Father confirmed that the classrooms are likely available this Saturday morning and made sure with the organizer for the Woman’s Day of Recollection that we can use classrooms 1, 2, and 3.  Here’s a tentative plan that I’m thinking for our woodworking event: 8:30 AM – Mass 9:30 AM – Meet in classroom 1 with the troop  – Flag ceremony (I can bring a flag) led by senior cadets  – Prayer invocation led by religious director9:45 AM – Troop Business  – Discussion of events for next couple months: November (Hunter Safety Training), December (ziplining, climbing) & Christmas caroling at senior home,  January (woodworking), February (snowshoeing, sledding, snow play @ Iron Mountain)10:00 AM – Tool demonstrations (perhaps we can split this up into groups of 3 or 4 dads, where each dad takes a group of similar tools and discusses them with the troop) 11:00 AM – Building projects: stool, nativity manger, etc. 12:00 PM – Concluding flag ceremony and closing prayers

When Saturday Nov 9, 2024 ⋅ 8:30am – 12pm (Pacific Time – Los Angeles)

This was our first troop camp out for the new season, which was booked at a private site called Park Creek Bible Camp, located on 13 acres in private forestry land in the Sly Park Recreation area, about 4.5 miles from Jenkinson Lake. This was our first time using this camp, and it was developed years back to be used by Christian youth groups. The camp was well developed and in a private location of the forest, right next to Park Creek. The site itself was built with a full kitchen, dining area, 3 full sized cabins (with about 20 bunks each), along with a medium sized cabin, and 2 small cabins. There were several fire pits (with ample fire wood available), a playground, basketball court, and several bridges for crossing the creek.

We started the camp on Friday, September 13th in the late afternoon. The itinerary was as follows:

• Setup camp (George opened gates, turned on water), dads start arriving and either setting up in the cabins or pitching tents if that’s preferred
• 5:00 PM – Cook dinner
• 6:00 PM – Evening prayer from the office of divine readings
• 6:30 PM – Practice color guard ceremony and taking down the flag
• 7:00 PM – Build and light camp fire
• 8:00 PM – Pray the Rosary
• 9:00 PM – Lights out

On Saturday our itinerary was as follows:

• 7:00 AM – Coffee, then morning prayer with the cadets from the office of divine readings (celebrating the Exultation of the Holy Cross)
• 7:30 AM – community breakfast of oatmeal, along with potato & corned beef hash
• 8:00 AM – Knife safety training
• 8:30 AM – Service project: hauling lumber and building materials from a torn down cabin on the other side of the creek and piling them by the wood pile
• 9:00 AM – Prepare sandwiches for lunch to take on the hike to the lake
• 10:00 AM – Begin hike, which was about 4.5 miles down to the lake, and took about 2 hours
• 12:00 PM – Eat lunch at lake, then water play (swimming, fishing, etc)
• 1:30 PM – Started hike back to camp
• 4:00 PM – Free Play
• 5:00 PM – Community dinner of hot dogs and chili
• 6:00 PM – Archery
• 7:00 PM – Campfire and smores
• 8:00 PM – Campfire Rosary
• 9:00 PM – Stargazing hike
• 10:00 PM – Lights out

Sunday morning started with prayers from the office of divine readings, then a community breakfast, and cleaning up camp.

In April, the boys did a hike at the Indian Grinding Rock State Park in Pine Grove. The site hosts one of the largest concentration of grinding rocks in the state of California. After the hike, we visited the museum to look at the exhibits.

In March, the boys took a tour of the Gold Bug Mine (https://www.goldbugpark.org) in Placerville. After the tour, the boys did a tour of the mill, as well as the black smith station.

In February, our troop teamed up with the Knight of Columbus to host a pancake breakfast fundraiser to benefit our troop, as well as the St. Bernadette Fund at our parish.

This was our second overnight camp out for the year. Fortunately we timed the weather really well, as the weekend was between two rain storms the previous and following weekends, with temperatures in the low 60’s in the day, and only dropping into the low 50’s at night.

