Today was a big day for a lot of our scouts! The climbing wall, 44 feet of tenacious finger and toe-holds was scaled by multiple Troop 9 scouts! Trevor, Austin, Robert, Cody, Tony, Will, and Carole all gathered their courage, faced their fears, and conquered the tower! Cody and Tony have just earned their Scout badge and were Webelos only a month ago. What a tremendous accomplishment for both of them! Their efforts were captured by many camera shots in what will most certainly cause a mom’s heart to tremble and a Scouts heart to swell in pride!

Classes continue to go well. Michael W has pretty much completed every MB that can be earned at the shooting and tomahawk range. The rest of our troop members also qualified for their rifle MB’s today and moved on to archery.

The extended length of each class and the goal of class completion by Thursday have proven to be a great idea. Not only does that leave Friday for anyone who needed special attention to complete their badge, but it also allows scouts called out for OA ordeal on Thursday night at Family night to experience the full ordeal without compromising the experience to complete the last day of MB classes. This is a big plus over our past experiences at Arrowhead.

Tonight was the night of the Scoutmasters Steak dinner. We were only able to send two of our 6 adults to the meal, so John from Troop 39 and Carole from Troop 9 went to represent us. Reports given later say it was well worth their time!

There was also a PLC held to discuss the opportunity to change our July outing planned as a float trip to be a return to Camp Cherokee to spend the weekend on the climbing wall, swimming pool. It was agreed and Jeff was instructed to make whatever contacts were necessary to arrange for our return the weekend of July 18-20.

Tonight we did something for the first time in our Troop that was long overdue. Many of the new scouts had noticed the OA sashes worn the previous night and had begun to ask questions about OA and what it was. At dusk, we built a fire, gathered as a troop around it and even recruited several members of other camps who had come in to visit and play cards, and took some time to explain what the Order of the Arrow was, how Scouts were chosen, and what it meant to each of us. It was a special time for all of us, but especially for those NOT in the Order.

One by one, each OA member stood up and put into words what being a member of the Order of the Arrow meant to him. Lit only by the flickering light of a campfire, there were thoughts expressed by both young and old faces that touched on the truest meaning of Scouting. Without a doubt everyone learned something from that meeting. Those of us in the Order learned that we are more similar than we might have first thought, and those not yet members, learned that OA is much more than just a sash worn at a Court of Honor. In the end it was hard to say who had benefited the most, but it is certainly something that we will do again and again in the future anytime anyone has a question.

After the OA visitors left, all the new "climbers" were pulled from camp for a special meeting where they were officially congratulated and awarded new nicknames!

The wilderness survival group is spending the night camped out by the latrine…. I think they could have chosen a more pleasant location. It also turns out they have camped at the foot of a large hollow tree that we saw the raccoon family up in last night. We’ve decided to wait up and see if we hear any startled screams coming from that area later night….