Klondike Derby Preparations

This past weekend, our troop’s adult leaders took a few hours on Saturday morning to do some prep-work for our Scouts’ upcoming Klondike Derby.

Each year in January, the Cahokia Mounds District holds their annual Klondike Derby. It’s an action-packed day with troops in our district and throughout our council show off their Scouting skills as they compete with one another during the event on Saturday.

The event is held at Camp Warren Levis. The Klondike activities are all day Saturday, but our troop (like many others) turn the event into a weekend camping trip.

Tent Setup

As mentioned above, the event is held each year in January. At this time of year in the St. Louis area, the weather can be anything from pleasant and sunny to single-digit freezing cold. As such, our troop puts a big emphasis in making sure the Scouts are well-prepared, especially if it’s a cold weekend.

Years ago, our troop was fortunate enough to acquire 2 large tents. We don’t use them for our normal camping trips, but we break them out during Klondike. They provide much more protection from the cold than our normal tents, and the pot-belly stoves used during the day help keep everyone warm.

The downside… They’re MUCH more difficult to set up. Rather than having the Scouts try to set these up the night before the event, our adult leaders typically head out to camp ahead of time to set them up for the boys. If we’re lucky, we’re able to find a weekend with some nice weather to make the process easier.

Preparing at Troop Meetings

We have quite a few our Scouts signed up for the event this year. They’ve been reviewing some of their skills (such as knot tying) at our troop meetings. We’ve also used the time to go through our supplies to make sure we have everything we need.

Should be a fun weekend!

Want more info about our troop? Be sure to contact us!