Once again our troop reserved a group campsite inside the state park, within just miles of the town of San Rafael in the north Bay Area. The campsite was right next to two main trails through the park (Shoreline Trail and Bay View Trail), which were quite popular for mountain bikers. We took both of these main trails on a hike on Saturday morning starting at our camp, and circled around by the coast, and then back to the site.

After a lunch of sandwiches back at our camp with chips and oranges, we then drove over to the China Camp village and pier which was about 3 miles away. The boys had fun trying to fish for the old pier, as well as playing on the small beach, and picking up some ice cream sandwiches at the general store. There was a small museum at the China Camp Village.  According to the park “a Chinese shrimp-fishing village thrived on this site in the 1880’s. Nearly 500 people, originally from Canton, China, lived in the village. In its heyday, there were three general stores, a marine supply store and a barber shop.  Fishermen by trade in their native country, they gravitated to the work they knew best. Over 90% of the shrimp they netted were dried and shipped to China or Chinese communities throughout the US.”

Here was our preliminary schedule:

Friday, January 26

3:00PM – 5:00PM:  Arrival / Tent Setup 

7:00PM:  Bonfire with Readings / Stories

8:00PM: Junior Cadet Catechism

8:30PM: Rosary led by fathers

10:00PM: Lights out 

Saturday, January 27

   
6:30 AM  Prepare fire for breakfast
7:30 AM  Morning Prayer/Lauds
7:45 AM  Flag Ceremony
8:00 AM  Breakfast
8:30 AM  Tidy Camp/Pack Kitchen
9:00 AM  Hike (Shoreline Trail or Bay View Trail)
12:00 PM  Lunch
1:00 PM      Free Activity Time  
4:00 PM  Prepare Bonfire/Kitchen
5:30 PM  Dinner
7:00 PM  Bonfire
7:30 PM  Junior Cadet Catechism 
8:00 PM  Rosary led by fathers
8:30 PM  Evening Activities (S’mores)
10:00 PM  Lights Out
   
Sunday, January 28   

7:30 AM  Morning Prayer/Lauds
7:45 AM       Flag Ceremony
8:00 AM  Breakfast
9:00 AM  Tidy Camp/Pack Up
10:00 AM  Depart

In December our troop practiced archery and BB gun shooting on a large piece of undeveloped property next to Holy Trinity Parish in El Dorado Hills. In additional, the cadets learned about the Rorate Mass which was celebrated early that morning at St. Stephen’s.

After shooting practice, we drove down the road to Prairie City Landing in Folsom to sing Christmas Carols at a senior center. Lt. Pratt arranged 10 traditional Christmas Carols for the cadets to sing, accompanied by instrumentals that were played in the background on a blue tooth speaker to help keep us in rhythm. Once caroling was finished, we grabbed an early dinner and then took a tour of the Christmas light decorations on Pebble Creek Drive in Rocklin.

Here was the schedule:

1:30PM:  Meet at Holy Trinity Parish (3111 Tierra de Dios Dr, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762).

1:40PM: Opening Prayer; discussion re: the Rorate Mass at St. Stephen’s that morning and its significance.

1:45PM: Archery / BB Guns

3:30PM: Drive to Prarie City Landing Senior Center (645 Willard Dr, Folsom, CA 95630)

4:00PM: Christmas Carols 

5:00PM (Optional): Dinner at Taco Bell (702 E Bidwell St, Folsom, CA 95630); Christmas Light decoration tour of Pebble Creek Drive in Rocklin.

Once again, the troop started their year with their first membership meeting with a hike up Quarry Trail located near the confluence of the Middle and North Forks of the American River.  We hiked this trail last November and the dads taught the cadets a knife safety training class.

This year Lt. McCain gave the boys a small talk about how to use their compasses. In addition,  Lt. Watts gave a talk about radio communication along with a live demonstration using his radio while at Mammoth Bar.  

The itinerary for the event was as follows:

9:00AM – Meet at parking area/trailhead

9:15AM – Opening prayer; Compass review and project.

10:15 AM – Arrive at Mammoth Bar; brief membership meeting.

10:30AM: Radio communication demonstration.

11:00AM: Hike back to parking lot.  Recitation of the rosary on the way.

12 Noon: Estimated arrival at parking lot