Where have we been and what happened there...
- Posted 5/8/2018 11:45:38 PM by Dan Turner January, 2018 - Greenbar Leadership Campout at Worth Ranch - this was our annual leadership training campout. We spend the weekend in Roeser Hall and camping at WR. Our program included several new dishes taught to the Scouts, leadership challenges, and some lively discussion on how T17 should recruit and expand. The Greenbar campout is open to all 1st Class Scouts in the Troop and invited guests (Scouts and adults).
- Posted 6/3/2017 11:32:12 PM by Dan Turner April, 2017 took the Troop back to the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma for a weekend of hiking and bouldering in Charons Garden (see http://www.summitpost.org/charon-s-garden-wilderness/274583 for more information about the area). This campout is generally regarded as one of the favorite of the Troop out of anywhere we go. Just under two dozen of us spent the day on Saturday exploring the valley and surrounding peaks. If you go there (and when we go again), be sure to arrive early as the parking areas fill up quickly and they limit the number of people that can go into the back-country together. We camped in the Fawn Creek group camping area (reservations required in advance - there are only 4 sites). For the past year, the Fish and Wildlife service has been unable to provide drinking water due to concerns over E. coli levels so we brought all the water we needed. The weekend was capped off with a short side trip to Meers Restaurant for the "best burger in Oklahoma". Its a cash only place so bring some green or your ATM card (there is an ATM machine in the restaurant). The trip is a long one (it takes 4 hours to get out there) but it is well worth it. If you go on your own, even for just the day, wear good shoes with plenty of support, put on sunblock, know where you are (have a map), and bring plenty of water! We see a lot of people out there in flip-flops and with just a small bottle of water - they tend to head back earlier than they planned. Again, for those that love hiking and bouldering, it can be a spectacular weekend!
- Posted 6/3/2017 10:51:33 PM by Dan Turner (Clearly, I have done a poor job of keeping this up to date - let me see if I can do some catching up...) May, 2017 took us to the Brazos River and a traditional T17 canoe trip. We quickly get on the road Friday night to make the short run to Worth Ranch. Due to the threat of weather overnight, we camped in the front area of the McClure property. We had quite a light show and just a few sprinkles overnight. We packed up in the morning and got on the river with a couple of dozen other random people including the father of a two of our former Scouts. The river had a good flow with very few spots where we had to drag the canoes before lunch. The Staff did a great job of balancing the canoe partners and for the first time since I have been the Scoutmaster, they did not need to make any adjustments. During lunch, the youngest Virden (a visiting sibling) caught the only 3 fish anyone caught all weekend! The afternoon was driven hard by the SPL and we canoed late into the afternoon to run roughly 15 miles down the river for the day. We pulled off onto a much maligned island to make camp. The staff put together a fine campfire with everyone enjoying the skits, especially the OF skit (in this writers somewhat biased opinion). We had some rain overnight so packing up was wet but was quickly done. The rest of the trip was a short sprint (and race) to the boat docks at Worth Ranch. With the short float on Sunday, the staff decided to take a hike over to the Rock Cathedral for the chapel service and to hike up hernia hill back to Roeser Hall to board the bus back home. Thanks to Mr. Wolzon (the youngest one), Mr. Lasater, Mr. Moye, Mr. Noeth, Mr. Virden, Mr. Plavidal, Mr. Bogle, and Mr. Key for joining us on the Brazos river for the May campout. We had one of the best trips down the river in my recent memory. Thanks also to Mr. Lyles, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Goldthwaite for providing logistic support getting us on and off the river. Photos from the trip have been posted to the Troop photo site (http://www.troop17.net/management/photoviewer.asp - login required).
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:53:14 PM by Dan Turner October 12-14th, 2012 we spent at Sid Richardson Scout Ranch at our "Haunted Moutain Sports Campout". Friday night we setup under the threat of rain, but we managed to miss most of it. Saturday morning we headed to the ranchs new mountain bike trail for a morning of biking. The OF split off at lunch and helped serve lunch to Cub Scouts at the Family Fun Fest Halloween Event. The afternoon was spent watching the weather closely as the threat of severe storms kept us on our toes (and our eyes on the sky). After dinner we headed over to help scare scouts on the Haunted Hay Ride. We had a great time with tons of Cubs "enjoying" the ride. As the last of the Cubs were leaving the ride, the sky finally opened up and we got the rain that had been building all day. We colled up all the Scouts and headed back to our camp and sent everyone to bed. The next morning we tried to wring everything out and packed it up for the trip home. Thanks to everyone that attended - the Cub Scouts definately appreciated it.
