2023 Project Tenderfoot Recap and Photos

12:20pm Friday: Mr. Bielkiewicz and Mr. Ross start discussions, due to the suddenly heavy local snowfall, around options for tonight and the possibility of postponing the start of the trip to Saturday is a surprisingly strong option.

1:23pm Friday: They decide that meeting at the church at 4:00pm might be our best course of action and start a group thread with all the leaders/drivers to get their input. Except for Mr. Smith, who, as fate would have it, has a different cell phone number than Mr. Bielkiewicz has on file…

1:31pm Friday: Mutual agreement (except for Mr. Smith, who is unaware of our new plan altogether) is made to meet at the church with a “game-time” decision imminent.

3:40pm Friday: Caleb N. scares the living daylights out of Mr. Bielkiewicz, who has just obtain his obligatory Subway sandwich, by honking his mom’s horn as he crosses the parking lot of said Subway sandwich shop.

3:45pm Friday: As penance for the aforementioned scaring of said life, back at the church, Caleb helps Mr. Bielkiewicz load final Troop gear into the trailer and hook it up to his car.

4:00pm Friday: Our determined travelers start arriving at the church, ready for whatever Colorado weather Gods can throw at them.

4:20pm Friday: Mr. Bielkiewicz and Aidan, the trip SPL, take a last minute look at the weather at our destination and realize the snow has subsided and decide to forge on with concurrence from the rest of the trip attendees…

…and the rest, as they say, is history!

Just a small taste of the decision-making process that goes on for our adventures. Thankfully we did not have a repeat of the 2022 Not-Klondike in our drive up to Camp Patiya, exactly 7 miles West of Boulder. The roads were fine, even in the mountains, albeit steep enough to push the limits of Mr. Bielkiewicz’s Honda Pilot while pulling the fully loaded trailer up Flagstaff Road. It’s a beautiful drive…normally. This time we were fully socked in with fog and clouds and could barely see 30 feet beyond the car. We arrived safely to the parking lot of the camp where a nice layer of 2 or 3 inches of fresh snow covered the entire camp. It was actually quite beautiful – more so because it was no longer falling, just as our trusty weather apps had told us. We followed the sign directing us towards the campsites…only to find it led us on the scenic tour of the camp.

Once we established our location, we quickly began to setup camp before another wave of predicted snow might fall. Fortunately, everyone, including our new crossover Scouts, were very efficient during the process and we had camp setup in no time at all, including lugging the very heavy patrol boxes the “more than” 175 steps indicated by the aforementioned wayward sign to their resting spots for the weekend.

The fog had lifted as we arrived, and then, as if on cue, just as we finished setting up camp, it descended upon us and we felt what it was like to be in the clouds. It’s not as pleasant as you may think as we suddenly all became wet, but without any real rain. We teetered on the brink of freezing which made the wet a bit more dramatic. Thankfully, our intrepid Scouts finally figured out how to get the campfire burning so we had a semi-warm location to enjoy our evening Cracker Barrel. The snow started falling and we received a heavy dusting of very light, fluffy snow. Undeterred, the boys eventually retreated to their homes for the next 2 nights, the tents they erected and into gear that would keep them (mostly) warm as we rested for a big day Saturday.

The next morning, much to our surprise and NOT in the forecast, we awoke to clear skies with nary a cloud to be found. The sun was creeping up to the treetops and Mr. Bielkiewicz checked the temperature to find out we hit a low of 21 degrees. That’s 11 frost points! For the uninitiated, you earn 1 frost point for every degree you sleep outside below freezing. Even though our winter season is almost over, it’s pretty amazing to earn 11 frost points in April – especially for our new Scouts who hadn’t camped with us ever before! Take THAT Bear Creek Lake and Chatfield!

As the rest of the Troop slowly awoke from their slumber around 7:30am, breakfast was prepared. Both patrols chose ambitious meals – French Toast and Pancakes! And while some struggled to get them “just right,” no one finished the meal empty and the warm, filling breakfast was the perfect fuel for a day of requirement fulfilling and GaGa Ball playing!

Jacob B. arrived during breakfast to aid in the education of our younger Scouts and off they went to a covered pavilion where the tables were dry while the adults took care of the very important business of testing out their camp chairs (or wooden stumps as it may be) and ensure the security of our now-abandoned campsite. Thankfully no one else was in camp at this time, so the job was more on the “relaxing” side. The boys returned, fully enriched with new Tenderfoot knowledge and decided it was just too early for lunch…coincidentally, the once snow-filled GaGa Ball pit was suddenly dry and a raucous game ensued.

