START (click here) Normal size (512 pixels); zoom (enlarge) only the ones interesting to you.
START BIG SLIDES (click here) -- same show, but everything is zoomed to 1024 pixels.
GALLERY (click here) of miniature photos. Click on one to jump into the slide show at that photo.
This chart shows night temperatures dropped to minus 7 degrees!
(the upper line is temperature, the lower line is dew-point) in the
morning the wind was blowing from the east, strong enough to straighten
out troop flags.
The camporee started Friday evening as troops began arriving around 4 p.m. Loy Moser organized this event and changed it to Hyrum State Park when the turnout was larger than expected -- a delightful turn of events. Scoutmasters pushed hard to get tents up before dark.
During the night, the wind came up from the east, blowing hardest on those tents perched at the edge of the bluff. Our water coolers kept the water inside from freezing but the spigots froze and the lid froze onto the containers so we could not get water out. I kept a sports bottle inside with me in the tent but even that was frozen solid by morning.
"Hot Hands" warmers helped get us through the night. I banked snow up against the tent and that kept out the drafts. I saw two small igloos and a fairly high U-shaped snow bank constructed by the troops.
Activities on Saturday: Loy Moser operated a compass course where Scouts are given bearings and distances, and upon completing the course find themselves at a cone, and they report which cone they have found. District Committee Chairman Paul Harris operated a map and compass orienteering station which included an interesting memory test -- the troop gets a minute to devise a strategy, then one minute to observe printed charts with a wide variety of symbols, text and pictures, then the troop reports on what they have seen. I watched one Senior Patrol Leader assign Scouts to study certain portions of the chart, avoiding unnecessary duplication of study. Jim Crook operated a knot station; Scouts chose a knot from a bucket and were instructed to identify the knot and then tie one. The ropes were a bit stiff because of the cold; tying knots with gloves or mittens proved rather difficult but was very good experience for real life situations. Another station was a life-carry relay, and of course one must always have a fire starting station that included making the kindling and tinder, fuel wood; burning a string at a specified height and then properly putting out the fire and disposing of the remains. Nobody burned the string but several troops singed it a bit.
The big moment was the Klondike Race. Out across the powdered snow on Hyrum reservoir to an orange cone at a somewhat arbitrary distance, 50 yards or so, and back. Troop 79 was the winner of the race.
As the morning progressed, the sun shone and the temperature rose to about 20 degrees. It was a most excellent experience!
Photos by Michael Gordon. Eventually, other contributors photos will be included as they become available. The following pages constitute a slide show and photo selector.
Below each photo is a set of links (buttons) to advance, return, or exit the slide show.
To download an image: Right click the image and choose "save image as."
Each photo includes a button to ZOOM to a larger size. This size is intended to fill the screen for closer inspection, or for saving as a computer 'wallpaper', or for download to your disk for use in newsletters and other medium-resolution needs.
A thumbnail gallery is available for visually selecting photos. If you choose this option, clicking a thumbnail puts you into the slide show at the photo chosen; from there the slide show proceeds with the remainder of the show.