Santa Fe Hills Ward Young Men: Stake Camp Out & Shooting Day

I'm happy to report that we had a windy but wonderful camp-out this weekend with teachers from around the stake. After grabbing some grub at Mickey - D's where Jake gobbled down an impressive FOUR McChicken sandwiches. After filling up on processed foods we drove to Palomar mountain arriving just before dark and were met with a heavily rutted and washed out jeep trail leading to our campsite. Jake and Leo both road with me (Bro Bergen) and comfirmed several times that the road was "bumpy" but despite some tight corners, deep washes and a spin out or two we found our way. For bragging sake I told the boys I refused to put it in four-wheel drive but nearly needed to in a couple spots. When we arrived, most of other youth & leaders from the stake were there all set up and had a sizable fire burning. The campsite was atop a hill in a large grassy open patch that would have fit many football fields. It was surrounded by large trees but we camped with the rest of the group in the center of the open field. We wouldn't realize how beautiful the area was until morning when the surrounding trees, meadows and peaks appeared. The youth enjoyed a big game of capture the flag (glowsticks) despite the gusty winds and very cool temperatures. Many of the leaders where happy to see the youth go play as it left more room around the fire to keep warm. Some suggested that they may have planned it that way. Afterwards, everyone gathered around the fire to hear a poem by a Brother from the stake who's name I can't recall. In a surprisingly authentic Irish accent and very eloquently he recited the "The Cremation of Sam McGee." It was so awesome I have included a link below to the same poem read by Johnny Cash on Youtube. However it doesn't hold a candle to hearing the irish version while standing around a crackling campfire. Afterwards one of the youth shared a scripture and short testimony before the group began heading to bed.

Jake, Leo and Jesse got a first hand lesson from Professor Chili Wind about being prepared. They had the opportunity to use their collective resourcefulness to fashion a make shift 3 man sleeping apparatus to buffer the cold night's wind. What they came up with can best be described as a rain-fly quesadilla where the boys were the cheese. They layed their sleeping bags out across a tarp and staked a tent rain fly tight over top of them and formed a wind break with their bags above their heads. They stayed warm primarily by eating potato chips throughout the night. At one point they got annoyed enough at the rain-fly flapping their faces that they resorted to wandering around camp in the wee hours chasing what they told Jake were ghosts. Thank heavens Jesse had his airsoft gun to protect the motley crew. The wind and the resident blood hound of Andy's howled throughout the night.

After breakfast there was an impromptu ultimate football game where Bro. Vargas' truck became the eligible receiver for a mid game punt return. It successfully received the ball but didn't gain any yardage, it had to leave the game early due to injuries incurred during the kick return. Next, all the boys were given a thorough safety course by two NRA Range masters on firearms safety before breaking into two group of 8 to take turns at shooting skeet. One group completed a small service project of repairing the road while the others shot skeet. The boys had a lot of fun shooting both 20 and 12 gauge single-shot shotguns and each of them successfully hit multiple skeet with Jesse being the most experience and subsequently having the most hits. It was Jake and Leo's first time working with a shotgun and both did very well, each hitting several clay pigeons and thoroughly enjoying the adventure. While shooting someone noticed a small herd of 4 whitetail deer in the distance which Leo and I enjoyed watching with the binoculars as they grazed across a beautiful lush green meadow in the distance. At the conclusion of the shooting we broke camp and much of the stake returned home but we hadn't had quite enough fun yet so with permission we hung around for another hours or so to finish getting our shooting fix. Leo, Jake, Jesse and his dad Mark were in for a real treat as they got to shoot a variety of really "cool" guns.

I polled the boys afterwards and here are a few of their favorite guns to shoot -

AR-15, M14 Socom 16, Mini 30, GSG 5, .357 Magnum and the big sniper rifle Remington model 700 in 300 Win Mag.

My personal highlight was watching each of the boys and Brother Dimmitt set up behind the 300 Win Mag and nail a boulder each with their first shot at 585 yards!!! For those who don't know, that is a ridiculously long shot especially on you first try with a large caliber rifle like that. It's something that they won't soon forget and that each of them can brag about.

It was a wonderful trip and hopefully we can get out to both camp and shoot again very soon. Thanks to everyone that made the trip possible. Special thanks to Andy to letting us use the land, Brother Vargas and Brother Dimmitt everything and to my wife, Sister Bergen for flying solo on her day off and letting me go do what I love. Thanks to the boys for making young mens and scouting a priority among their busy schedules. It was a blast...literally.

"The Cremation of Sam Mcgee" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJNZwuamwj0&feature=related