Scout Camp: Sand Hollow

Last week I went with the Venture scouts (16-17 year olds) to Sand Hollow near Hurricane, Utah. It is a relatively new reservoir being only 4-5 years old (from what I am told). We occupied three of the sites with hookups that were adjacent to the bathroom and showers.

Yeah, that kind of camping.

We took our time getting down there, stopping off for a tour and lunch at Cove Fort. Pretty interesting tour. Quite a different lifestyle back then. We arrived at the park in the late afternoon, and after setting up camp, messed around by the shore. I tried my hand at fly fishing again but was frustrated by the wind. Fly fishing on the shore of a lake is kind of lame. I didn't try fishing any of the other days.

On Tuesday I headed to St. George to get the Jimmy looked at. The brakes were making an awful sound but after $200 in replacement rotors, it was running like a champ. I also picked up a new battery for it. I also took the opportunity to visit Jess' grandma who will be 90 in March. It was a really short visit as I needed to get back to the camp to supervise. When I got back to camp the boys were over on the beach lying about and being bums. A few of them were out in a paddle boat and others were trying to fix the motor of the fishing boat they overturned. I played some bocce on beach. Not much else happened that afternoon. The activity planning was an interesting experiment. We presented the boys with numerous options, thinking that they would have more fun that way but they wound up doing nothing. That changed at the end of the week.
After dinner we busted out the movie projector and watched Forever Strong. The premise of the story is terrific with poor execution. It felt like a cross between an Afternoon Special and a church movie. I mostly did some Python programming while listening to it.

Wednesday was all about Zion National Park. We decided to climb Angel's Landing. A really nice hike which convinced me that my aspirations to be a person who runs can only be manifested by being a trail runner. Getting to the top was no easy task for many in our group but those who made it all the way up were treated to a great view. I went up in the first group and we were about 30-45 minutes ahead of everyone else. It started to rain and everyone got drenched. Right before the part of the hike with chains to keep people from falling off, there are latrines and 55 gallon barrels labeled "Human Waste". Later we found out how they fill the barrels and how they get them off the mountain. A lot of effort involved. I really need a t-shirt with a barrel of human toxic waste on the front. That night's movie was Kung Fu Panda.


Thursday we drove to St. George and took a tour of the visitor's center at the St. George temple. Later we went to a park, at a sack lunch and played soccer. Some refugees from Nepal that live in the Stake came with us and they humored us as we tried to play soccer with them. We then drove around looking for a basketball court. We found a court with 8 foot rims and played some dunk ball. Made me think of all those summers playing on low rims with Jeff. The movie that night was Nacho Libre. The rest of the trip was filled with quotes and references to that show.

Friday we rented a ski boat. All the kids slept in so the adults went out early and got to ski the nice water. I drove the boat most of the morning, swapping it twice and trying to dump all the kids off the tubes. Renting is the way to go. All of the fun and none of the hassle.

Saturday I had to go to Costco to replace a ski vest that we evidently lost. After that we packed up and left. On the way home we stopped off at Wendy's for lunch. I barely made it home without falling asleep.