Boy Scout Camp 2009

This year our Scout troop went to a LDS encampment that included 10 Stakes or about 750 people. We went to Camp Buck Tom in eastern Tennessee, near Chattanooga. It is positioned in the western part of the Smokey Mountains. We left at 8am on the 11th of July and traveled close to 3.5 hours. We had 14 boys and 5 leaders from our troop go. Here are some of the highlights from the week that we spent there.


One the first day, the boys chose their tents and bunk mates and the leaders put up their tents. Our tent had air conditioning, courtesy of one of the leaders. Here we are relaxing after a busy morning. This is Alex and Matt's tent. Ty Parsons is also in the picture.

Here are the leaders that went with Troop 528. Starting from the left, Steele Parsons, Blaine Fuller, Loren Richards, me, and Heath Tennyson. Heath is actually about a foot taller than me, but I asked him to stand in a ditch so I wouldn't be the shortest. This is the group that kept the boys in line. Actually it was just Steele that kept them in line, while the rest of us took it easy in our camp chairs.



While Loren can be a nice guy most of the time, every once in a while his darker side gets the best of him and he succumbs to trickery as evidenced by the rabbit ears. My expression shows that I was onto his little game.

Alex, Matt, and Brandyn walking back to camp with me right after our swim test. Each of them made "swimmer", as did I. No one wants to be stuck with the white wrist band (non-swimmer).

Alex is getting ready to hit the sack in this picture. He bunked with Matt Fuller, who couldn't have been a better bunk mate. The two had a good time along with Nick, Jeremy and others. The tents were pretty nice; a lot better than I had growing up. Matt said that he was glad to have Alex in his tent because each night Alex would take care of all the spiders by spraying them.

Here is a picture of all the scouts that came. It was a LDS scout camp with 600 scouts and an additional 150 leaders. It made for quite a large campfire and church service on Sunday. It was an awesome sight to see so many. What was more amazing was how reverent the service was.

Loren Richards and I did most everything together during the camp. We helped out at the shotgun range in the mornings and worked the waterfront in the afternoons. We enjoyed the canoeing the best and spent more time playing around in the canoes than helping the boys most days. At least they learned what not to do in a canoe. On Friday we went white water rafting down the Ocoee river with Heath.

During the week, the leaders were busy with helping out at the mess hall, cleaning the bathrooms and showers, and helping out or teaching merit badge classes. In our spare time we could do a list of activities to earn a Scoutmaster merit badge. One of those was making a walking stick. Here I am carving mine and kissing it for good luck.

People will know that I (Eric) am posting this because Rozanne would never post a picture like this. I swear it was a leaky canteen. We all had a good laugh. Knowing Matt, one of our scouts, it is on Facebook already.

Alex and I outside my air-conditioned tent. It seems the area outside our tent was the popular spot, where we had all our chairs set up. We gathered there each night, after lunch and between classes to chat and shoot the breeze.

Alex working with his friend Brandyn in Pioneering. Alex also took Aviation, Lifesaving, and Rowing. I was proud of him for accomplishing so much. In Lifesaving he had to swim a half mile, show he could save drowning persons varied ways and bring a 15lb bowling ball off the floor of the lake at a depth of 8 feet.

As mentioned above, one of the classes Alex took was Aviation. He got to go to an airfield for a field trip and check out the planes. Here he is with his friend Nick Howe. Alex was lucky enough to have friends in each of his classes.

Photo opportunity with Brother Gibson of the General Young Men's Presidency. And I am not fat, even though it may look it in this picture. I blame the pants.

Alex with Brother Gibson (photo courtesy of Jeremy Howe)

Alex is enjoying his time with his friends, (from the left) Chris, Nick, Matt, Jeremy, and Bryan. This is just before the closing campfire.

The leaders had to bring their own chairs because there was only enough room for the boys in the ampitheater. I am sitting next Heath Tennyson and Loren Richards. Blaine Fuller is up two people from Loren. We did most things together during the campout.

Beautiful Sunrise on the morning we left...beautiful for many reasons, mainly because we were leaving. Matt our Senior patrol leader took this picture.

Overall it was a great time. I valued the opportunity to spend time with Alex, the leaders, and the other young men from our troop. I could have done without the humidity, heat, night time severe weather warnings and thunderstorms, humidity, bugs and humidity. But such is camping in the South I suppose.