Every three years, boys Troop 746 of Baltimore, Maryland, travels far from home for an awesome adventure. It has been a troop tradition since the 1980s. This past year, they and girls Troop 647, also of Baltimore, visited Wyoming before heading to summer camp at Island Park Scout Camp in Idaho.
Follow these troops as they journal about their epic trip before summer camp.
Flew to Salt Lake City. All the meals were planned out, so we just walked into Walmart, filled up the carts and bought it.
“When we first got there, that was the most beautiful Walmart I’d ever seen. It had the mountains behind it. You don’t see stuff like that in Maryland.”
— Jonah Sorna, 15, Life Scout
Visited Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, Wyo. Hot springs are made when magma heats groundwater. The water in the park’s bathhouse was 104 degrees. It was a little too hot for some of us. But for about 20 minutes, it was pretty relaxing.
“We sat back and relaxed in the hot spring — it was nice.”
— Jonah
In Cody, Wyo., we ate a chuckwagon dinner and went to a night rodeo. Not all of us had been to a rodeo before. It was a lot of fun. We saw rodeo clowns, barrel racers and two pro cowboys at a time chase calves on their horses, jump off, tackle the calf and tie it up in 10 seconds.
“I don’t think I could ever do that. It really showed they had to be on the same wavelength to take down and tie up a calf and to see how much trust they had to have in each other.”
— Mitch Schauer, 15, Life Scout
Camped at Yellowstone National Park. Saw waterfalls, hot springs and geysers. A huge bison was in the road. It was only a few feet from our van. We took a lot of pictures.
“It’s like being on a different planet. You look to your left, and it would just be a bright green or orange puddle that’s bubbling. It’s like something you’d never see anywhere other than at Yellowstone.”
— Arabella Holmes, 15, Star Scout
Went whitewater rafting down the Snake River. It took like an hour. We went through Class II and III rapids. The water felt like it was zero degrees. It was absolutely freezing.
“We were pirates of the Snake River!”
— Mason Kokosinski, 17, Life Scout
Made it to summer camp. The staff was so welcoming. Earned a lot of extra merit badges and special awards, like Stand-Up Paddleboarding.
“The paddleboarding was a fun patch to do. I got to do freestyle yoga on a paddleboard.”
— Holden Kokosinski, 17, Life Scout
Heading back to Salt Lake City and then flying home. What a trip! We bought so many souvenirs, some of us needed to throw stuff in our friends’ bags.
“The trip was really fun. You only get to experience something like this once in your life. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
— Mitch
A cross-country trip can get costly. That’s why troops 746 and 647 devoted two years to prepare for it. During that time, the Scouts did several fundraisers. They sold popcorn, Easter candy, camp cards and citrus fruit from Florida. By March, they were able to purchase plane tickets for the summer trip.