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:46:34 PM by Dan Turner September 14th took us down to New Braunfels, TX and Schlitterbahn water park. The park is regularly rated as the top water park in the United States with miles of river access too! We stayed at the Shelton Rock Ranch and had a great time. Sunday brought some rain (which the area desperately needed) but we had spectacular weather on Saturday while we were at the park. We skipped Enchanted Rock due to time constraints, but we will keep it on our places to go list.
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:43:10 PM by Dan Turner August 7th, 2012 we headed to Burgers Lake for a day of fun. The Troop spent the afternoon at the lake enjoying the water and sun at our annual end of summer party. We had burgers and dogs. As usual, the day is come and go with several scouts coming out late or leaving early. We had several visitors hang out with us for the day too. Thanks, as usual, to the OF that assisted.
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:39:35 PM by Dan Turner On July 7th, 2012, we headed out for our 2012 high adventure trip - "Texas Road Trip 2012". We spent the first night at Balmorhea State Park where we swam in the natural spring water. Sunday we headed to Buffalo Trails Scout Ranch where we hiked to Needle Rock. Their ranger was a great host and we had lunch at the ranch also. That evening we toured Fort Davis Historic Site and even retired their flag for the evening. We spent the night at Davis Mountain State Park and then headed to Big Bend National Park the next morning. This was the off season for the park and they had a few inches of rain before we got there. This washed out one of our planned hikes, but we had several other great hikes in the park. We were joined on one hike by a visiting Marine Corps Captain that was on vacation headed to San Antonio. She (yes she) had some great things to say to our SPL about joining the military and life in general. One afternoon the staff took a "staff-cation" and headed across the canyon for an afternoon hike and had a spectacular time. Wednesday, the 11th, we headed to the South Rim for a 15 mile hike with a 2,000 foot ascent. The view from the "top" was amazing! Looking at the topo map, we estimated it was about 3,000 foot down...straight down...to the river valley! The 9+ hour hike was well worth the effort (it was Philmont-worthy). Thursday we headed back north and stopped over to see the thousands of bats headed out for the evening in Kickapoo Caverns state park. On the drive home we stopped over in Dublin to see the formerly world famous Dr. Pepper plant. We had to settle on XXX Root Beer and other flavored sodas. A huge thanks go to Mr. Key, Mr. Taylor, Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Barrett for their efforts on the trip! Everyone had a great time!
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:21:04 PM by Dan Turner We spent a week at Worth Ranch in June for our annual summer camp - The Big Adventure did not dissapoint. We set a new record for the number of merit badges attempted by our Scouts. It was a great week with a lot of first time Troops in attendance. I spent a lot of time visiting with Troops from around Texas and Oklahoma about how we operate and how we keep such a great group of boys engaged in Scouting. Thanks to EVERYONE that attended!
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:18:28 PM by Dan Turner May 18-20, 2012 took us to Mineral Wells State Park for a weekend of biking, hiking and swiming!
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:14:41 PM by Dan Turner April 27-29, 2012 took us to Sid Richardson for our Shooting Sports campout. Mr. Auld and Mr. Cox lead the Troop in both rifle and shotgun shooting as Scouts worked on the merit badge. It was a great weekend with everyone having a "shot" at using the firearms (pun intended). Thanks to all the OF that helped out!
- Posted 12/18/2012 1:08:49 PM by Dan Turner March 30-April 1, 2012 took us to our favorite place to canoe - WR and the Brazos River!
