Dec 23, 2011

Governor Lake trip

As I have mentioned in other stories as a scout all of my summer camps were into the Granddaddy Basin of the Uintah National Forest. They were always fun and very memorable. I think it was the second year into the granddaddies when we went to Governor Lake that was situated just below Granddaddy lake. There were some waterfalls that went from the one down to the other but I don’t remember them being particularly spectacular or even any falls involved more of a stream running down the hill but there should have been because it was pretty darn steep going down with our backpacks on. Governor Lake was a real pretty lake. It was somewhat long and took quite a wile to get around it. There were some marshy areas around it as well where to follow the edge of the lake was not possible. We camped in the trees and one of my favorite scout photographs was taken that year. It has always made me think of the Civil War when I look at it since we were in A Frame tents and you can see that tent with smoke rising from the fire pit into the early morning sun that was just breaking through the tall pines. It was not a good year for fishing that I remember but of course there were never any good years for fishing for me since I wasn’t too good at it anyway. We did hike to a Lost lake that year and it was well named as we almost got lost looking for it. I remember it was good fishing as long as you kept walking along the edge of the lake and following the school of fish that seemed to be swimming around the edge in endless circles. It wasn’t a very large lake but all of seemed to catch quite a few fish that day. Getting back to camp again we almost got lost since there really was no trail that led in and out of that lake. I think the only reason we were able to find it is because the scoutmaster had been there several times before and so knew his way. It was a fun year and I still hold that lake as one of my most favorite in the basin.

Dec 22, 2011

Gathering Fast Offerings

My love for Marie didn’t come exactly after I had first met her at the school. I was still interested in another blond when I was 12 that was in my class. I also was not always real excited about gathering Fast Offerings as a deacon either but it was always fun to see if I could get a certain route that was in Marie’s neighborhood. I liked a girl, whose name is escaping me for the moment, that lived just behind where Marie’s family moved. I liked going on that route because it had that girl’s family home in it. I enjoyed going there because she would often open the door and take the envelope to her parents to fill out.  She always had a pretty smile and was fun to talk to at school as well. We were in the same class for about three years or so before her father moved their family to Fruitland and I only then saw her very occasionally at common school functions like basketball games and track meets. (I just recalled her name, it was Karla Lewis.) So my years of dedication in service in the church were largely shaped by my parents example but the dedication also in part has to be attributed to girls like Karla and Marie that made me want to do it for reason that could not be quite so largely attributed to my desire to do it for the Lord. It has since become such but I am glad that Marie is still there as a part of it many many times.

Dec 21, 2011

Flying squirrels and the biology trip

I loved my summer biology class that I took following my junior year in high school, Marie was in the same class, need I say more as to why it was fun. Anyway it was quite a different experience for me. We took several field trips, one of which took us to the Bear River Bird Refuge via the Alpine Loop behind Timpanogos. I really enjoyed those trips not only because I was with Marie but also because I was learning about birds and animals. We went one one camp up into the Yellowstone drainage of the High Uintahs. I enjoyed the campfire  and being with Marie on that camp but still recall the thing that was most interesting besides Marie, it was a flying squirrel. I knew they existed but had never seen one in my life. They should probably be called gliding squirrels rather than flying because that is actually what they do is jump from a limb of one tree and glide with the legs stretched out to the next tree. They have skin between their legs that make a parachute type of effect for them so that they can catch the air under their legs to aid in the gliding process. I must admit that I was sorely disappointed though when the teacher killed it so we could see it up closely and inspect how it operated. I figured it was good enough just watching it glide across the air between the trees. Later in the class that summer I caught a disease because of it called Touleremia. I don’t remember how to spell it but I do remember it was from skinning a ground squirrel that had been hit, killed but not badly damaged on the road through Strawberry valley where we stopped and picked up. I had a small cut on my hand where I became infected as I skinned the squirrel and prepared it for the class. It was not very fun getting that disease but it did get me out of the final exam and still an A in the class. I think the teacher must have thought I had been through enough already and had done all of my assignments with a lot of enthusiasm and pride. I was thankful for not having to take the exam but it would have probably been easier.