It was about this time that another Troop and a Pack started arriving – apparently they ditched their plans to come Friday and delayed to Saturday instead. Wusses. Our boys had a great time expending some energy before returning to the secure (thank you, Adults, for all your hard work!) camp to fire up the grills yet again and cook up some grilled cheese. Ironically, all three patrols (the two Scouts and our Adult patrol) all chose grilled cheese as the entrée of choice for lunch. While it was a great, warm meal for everyone, the adults came away victorious in the unofficial battle of best meal as they had, not only ham, but also freshly cooked bacon on their sandwiches. We also fired up a pot of Chicken Rice soup which helped keep everyone warm. “Clean Up on Aisle 4!“

After cleaning up another successful meal, the Scouts realized it was time for the real fun…the Ax Yard! Caleb taught our new Scouts how to properly handle, wield, and use kives, hatchets, and axes, while also providing some kindling for our next planned fire that evening. Meanwhile, Aidan taught some of our not-youngest Scouts some pioneering skills as they had to build something “useful.” Only a short time later, a semi-useful bench was born! All the learning required another break to the GaGa Ball pit – where some Scouts from another Troop joined our boys in another rousing game (or 5, or 15). Eventually, the adults broke up the fun for some more organized learning and our new Scouts utilized the on-site flagpole to learn how to properly raise, lower, fold, and carry an American flag.

After that…it was time for more……..cooking, of course!

The Scouts continued to impress the adults as they decided they setup their cooking stations but realized they MUST play more GaGa Ball before they worked up the proper appetite for dinner. The adults worked on firing up a slew of Dutch ovens and began the Chicken and Dumplings and Apple Cobbler to be had for dessert. A big thanks to Mr. Ross for mostly cooking the meal and for Mrs. Ross for prepping the chicken – so much easier to just dump in the pre-cut chicken! A lesson learned: decade old Kroger brand charcoal briquets don’t always work as you’d expect. After busting out the “newer” charcoal, we finally got our food cooking, but not before the boys returned, famished, and quickly made and consumed their “Walking Tacos” and Fettucine Alfredo. Again, a most impressive effort by our Scouts!

Of course the evening was not without entertainment as yours truly decided to show the boys firsthand what “duck and roll” looks like when I tried to lean one foot on the fire grate and quickly realized that it was NOT attached to the concrete slab and rolled away from the fire pit and only barely missed ruining the Dutch ovens that contained dessert. Fun for all!

Once the adults got to enjoy their meal, we all then watched and waited as the adults Apple Cobbler, along with one patrols inventive idea for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (technically for Cracker Barrel that night) finished cooking. We devoured our desserts and fortunately for the Scouts, Mr. Ross had planned an extra oven of apple cobbler that the boys devoured in about 36 seconds flat.

The weather stayed nice and clear and the stars came out as the sun set, providing for an amazing evening. Oh yeah, we also had a large herd of deer meander through the campsite, paying us no attention. To coexist in such a beautiful location was so peaceful.

After our bellies were full from the evenings meals, we started a fire (much easier to do on a bed of coals) and all sat around the campfire to stay warm, and allow the other patrol to consume their Cracker Barrel, the old classic, Smore’s. As we approached the quiet hour, our well worn Scouts suddenly felt the tiredness overcome them and all retreated to their tents where they were decidedly quicker to fall asleep than the prior night.

We arose Sunday to another bluebird morning – the clear skies allowed for the temps to drop once again, this time to 23 degrees. That’s another 9 frost points and 20 total for the weekend! The “goal” is to get 100 frost points in a winter season – and while we of course won’t do that this year, it’s pretty amazing that we got 1/5th of the way there in one weekend – on some Scouts first ever campout no less! While we arose earlier (7:00am today), Scouts were a bit more lackadaisical in their motivation to get breakfast and break camp. We took our sweet time, knowing that a conservation project (usually standard for our Tenderfoot campouts) was not in the books due to the already clean and still somewhat snow-covered Camp Patiya. We will plan that plus the required 5-mile hike another time soon.

We finally loaded up the trailer and cars and performed our trash sweep of the campsite around 10:15am. We did our Roses and Thorns before we loaded up the cars (after a quick group photo) and got on the road just after 10:30am, arriving back to the church right around 11:45am.

The adults were so impressed with the Scouts on this trip. The food planned and prepared was the best we’ve seen in years, and their ability to forge ahead in spite of the elements convinced us that we have the best of the best. We look forward to everything you all will achieve in Scouts! Well done!

The attendees:

Aidan S. (Trip SPL)
Caleb N.
Evan S.
Nash W.
Alexander R.
Liam H.
Cooper P.
Bjorn B.
Ben T.
Dalton M.
Lex S.

and special thanks to Jacob B. for coming up on Saturday to help teach our younger Scouts!

And as always, a big shout out and thank you to our Adult Leaders:
Mr. Bielkiewicz (Trip SMiC)
Mr. Borstad
Mr. Ross
Mr. Prebynski
Mr. Smith
Mr. Thompson

Initial photos are located at https://www.bsatroop640.com/photos/ and if you need the password, email .