Klondike Starts

As we were making breakfast. We had some people go down early and get us a spot in line. We were second! The people who were first got there around 6 a.m. - we were happy to be second.

As you can see, there were quite a few scout patrols who came. It was good that we got there early. They called out 6 patrols at a time to start. Being near the start meant we had shorter lines at the start of the competition.

The first task was to go to the "North Pole" (a marker in the middle of the field) and read a bearing to guide the patrol to their first task. We were successful with our orienteering. Below, the boys wait for their direction on where to go first.

The first task given to us was knot tying. We had to successfully tie the 6 basic scout knots (pgs 382-390): two half hitches, taut-line hitch, timber hitch, clove hitch, bowline, and sheetbend. Additionally, we had to tie a bowline on a bight and a figure 8 knot.

Each boy was to draw a random knot out of a bag and then when given the go, they were to tie that knot. If someone didn't know their knot they could recieve help but only they could touch their rope. We were able to get all the knots tied, but unfortuantely the clove hitch slipped before it was judged. :( Below are the boys tying their knots.

The next task judged our patrol. Our patrol leader was successful in naming all the boys in our troop, giving our troop number, our patrol name, and leading our patrol in our call. (Beep-beep for the Roadrunners.)

For an activity, the whole patrol needed to stand on a bucket to successfully avoid the "kitchen with razor-sharp claws and flowing lava." For a nano-second, or less, all the boys were off the snow and on the bucket, so we passed.