Deacon Low Adventure

Kent was recently made the scout master in the ward.  We know that this is a position with an end date because the Church is stepping out of its long-term relationship with the Boy Scouts of America at the end of the year.  But, until that time, Kent will be in charge of scouting stuff in the ward.  This week, the young men have their annual scout camp, and while Kent doesn't have to worry about the older boys, he does have to organize stuff for the deacons.  The priests and teachers are doing a high adventure this week, and in order to simplify a bit, the deacons are joining them for a couple of days for what they are calling Deacon Low Adventure.  They will be camping near Escalante, doing some hiking, and enjoying the great outdoors.  Kent really enjoys the great outdoors when he doesn't have to sleep in it.  To insure that everyone had something to sleep in, on Wednesday, before they left, Kent and I sorted and set up several tents so that he could be confident everyone had a "roof" over their head.  We recently got a number of tents from Aunt Georgianne, and we wanted to make sure zippers worked, poles were with the correct tents, and there were rain flys.  

Thursday morning, after gathering and loading boys and equipment, Kent and Brandt, in the company of Aaron Oyler and a bunch of boys, headed off for their camping adventure.  From here on out, I will allow Brandt and Kent to take over the recording of their experience.

The drive to Escalante was long.  It took about seven hours to get to the final destination, the last hour plus of which was on dirt roads.  There is a whole lot of nothing down there.  The campsite was up against a cliff with two caves that had been carved out by two brothers who were looking for uranium.There was an old car there, all shot up with bullet holes and rust.  Brandt threw a rock at it and Jarom got mad.  They weren't suppose to disturb any of the site, and Jarom was taking that very seriously.  The teachers and priests were sleeping in the caves, so most of the deacons slept in tents.  There was a snake in one of the caves on Friday afternoon.  It scared the teachers who screamed like little girls.  

Brandt slept in a tent with Paul, Nathan, and Houston.  The bugs there were nasty.  They were small and biting, casing everyone to itch like crazy.  They weren't bad in the caves and they weren't bad when the sun went down, but as soon as it got light, they swarmed and irritated everyone.  Brandt and Kent returned with dozens of bites on their legs, arms, and necks.  

Whole lot of nothing.

In both directions.

On Friday, the deacons went hiking through some slot canyons.  The canyons were narrow and hard to hike in, but they were really cool.  One place they dropped down into a crevice.  The path was completely enclosed and you had to crawl through a drain pipe shaped tunnel that water had made.  Kent was worried he wasn't going to fit, but Chris Jensen made it through, so Kent figured he could too.  They had lunch in one of the canyons.  It was a beautiful day and there were no bugs in the slot canyons, so it made for a really great time.  They saw lizards; Brandt almost caught one.  They talked about killdozer (whatever that is) as they hiked.  They also saw some petroglyphs.

When I asked Brandt what this was, he replied,

"It's a cool snake-like thing bug."

Brandt, Sam Oyler, Houston Vergara, Nathan Jensen, Teva Mataoa, 

Jace and Drex Robison (I'm not sure which is which), Paul Moreland, Noah Mataoa

 

The deacons climbed up the hill above the tents.  

They were throwing rocks off the edge.

Kent, who had been very patient with the boys up to this point, lost it.

They were super scaring him, looking like they were going to fall off the edge of the cliff.

He yelled at them, something he almost never does.

The 12-13 year old boy doesn't always use the best judgement.

Kent, yelling at the boys.

Have I already mentioned there is a whole lot of nothing down there?

The car.

I'm sure Brandt's rock did a lot of damage.

Saturday, on the way home, the route took them right past Bryce Canyon.  They were in two cars, and half of them wanted to visit the park and half of them didn't.  Kent, Brandt, Nathan, Paul, and Houston stayed and hiked around the rim of the canyon.  It was spectacular.  They walked past tame deer and Brandt reports, "I touched one and got rabies."  I don't think there's much truth to that statement. 

On the way home, they stopped at a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet.  There were no cars in the parking lot, but the other choices were super busy, so they opted for Chinese.  They discovered it was really good!  Kent spoke to the owners and suggested they advertise more in English, but they said they were plenty busy.  They cater to Chinese tour buses on their way from Yellowstone to Las Vegas, and aren't really looking to increase their clientele.  There were all sorts of interesting things to eat, including chickens feet, one of which Nathan Jensen bravely consumed.  He said it tasted like chicken.  Funny thing--it was chicken!

All in all, apart from being eaten by tiny bugs, it was a great scout trip.