- Posted 4/18/2012 10:57:22 AM by Dan Turner
- Posted 2/27/2012 9:46:23 AM by Dan Turner February 24-27 Wilderness Survival Campout and Merit Badge on Stripling Island at Sid Richardson Scout Camp. We headed out from the Scout Lodge at 7:30 (can we ever leave before 7:00pm?) and arrived at Sid Richardson about 9:30 with 34 Scouts. Mr. Witt drove the "52" bus with Mr. Key pulling the trailer (in his new heavy duty truck). The OF Patrol was led by Mr. Barrett (PL) with Mr. Turner (Bus Monitor), Mr. Peterson, Mr. Fitzwater, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bogle (EV), Mr. Rekieta, and Mr. Taylor providing support. Patrols were coordinated and consolidated with Hawk and Panther combining to from Hanther (or Hawkther) and Pedro and Unknown combining to form Unpedro (or Pedrown). Patrol Leaders for this camp were Noah, McCaleb, Nathan, Levi, and Ben. The morning started off with our traditional flag raising at 7:17 am and then we promptly got behind schedule on breakfast cooking and clean up. This was really several of the patrols first campout with new leadership so there were definitely some kinks to work out. Mr. Bogle led the morning fire building workshop with most of the participants starting fires with flint/steel, a magnifying glass and steel wool/9 volt battery. The weather was definitely on our side with a strong sun and little wind in the morning. After lunch, we again stumbled through the planned schedule and started the shelter building a bit late. The Scouts had about 2 hours to build a shelter in the wooded area or on the lake shore near our campsites. The Staff Patrol (with 10 members at the campout!) got a bit aggressive and tried to "brick" in some shelters cut into the 3 foot tall drop from the forest to the lake. In hindsight, I think the wind coming off the lake was a bit stronger right at the waters edge compared with the shelters built in the forest. Thankfully for them, the low on Saturday was in the mid 40s compared with the low 30s the night before. Campfire had its ups and downs but was highlighted with some new songs that the staff chose out of the various songbooks. Sunday started off great (once again at 7:17am) and we left camp relatively close to our scheduled time. After a short stop on the way home to refuel the Scouts, we were back at the lodge around 2:30. I think the real takeaway from the weekend is "be prepared" (I know I have heard that somewhere before). Many Scouts were ill prepared for the cold temperatures overnight and in the mornings. Hopefully, they will remember this experience the next time they camp. Overall a great weekend with many Scouts getting the bulk of the Merit Badge requirements done. We also had three Scouts complete Boards of Review.
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:59:03 AM by Dan Turner January 27-29, 2012 Greenbar and Invited Guests campout at Worth Ranch. We had a great campout with the Troop leadership this weekend. We started off the evening with by dividing the Troop Leadership into 4 patrols. We loaded up and headed to Wal-Mart and with the assistance of several other parents, shopped for the weekend. Our focus was cooking skills for this campout and we had some great recipes from Dr. Lee and Mr. Rekieta. We had a quick setup at Rosier Hall and then the Scouts played a great game of midnight golf. The morning started early with an instructional breakfast followed by a great roundtable discussion on Scout values and leadership qualities. I continue to be impressed by the Scouts and their insight into what makes a great leader. Lunch was once again an instructional patrol event. In the afternoon we had several outstanding guest speakers and then broke for dinner. After dinner, we headed down to the Captain Kidd Council Ring for our campfire. After the campfire we hand cranked out ice cream, cooked popcorn, and watched a movie (well at least some people did). People ended up crashed in and out of Rosier for the night. The morning was another instructional breakfast before we packed up, had a chapel service at Fulkerson Chapel, and then the OA members held a brief meeting. We headed out (very late) and had to skip the normal stop in Mineral Wells to load up on fuel (sugar for the Scouts, diesel for the bus).
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:40:02 AM by Dan Turner December 9-11, 2011. Flour War Campout. We celebrated our 15th annual Flour War campout with a day filled with activities. We had a great weekend including many of the major weather types we had sun, a little bit of wind, clouds, and even some sleet! Troop 1099 also came out and participated in our war games. They enjoyed the day and will be planning their own Flour War for next year. See the "Marching Orders" here http://www.troop17.net/docs_public/newsreader.asp?id=226
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:30:38 AM by Dan Turner November 11-13, 2011 Rocketry campout. We had a great campout last weekend! 41 boys started a small international incident by "inadvertently" shooting rockets into a neighboring campsite. Luckily they were not prepared to return fire until much later in the day. With the high winds on Saturday, we did lose a couple of rockets somewhere in the upper atmosphere, but overall the launches were a success. Thanks to all the OF that assisted with preparations for this outing!
