Troop 104 White Water Rafting 2009

Late last Friday afternoon, 17 Scouts (including myself) and Adults from Troop 104 gathered in the parking lot of Saint Stephen's Church, gearing up for their next big adventure. We loaded up the backpacks, the food, the water coolers, patrol boxes, and ever so important tents into the truck Mr. Martine had borrowed and left dreaming of the next day, when we would go white water rafting. On the way we passed through Antelope Valley and watched the sun set as we drove on. It turns out that the Tejon Ranch actually owns all of the land between where we go for summer camp and where the Antelope Valley begins, and a considerable amount of land in the Valley itself (in short, it's freaking HUGE). At one point, I glanced at the odometer and noticed that it read "104.0 miles", and thought it would make a good picture, but it came out blurry. Fast forward to an hour later, and we arrived at the camp site and began to set up in the dark. Once the lanterns were up, we set up the tents (the newer Scouts and Parents had some help from the old ones) and we crashed.

I awoke the next morning to the beautiful sight of Nick P., my tent buddy, sleeping on his face.




Outside, other campers were waiting for Matthew P. to make a fire for his advancement requirements. Once he got that going, the campers turned to a breakfast of nearly unlimited hot chocolate courtesy of all the good scouts who left their extra hot chocolate in the bin and either oatmeal or omelets in a bag. After cleanup, the older boys began to teach the new ones all they needed to know for the totin' chip and some knots for a Tenderfoot Rank requirement. The knot class culminated in a test involving a hammock held up by the knots the younger scouts had tied, which they then had to lie in to see if they had tied them right. Meanwhile, some other scouts headed across the river to check out the cars that some millionaires had driven into town for breakfast. There was one Porsche, one Lotus, and more Ferraris than you could shake a stick at.

After lunch, we headed over to the place where the company we were going rafting with was going to get us suited up. We got the full wet suits this time, with those awesome jackets that keep you dry and special little booties for everybody, except for Spencer Jensen (they didn't have a big enough size for him), then they gave us paddles and life jackets (no helmets, though) and loaded us up on a bus and took us up stream.

After a short training class, we splashed through the freezing water and into our boats, and began to paddle down stream. I ended up with all of the older scouts and our guide took us down the Kern River in every direction but forwards. Water splashed everywhere as we took on the small but entertaining rapids we broad smiles on our faces, pretending that we didn't have as much water in places there wasn't supposed to be water as there was. We reached the bottom and loaded up the rafts, then headed up river to go again.

The second time, a prolonged water fight broke out, ending in Grady going Navy Seal and silently diving into the freezing water, only to pull other scouts from other boats in to the water with him. I was almost launched from the raft as we hit a jackpot (a spot where the water flows over a rock and creates a place where the water is lower than everywhere else, also known as a BUMP). Spencer J. was on the side that went over the jackpot first, and his weight acted like a fulcrum as the part of the raft I was on went vertical. Towards the bottom, another splash battle resulted in several shivering scouts and me losing the feeling in the left side of my face.

After we dried off and changed into some dry clothes, we went across the bridge and into town, where we got some ice cream and held a 'how-far-can-you-jump-off-the-swing contest' in the park, which ended with Keith K. being Number 1 for farthest flying (of course) and Grady breaking and dislocating his arm not on the landing, but ON THE TAKEOFF!! Thereby keeping up the tradition of 104 Scouts getting more injured in public parks designed for safety than when they go white water rafting or careening down a steep and narrow mountain trail filled with rocks on their mountain bikes. Grady received immediate medical attention from the local Fire Department, and then was driven to the hospital. Our best wishes are with him.

Meanwhile, the physically intact scouts went back to camp, where we started a fire, broke down the incident in the park so we could know exactly what happened and put our minds at rest, played some cards, and got started on dinner. Keith L. , under the "wise" guidance of a certain older scout whose name will go unmentioned, cooked all of the pasta we had brought, which filled the whole pot. Meanwhile, Nick P. cooked up some delicious stir-fry.




There was plenty of food to go around, and everybody feasted on both dinner entrées and some s'mores around the camp fire later. In the morning, we packed up camp in a little bit over an hour, had a short Scout's Own on the river bank, then jumped in the cars and headed home. On the way, we stopped for some Sonic Burger for lunch (a first for many of us) and then came home.

All in all, it was a great trip with the exception of Grady's unfortunate injury, and I've already got the perfect cover story for him, Alligator Wrestling!


Jonathan R.
Troop 104 Historian