E Patrol - Out Standing In The Field

Echoing Eggoes Patrol completed the Boy Scouters Fundamentals course at Flint Ridge site this past weekend. What started as a diverse group completed the weekend as a fully functional team. We took several stations, including:

• Leave No Trace
• Knots
• Lashing
• Fire
• Tomahawk
  

The youth staff voted for our Patrol, and gave each of us a small 'woggle' knot to wear.

It threatened to rain, and did, most of the weekend, though not enough to dampen our enthusiasm.

Friday night crackerbarrel was pretzels, dip, cheese and crackers, while we discussed the duty roster, song/skit/cheer/story inventory, and speculated on the stations to be faced on Saturday.

The first night's sleep was interrupted by rain, or more accurately, there was a lot of rain with partly sleeping.

During Saturday breakfast of eggs in a bag, we had 2 esteemed guests, Harry 2 the training Senior Patrol Leader, and Mark, his right hand bugler and cheermaster. Greg the ultimate backpacker stopped by to pronounce our cooking plans outstanding.

The morning stations were:


1. 2 man saw
2. leave no trace
3. fire
4. whipping/fusing rope
5. knots
6. lashing



Lunch was a phenomenal display by Harry (1) Raker's Bakers of campfire cooking, including a roast turkey under a large aluminum container, and bread baked in a cardboard box.

Afternoon stations


7. tomahawk throw
8. tree leaf identification
9. first aid 1
10. first aid 2
11. first aid 3
12. compass work

Dinner was cooking by Dutch oven, with a rush order as the time between the last station and the next appointment was tight. Even so, the stuffed pork chops were well done and the rolled apple cinnamon dessert was outstanding. We thought the only missing ingredient was a dab of ice cream or whipped cream, unnecessary but a nice idea.

At campfire, we had the crowd on their feet with a mangled version of Old McRaker - sizzle/sizzle, bubble/bubble and perk/perk, and groaning at the "Regifting" skit. A "Pack-it-in/pack-it-out" Leave No Trace cheer completed our contribution. Later a few of us saw a huge Wood Badge beading ceremony, followed by more rain overnight prior to packout.

Sunday morning the gear heads got to see some of Greg and Pat's backpacking ideas, eat some dried applesauce and jerky, followed by graduation. As noted above, E Patrol took several stations, leveraging our diverse skills and talents.

Prep work: Class 1 / Class 2









Mark, Bill, Walt, Jim, Myles, Tom







And a long video: