Submitted by Scout Leader Mark Povenmire

Yes, the Troop was blown away with excitement on Wednesday evening of the Summer Camp. Severe weather with high winds was one of the most memorable happenings while at Pioneer Scout Reservation, but other activities blew them away, also.

AJ Hotaling was honored Wednesday evening at his Order of the Arrow (OA) Tap-out Ceremony. This is a ceremony where he is eligible to be in the OA, but he has to prove his worthiness at his Ordeal at a later time. The Ordeal is where he spends a weekend outdoors proving his bravery and tenacity.

Later that evening everyone had to prove their bravery. AJ had remained with the OA people for instruction as to what the next steps were, and after he received his orders, he headed back to camp. Then the storms came up in a hurry, so he then hurried back to camp. We had everyone in the campsite when the tornado siren blew. Everyone moved toward the showers in an orderly fashion until we heard the violent rustling of the leaves in the trees. Then when the blast of wind hit our backs, we weren’t so orderly anymore. There were 6 shower rooms and two other small rooms that housed over 230 scouts. After what seemed like days in those hot showers, we made it back to camp and everyone tried to go to sleep. Luckily they cancelled the 6am Polar Bear swim!

The rest of the Summer Camp went pretty much without a hitch. We had two Scouts, Robert Lyberg and Logan Carles, take the Scouting Expeditions program. This is the really exciting program where the Scouts get to do both Low & High Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience (obstacles on both low and high ropes), mountain bike their way back to camp with only a map and compass, spend the night in a tee pee, earn their Horsemanship Merit Badge, and the most fun, actually take off, fly and land an airplane for their Aviation Merit Badge.

Another really neat adventure was the brand new ATV program. This is a program only Pioneer Scout Reservation and two other camps in the nation had a chance to participate in. Corey Povenmire was the

first scout in the nation to take this course. The course taught Corey how to safely maneuver over obstacles, up hills, and over the trails. It consisted of 6 hours of training and 4 hours of trail riding, but the instructor allowed Corey to join the afternoon session for an extra 2 hours of trail riding (being a good student has its advantages.)

Another fun activity every year is the Polar Bear Swim. The Scouts get up at 5:30am to swim in the pool at 6am. This year AJ Hotaling, Hank Matthes, Cody Gerdeman, Tyler Stimmel and Daniel Crouse earned this award. They were escorted every morning by Corey Povenmire, and the rest of the camp started making breakfast. Okay…the Scoutmaster started making breakfast while the other less ambitious scouts slept! I would name names but Logan, Robert, Austin, Nick and Joe might get upset with me.

The merit badges taken consisted of Archery, the ever popular Rifle Shooting, Shotgun Shooting, Leatherwork, Emergency Preparedness, Space Exploration, Rowing, Fire Safety, Climbing, Swimming, Bird Study, Fishing, Graphic Arts, Pottery, Camping, Canoeing, the dreaded Environmental Science (dreaded because they have homework every day), Horsemanship and Aviation. Other areas of study that aren’t offered in merit badges were ATV Program, Snorkeling and Mountain Biking.

The scouts that were in attendance were Joe White, Austin Kepling, Tyler Stimmel, Cody Gerdeman, Hank Matthes, Nick Eninger, Daniel Crouse, Logan Carles, AJ Hotaling, Robert Lyberg and Corey Povenmire. Adults were Art Hotaling, Dan Stimmel, Mike Lyberg and Mark Povenmire.

It was really a nice summer camp this year. As it turned out, we didn’t visit Auntie M, many got extra sleep in the morning, most of the merit badges were completed and I can’t remember of any bloodletting; so things were good!


AJ Hotaling attaches the American Flag to the archway that he constructed. Corey Povenmire (left) and Art Hotaling (right) assist in putting the archway in the ground.


Corey Povenmire leans his ATV around the turn in the brand new ATV Program at Pioneer Scout Reservation.



Chow time! The Cody camp site is a beautiful place to eat lunch. The tents in the background are steel framed and on wooden platforms. That makes camping easier on the scouts, and more importantly, the Scoutmaster!