Scotchman Peak

Fall is here and the inclimate camping season begins. It was our first campout with Howard Ashby as our Assistant Scoutmaster. He has decades of experience and we are so lucky to have him. We celebrated his birthday by giving him a participant hat from the World Wide Jamboree and a new "cat hole" shovel, if you know what I mean.

We did have rain, but we did not have the non stop rain like we are having now as I type this.

We had Zac MacMaster-Life Scout, Daniel Springman-Star Scout, Jacob Presley-First Class and Spencer Harlan-soon to be Tenderfoot Scout. We missed Hunter, Ryan, Jace, Cullen, Adam, Josh and the other older boys. I hope we have all boys with us at the Fall Camporee next month.

Our purpose was to help Spencer advance to Tenderfoot. We also planned to summit Scotchman Peak; the highest peak in North Idaho. We did well with goal one and will have a second attempt at Scotchman next year, 323 doesn't give up.

Zac and Jacob tested and taught Spencer about the scouting skills required for Tenderfoot e.g. fuse a rope, explain EDGE as teaching technique, recite the Oath, Law, Motto, Slogan AND Spencer taught us all about the flora. He knows his forest plants. Huckleberry, Thimbleberry, Yarrow, etc. In fact he is the recipient of the collectible vintage BSA compass for his woods knowledge.

While we did not summit, I observed that we were the only group gutsy enough to overnight at the trailhead, disciplined enough to be on the trail at 8 am and the ONLY group our age. We saw approx 30 people on the trail come up behind us and NO one was younger than their 20's and most of the group were tough seniors.... amazing, where are the BSA of the Inland NW?

Happy Birthday Howard Ashby.
Well done Troop 323.
Well done Spencer Harlan.