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Published on 07/21/1999 All articles from this issue

North to Alaska goes adventure-minded Scout Troop 37

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By Eric Garcia

Special to the Town Crier

This Saturday, members of Los Altos Boy Scout Troop 37, Los Altos' oldest established troop, will be off to a "high adventure trip" in Alaska. The following is written by scout Eric Garcia who will chronicle the trip in another upcoming article.

The birth of Boy Scout Troop 37's venture trip to Alaska took place at the 1997 annual planning conference in Moffett Field's Hanger One.

A group of scouts, including myself, collaborated to develop several options for a high adventure trip. Selecting Alaska was most fitting, since our venture crew loved snowcapped mountain scenery and excellent fishing. For the trip to unfold, we needed two valuable components: enthusiastic scouts and adults. Our recruiting effort resulted in 13 inspired, able-bodied scouts to sign up for the trip.

Our adult trip leader, Venture Assistant Scoutmaster, Bob Garcia, suggested a rigorous training program. First on the list was a two-day flat water canoeing class, where we all received our American Canoe Association Flatwater Certification. Several weekends ago, we completed a 15-mile backpacking trip with fully loaded packs to simulate our Denali State Park hike in Alaska. The rigorously steep- sided Black Mountain area served up an appropriate challenge.

We have also completed a nine-hour course of CPR, and attended a wilderness first aid course given by a troop dad and noted wilderness medicine author, Dr. Paul Auerbach. The trip's Senior Patrol Leader is Robbie Beetem, with appointed Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders, Aaron Olson and Gary Pabst.

Over the past year, many hours have been spent by the scouts at weekly planning meetings. Creative methods for incorporating education into our trip were developed during these sessions.

"Expedition Specialists" will study about specific fields such as flora, fauna, geology and culture. Two scouts have been assigned to each field and will share their knowledge with the group during the trip.

Through the planning meetings, we formulated the trip itinerary as well.

After flying up to Anchorage from San Jose, our first stop is Talkeetna, where we have scheduled a flightseeing tour over Denali National Park and Mount McKinley.

We have scheduled three days of backpacking in Denali State Park where we will utilize some of our prior training, followed by a two-day stay and bus tour in Denali National Park. We then spend two days road camping and fishing our way back to Anchorage for a day and a half of sightseeing, laundry, rest and relaxation.

That is only the first week of our trip! The second half of the adventure takes us south to the Kenai Peninsula canoe for five days of wilderness canoeing in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge where the rest of our training kicks in.

Hopefully, we will not have to demonstrate our first-aid skills on each other.

After returning from canoeing, we will spend two days at the head of Resurrection Bay in the harbor town of Seward where we have chartered a boat for a day of halibut fishing.

Our last event takes us out for a day of glacier and nature viewing in the fjords of Cook Inlet.