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:30:02 AM by Dan Turner October 7-9, Fishing campout. This past weekend the Troop also headed to a new camp location for us. We spent the weekend at Camp Clements near Athens, Texas. We had a great time fishing and hiking in the East Texas woods. We only got about 30 seconds of rain but were thankful to hear that Fort Worth (and Worth Ranch) got lots of rain while we were gone.
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:24:02 AM by Dan Turner September 9-11, Aquatics Campout at Camp Constantin including a cardboard canoe race!
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:23:30 AM by Dan Turner August 9, 2011 (?) End of Summer Party at the lake
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:22:37 AM by Dan Turner July 15-29, 2011 Two crews head to Philmont Scout Ranch for the backpacking adventure of a lifetime.
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:21:47 AM by Dan Turner June 19-25, 2011 The BIG Adventure! Summer camp at Worth Ranch
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:21:18 AM by Dan Turner May 20-22, 2011 Canoe Campout - Brazos River
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:20:30 AM by Dan Turner April 29-March 1, 2011 Rocketry Campout (?) at Worth Ranch
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:19:38 AM by Dan Turner March 25-27, 2011 Cycling Campout. We head to Mineral Well State Park to see how far our legs can carry us. If you dont have cycling merit badge plan to attend the merit badge class leading up to the campout. Location: Mineral Wells State Park
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:18:39 AM by Dan Turner February 18-20, 2011 Troop 17 heads out on the trails with minimum gear to see the buffalo roam. Location: Backpacking the Witchita Mountain Wildlife Refuge
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:17:57 AM by Dan Turner January 21-23 Greenbar and invited guests at Worth Ranch
- Posted 2/27/2012 8:17:11 AM by Dan Turner December 10-12, 2010 Flour Wars on the McClure Property at Worth Ranch!
- Posted 2/8/2011 2:50:44 PM by Dan Turner November 8-10 at Sid Richarson Scout Ranch (SR2). Thanks to several former Troop 17 scouts, we had an outstanding day of climbing at Sid. Weather was chilly in the shade but still a lot of fun.
- Posted 12/20/2010 1:58:12 PM by Dan Turner October 8-10 in Beavers Bend, Oklahoma. Packing the trailer the Tuesday before definitely paid off. We got the personal gear loaded and headed out right away. The OF Advance team of Mr. Rekieta and his 4 or 5 tents were already holding our spots at the state park by the time we left the Lodge. Everyone should thank him for fending off the locals that wanted to camp that weekend. Spaces are on a first come-first serve basis. The trip was uneventful except for a brief break to decide which way to drive around or through a town of about 5k people at 11:00 pm at night. We arrived around midnight and setup camp as quietly as possible to avoid disturbing the other people camping in the area. We thought the Scouts did a stupendous job in keeping the noise down - one other camper disagreed and pointed that out in the morning. The OF, lead by Mr. Earl Johnson, had a very unique breakfast and we were on the road to the canoe renter in time to get down the river before lunch. The river was not as high as we hoped, but it was still more flow then the usual level of the Brazos. We had one exciting moment when a canoe tipped over going through a rocky area. It ended up on its side against a rock with the full force of the river attempting to bend it around the rock. One Scout was in a panic until I reminded them to simply stand up! (the water was only about 18 inches deep) It took about 6 people to get the canoe back from the rivers watery grip. Several skirmishes, tipped canoes, and splashing wars after lunch helped the day go by. We headed back to our campsites for a dinner and an early campfire. It was somewhat subdued out of respect for the neighboring campers. A hike was planned for Sunday morning after we loaded the trailer. The staff objected and wanted to head home early, but I pointed out that Stefan (the SPL) had put the schedule together. They were not happy since Stefan was not on the campout and several older boys claimed to have dates on Sunday evening. After being dropped off at the trailhead, we began our hike only to discover that the first bridge we were to cross was gone. According to the anglers in the river, the bridge had been washed away in a large flood over the summer. Since we had sent Dr. Mathe to fuel up the bus for the return trip, we explored the area while we waited on him to return. At the next trailhead, we were smarter and talked to people coming off the trail (and kept Dr. Mathe and the bus handy) before we ventured out. This trail was in better shape - the bridge was only HALF washed out. I finally gave up on the hike at that point. We headed up to the dam have our chapel service. They boys picked an interesting location for the service - it overlooked the water (rocky) side of the dam instead of the beautiful valley below it. After discussing the power of Mother Nature and our responsibility to live in harmony with her, we headed back to camp to gather the last of our things and return to Fort Worth. Sorry for the late posting about this trip. I will endeavor to do better in the future. I always welcome guest writers for anyone attending the campouts.
