The annual trip to Granby Ranch went well this year with 14 scouts and 6 adults attending. The troop left the Nature School at 6:20 and arrived at the tubing hill about 2 hours later. The group tubed for about 90 minutes. Church of the Eternal Hills was gracious enough to let us spend the night in their facility.
Saturday morning, we drove to Granby Ranch to ski. The weather was fantastic on Saturday with clear skies and no wind. This year a large part of the resort was open due to good early season snowfall. Mrs. Mackey offered lessons to any new skiers in the troop and her protégé was all smiles and no broken bones at the end of the afternoon. We left the ski base around 430 and arrived at the Nature School just before 7pm
Thank you to Mr Naber for pulling the troop trailer over some less than idea road conditions.
Scouts in Attendance: Damon B. Bjorn B. Zack B. Jackson D. Collin F. Patrick H. Nash W. Davis M. Dalton M. Caleb N. Andrew N. Carter T. Ben T. Elijah W.
Adults: Grady Bahr Brett Borstad Allison Mackey Garret Mackey Chris Naber Jeff Warner
Canoe trip Boundary / Northern Water High Adventure Summer 2025
Looking for an adult to help Co-lead the trip before I solidify a reservation and participants. Please contact me at 303-903-3601 if you are an interested adult.
I am exploring getting a crew together for a Summer 2025 trip to the Norther Tier High Adventure Base in Ely Minnesota. Scouts need to be at least 14 years old or 13 years old and completed the 8th grade. The trip would likely be 8-10 days away from Colorado. Crew size is limited to 8 of which at least 2 members need to be adults. I am looking to field 1 full crew. Dates are TBD (likely July 2025).
We had a successful project Tenderfoot weekend with our goals to help the new scouts learn to be self sufficient when on a troop campout and to allow the older scouts an opportunity to further develop their teaching and leadership skills. This was Troop 640’s first campout with its new sister all girl troop.
Friday night went off great with the troop setting up at the group campsite at Bear Creek Lake Park, The scouts spent the evening hours playing shadow (a modified version of tag in the dark).
Saturday was busy, we marked off multiple Tenderfoot requirements (first aid, axe/saw/knife safety, basic knots, entry cooking skills , tent/camp set up and safety skills). For a service project, we picked up debris in a less visited part of the park. The afternoon was spent on a 5 mile hike where the new scouts learned basic orienteering skills. Dinner went well with the scouts doing a peach cobbler. Not to be outdone, the adults experimented with 2 different methods to cook brownies and managed to burn both batches. Oh, the high-risk high-reward joys of dutch oven cooking. The scouts again spent the evening hours playing shadow.
Sunday morning the troop was able to use the archery range (much appreciation to Mr. Strous, Mr. Strauss and Mr. Mackey for running the archery range).
I wouldn’t change a thing about the campout as everyone had numerous learning experiences.
December 2023 Tubing Hill Night and Ski Day at Granby Ranch
Friday December 15 530pm to late Saturday night
The plan is to gather at the church Friday at 530pm and leave soon after to go to the Fraser Tubing hill for 90 minutes of tubing action. We will be spending the night indoors at a local church in Fraser (bring a sleeping pad and your lighter weight sleeping bag).
Saturday will be a full day of skiing at Granby Ranch. We will depart after skiing Saturday for hom arrive between 6-7pm depending on traffic.
Purchase your Scout’s lift ticket online at https://granbyranch.com/tickets-passes/ . Each skier needs to have a liability waiver signed before purchasing the ticket, this can all be done online and the lift ticket picked up Saturday at the ski hill.
The troop had a good turn out of nine scouts (Damon B, Bjorn B, Jackson D, Andrew N, Caleb, N, Vince P, Alexander R, Evan S, and Nash W) and 3 adults (Brett B, Little Bob P and Scoutmaster Strauss) who attended this event April 28-30th 2023.
We got lucky and had great weather all weekend. Friday night involved camp set up and gorging on cookies and hot chocolate at the dining hall. Overnight we had some drama with a neighboring scout blowing his emergency whistle due to fear of local coyotes that were serenading us with some original hit songs.
Saturday was all about shooting. There were stations for shotguns, 22 caliber rifles, muzzle loading, axe throwing, archery and sports archery. The scouts and adults were allowed to shoot as much as they wanted while the ranges were open. Saturday evening entertainment consisted of a garlic bread eating contest (Congratulations Evan) and a campfire program in which our troop did NOT do the invisible bench skit.
Sunday morning, the scouts broke camp early and were able to sneak in another hour on the range before departing for home.
The only casualty from the weekend was headlamp that fell down to the bottom of the latrine. Thankfully the scouts had the foresight to just let that one stay were it landed.
The biggest highlight as an adult was having every scout, at different times during the day, enthusiastically describe to how they were improving at their firearm skill or how they tried out a new activity.
Thank you to the SPL, Caleb N, for keeping the Troop going in the right direction on this weekend’s adventure.
Introduction To Outdoor Leadership Skills (IOLS) THIS WEEKEND (AKA 24 hours of adult sanity time away from the family)
The district is having their last IOLS training of the year this upcoming weekend, starting Friday September 30 at 5pm and ending Saturday at 5pm. It’s a close location being just in Arvada at Oldum Farms. We already have one adult from the Troop attending, so your are guaranteed to not be around all strangers. There will not be another IOLS until next spring. This a a great chance to start to get involved with the Troop (and your scout)
The BSA requires that you have at least one IOLS-trained adult on every Scouts BSA overnight outdoor event.
Why should I take this training?
Scouting’s outdoor program is a critical part of how the Scouts BSA program develops young leaders. While camping or participating in other outdoor events, your Scouts will challenge themselves to learn skills they’ve never tried before or maybe didn’t think they could do. In doing so, your Scouts will work together as a team to overcome adversity when things don’t go as planned; this is truly the magic of Scouting that no other program does as well.
To safely offer Scouting’s outdoor program, however, you need a certain set of skills and knowledge – and that’s why you’re required to take Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (also known as “IOLS”) Training. You’ll learn how to build a fire, use an axe, cook outdoors, use a map and compass, responsibly care for the outdoors, and much more. Even if you weren’t a Scout as a kid, you’ll come out of this course looking and acting like a seasoned camper. This course, combined with Youth Protection Training and the Scoutmaster-Specific Training course, will make you an “fully trained” Scouts BSA leader.
