On 3/25/17, Troop 26 began its trip to the Colorado River and Joshua Tree National Park. This outing took us all the way to Needles, California and was 5 days long. The resort we stayed at, Pirate Cove, was right next to the river. There was a convenience store there and had very nice campgrounds. This trip was extremely enjoyable for all of the scouts. The first day was spent driving to the campground and setting up camp. Everybody was ready to be out of the cars. After some scouts set up camp, they jumped into the nice cool river water. For dinner that night we had tri-tip prepared by Mr. Brown. It was delectable. We also had beans and bread. A few scouts even ate salad. For dessert we had friendship bread made by Mrs. Soga. That night everybody went to bed with full stomachs and tired bodies. The second day, everybody woke up and had a quick breakfast of bagels and cereal. After this, we changed into our swimsuits and got picked up by the canoe company’s vans. They took us to a spot 12 miles upriver from the campground. Before we hit the river, they told us about the dangers of the frigid 53-degree water and to try to stay away from the speedboats that frequented the river. We all carried the canoes into the water and pushed off. After approximately 3 miles in we took a rest on the sandy side of the river. Almost everybody jumped into the river. After a quick break we were back on the river. Many boats and jetskis passed us on the long journey back. Surprisingly only 1 group flipped their canoe. After the long paddle back to the campground, we had a lunch of sandwiches and chips. During the afternoon, scouts lounged on the playground eating candy or drinking soda. That night we had super Sloppy Joes because of the lack of tomato paste. They were still incredibly delicious.
The next day canoeing was removed from the schedule because of the high winds. Most of the scouts lounged around the campground and relaxed. That night dinner was hotdogs and hamburgers. The dessert was a delicious dutch oven peach cobbler made by the Leadership patrol. The next day late sleepers were awakened to the smell of potatoes and eggs with steak. Breakfast was delicious. After a quick camp sweep, everybody was in the cars and on the way to Joshua Tree. The drive was 2 hours and 15 minutes. We got there without any problems and set up camp. After this some of the scouts went up onto the rock formations. After everybody set up camp, the troop went on a day hike to the 49 Palms oasis.That night we had a amazing dinner of garlic bread and spaghetti with meat sauce. Early the next morning we awoke to a breakfast of more bagels and cereal. When everybody was packed up we waited for the guides from Uprising Adventure Guides to lead us to the area we were going to climb. When they came, we walked to the climbing area and climbed bare rock for almost 2 hours. There were many different climbing routes and the scouts had a lot of fun. After getting out of our climbing gear, we drove towards Bill’s Pizza in Palm Springs. After a quick, late lunch, we took the long drive back to Santa Barbara. This took 3 hours and 45 minutes. We arrived at St. Mark’s at a little after 6:00 pm. This was a very exciting and interesting trip.
Here are the scouts that went:
Alex M.
Alex R.
Andrew D.
Ben B.
Cooper B.
David E.
Henri B.
Jasper U.
Kellen T.
Logan B.
Nicolis I.
Robby W.
Sean W.
Thomas E.
Timmy H.
Tobin B.
Wyatt S.