Dec 20, 2011

First Aid with Trooper Hooper

I was very timid as a youth (and somewhat still as an adult).  Scouting was hard for me because I had a hard time learning all of the stuff that was required for merit badges. I very vividly recall when I had to go to the First Aid merit badge counselor Trooper Hooper. I wasn’t unaware of who he was since I had liked his daughter a little that was in my grade at school and also in our ward. I was probably more afraid of him though because he was a highway patrolman. I can remember that it was pretty hard to get a merit badge passed off by him according to others whom had already done it. So I went with great fear and trepidation that I would never be able to pass it off to him. I was sorely wrong however and had fun, even though it was pretty hard. He was very kind and understanding of me and my abilities. I learned to love him a great deal and in fact years later came to appreciate something else about him as well. He was very perceptive and once when I was working a job at the Texaco station in town from 10 pm to 6 am seven days a week, I was very glad that I knew him as well as I did. There was a van that pulled up to gas up and about 12 men got out of the van and circled the station. He was coming down the road and glanced over noticing the van and pulled into the station next to the building where he got out and started talking to me while the men slowly returned to the van, paid for their gas and left probably a lot poorer than they had expected when they first pulled up and found that I was the only attendant. He told me after they left that things looked pretty dangerous for me and decided to pull into the station even though he was about to turn around and go home for the night.

Dec. 19, 2011

Utah National Parks Council Jamborals (Fillmore 1994 and 2000 more specifically).

We have had several Jamborals in this council for scouting and I have been lucky enough to go to 4 of them. The first one we went to as a family was over here in the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon. Marie and I decided to take the children to it just to see what it was like. I think Marie was probably the Cubmaster in the ward at that time also I really do not remember for sure. It was fun and we were able to see a lot of Scouting exhibits and a long zip line which we didn’t get to ride, too young).

I also got to go to one, The gorge Us Getaway, at Flaming Gorge and was involved in the district enough that we were able to go three days earlier than the rest of the troops in the council so that we could set it up and prepare everything. That was really more fun than the actual event as far as I was concerned because we could sleep outside of our tents and hear the coyotes as they came near the camp to howl each night. Doug Binks was over the camp setup so that was even a lot of fun first getting to work with him on the staff and that later translated into many times that we would spend together at camps of various kinds. Jeff was with me on that camp and we hiked the area below the dam while other were rafting so that I could photograph them on the water. I had been down the Green River many times as a youth but never knew a trail existed along the side of the river until that camp. I also enjoyed working with Mark Poulson, my cousins son, with whom I ended being with on other camps as well. The beat part of that event that I remember was when I went with Doug and several others to erect the giant gateway that would cross the road prior to entering the camp. We made it with huge logs that were set into the ground with the aid of backhoes and then held up in place as we lashed the poles together. They were some very large trees that we used for the side posts and the ones that spanned to width of the road. It was an impressive site. Yet the thing that I best recall and was most impressed by was the fact that when we tore it down they just used large cats to push it over. When they did I expected the ropes to start popping in little bits but was shocked when not one rope even broke while all ot the huge logs broke in pieces where the ropes were holding them together. We used about four miles of rope for that camp and a lot of it just on that gateway.

It was fun too because a former Bishop (Bishop Jensen) of my youth had been asked to run the mess hall and one of the medics from the army who was there to provide medical assistance had been one of my boys in my Blazer class when I taught scouts at age 17 (Bruce Taylor).

Then came the 1994 and 2000 Jamborals in Fillmore. I was in the Bishopric at that time and went with the Cub scouts to that Jamboral. It seems like it was only for the day but I remember the dust and everything that we had to endure because it was held in a field that was so dry the little grass that was there soon gave way to the dirt below and the dust was horrible. It was a fun experience however and I wanted to be more involved the next time so when it was announced that they were holding another one in the year 2000 I quickly calculated what Loren’s age would be at that time and knew I would be able to take him as a staff member if I went as well. So  since I was also involved in the District I soon was asked if I would Chair the committee from the Hobble Creek District. That  was quite an experience as I started to put together a staff of adults that could work with me for the next four years and develop the plans for our districts involvement in the event. I had some really great help and many of them are now lifelong friends from what we experienced during those years. We went down to the camp tow days early to setup and that was a lot of fun as well. We learned the wind blows a lot harder than I had initially learned for the first time there 6 years earlier and we had to put the tent up about three times before enough camps were setup at the beginning of the week to provide some wind barriers for our tents. Loren worked hard and we had a lot of fun during that week. Lee Greenwood also came and performed for us as well as the Second Generation Osmond Brothers. President Hinckley also came and spoke to us as well and it was a very neat experience. And even though there were major crowds and lots of people milling around it wasn’t too bad since I had helped to set it up for them. I would love to experience that type of an event again. It was fun to pull onto that field before anyone else and to pull off after everyone else. We did have a water truck that ran constantly to keep the roads wet and the dust settled. It worked OK but the wind funnels that would come through in the afternoons were another experience as well. I still recall one scout running after a dust devil trying to hop into the middle of it. I am sure some of the items that it and the other funnels picked up were taken to Fillmore and even into Holden and beyond.