- Posted 9/13/2010 2:43:22 PM by Dan Turner Departure started off normal with only 2 scouts at the scout lodge by 5:30pm (maybe we should rethink this?). Once everyone decided who was a patrol leader and who was not, we got the various boats, canoes, trailers, and Suburbans loaded and left. A light rain greeted the 25 scouts and 7 OF as we hit the highway. The road trip was uneventful and we arrived in Wizard Wells in no time (or about 2 hours if you are actually counting). Camp was setup with only minor amounts of drama and everyone was in for the night by midnight or so. The morning started at 6:30am with the flag raising and patrols off to cook breakfast. Mr. Peterson was leading the OF patrol this weekend and had several gourmet meals planned. After a shaky breakfast with plans for a stronger lunch and dinner, the boys setup the safe swim area and launched the canoes and a sailboat. The Manning boys set sail first..trading the role of Skipper and Gilligan back and forth (watch for the photos online). Lunchtime helped everyone realize that the poop sheets DO have good information on them. Lessons learned - bring water shoes when recommended and sun block only works when you bring it AND put it on. The word for the day was HOT...and muggy...and wet...and brushy (another thing to remember - your Gators)...but mostly HOT. You could not drink enough water to keep up with what you sweated out. After lunch, the boys headed back to the lake to swim, canoe, and sail. Several boys completed their mile long orienteering course (thanks to Mr. Bogle and Mr. Payne for setting that up) during the weekend also. Dinner time was much more successful than breakfast. The boys ate well, but several realized the effects of not drinking enough water (we really cannot stress that enough). Campfire closed out the evening with the bar set unusually low for skits - this helped make the Staff and OF shine above the rest. 6:00am was the wakeup call on Sunday followed by breakfast and an almost efficient loading of the trailers. We took our group photo, had a short awards ceremony for Mr. Peterson and myself (we each earned the OF patrol patch), then the boys led a chapel service at the lake. After a quick jump start and highly technical repair of Dr. Lees starter, departure was around 11:00am. The trip home was uneventful (the best kind of trip). Loaded and cleanup was completed with most of the boys gone by 2pm. Special thanks to our bus driving team and to Mr. Bogle for working out the transportation logistics.
- Posted 8/23/2010 8:10:08 PM by Dan Turner August 17th, 2010 Burgers Lake Our annual end of summer head to the lake event...26 Scouts eventually attended with Dr. Mathe driving 17 boys out on the bus with Mr. Turner and Mr. Mallison brining up the rear in separate cars. We found a nice place to park in the shade and set the boys free to swim and enjoy the day. There was a nice breeze that kept the temperature down in the 100s. Several boys had already started school and came out late while others had band events to return to in the evening. Dinner was skillfully cooked by Dr. Mathe after several fire lighting experiments were done by Mr. Mallison. Mr. Turner finally found a lighter and we borrowed a swig of charcoal lighter fluid from the camp. Burgers, hot dogs, chips, and fruit salad were on the menu for the evening. Mr. Bogle, Mr. Rekieta, and Mr. Rekieta (Andrew - yes he is a Mr. Rekieta also) also came out in time for dinner. The day wrapped up when the park closed at 7pm and we headed the long way into downtown to visit the Water Gardens. An "isolated" thunderstorm dumping buckets of rain directly over downtown changed our mind about visiting the Water Gardens. We headed back to the lodge and got everyone home early before the storm caught up with us. Thanks to the adults that helped out and thanks to the boys that were able to attend. Hopefully everyone had a good time. This was my first trip to Burgers Lake and I was impressed with the place. It definitely had an "old time" feel to it. It is what I imagine a park would have been like in the 50s or 60s - a nice place to take your family. If you have the opportunity to go, I would recommend it - the staff there was great!