terracing the existing trail, building a new trail, putting in a fence, and building bulletin boards.

          On the 1^st work day we built the bulletin boards. We cut all of the wood and put them together in 8 hours. We made them at the Riggs’s house. They will have clear plastic over the front. They will also have a roof on them that has been shingled.

          On the 2^nd work day we built the new trail entrance. We boarded it with landscaping timbers and held them in place with spikes. We also terraced using landscaping timbers. We put rebar in them and bent the rebar over to hold them in place. We also made a new trail and mulched everything that we did.   

          On the 3^rd work day we removed logs and trash from the creek. We also removed old landscaping timbers from the unused part of the trail. We put more mulch on the new trail, the new trail entrance and over the terracing.

          On the last day we are putting in the fence posts and the bulletin boards. We will be putting the fence post in the ground 8 inches, and there will be 2 inches of concrete. We will be putting the bulletin in the ground 18 inches in solid concrete.

Biking Campout

            On March 21^st we left to go on our biking campout. When we got there we went on about a 10 mile bike ride. The next day before leaving to go back to the church we went on another bike trip. A lot of the scouts had a great time and I think that we should do it again.

M. Gwyn

The March campout was at Chickamauga National Battlefield. In addition to cycling we also visited the museum and monuments.

New Scout Campout Sat 4/7 - 4/8 Windy Water

By: J. Molander

Unpacked our stuff and put up tents. Learned how to do a flag ceremony. Played ultimate frisbee. Put up dinner fly. Ate lunch-hot dogs. Got our fireman chit, toten chip, and tied knots. Ate dinner - tacos. Played dodgeball. Did campfire and skits. Went to bed. Woke up, ate breakfast. Packed up. Messed with ropes. Packed up and left.

On Monday, April 06 several adults and scouts went fishing at Olde Rope Mill Park on the Little River in Woodstock. Our quarry was the elusive White Bass which move up the rivers to spawn when Spring starts to warm up.

They pretty much remained elusive. Several were caught and released but the drop in temperature and the strong gusty wind probably drove most of them back into the lake.

We still had a good time and will do this again.

Summer Camp was again at Camp Woodruff.

We took 22 Scouts and three adults. Our numbers were down this year because of  sending a crew to Philmont and a crew to Seabase.

The new guys were in the Mountain Man program learning basic Scout skills. They also worked on their swimming merit badge and a shorter badge such as woodcarving, art. or leatherwork. On Monday night they completed their 5 mile hike requirement.

The experianced scouts chose between several different merit badge classes. They did a mix of required merit badges such as environmental science, first aid, and emergency preparednesss to fun ones like rifle or shotgun, canoeing, and space exploration. Woodruff has too much offered to list them all here.

All the scouts did one off site adventure. The younger guys floated the Nantahala River. The older ones did the Ocoee River. A few chose horseback riding over the rivers.

Two of our Scouts did the new Whitewater Adventure. They spent all week off site learning and practicing whitewater rafting and kayaking skills.