We got to Coon's Bluff about 5PM and it was already raining pretty hard. So we put on our coats and rain panchos and started unloading the van and trailor so we could start setting up camp, and more importantly dinner.
The first thing we needed to do was setup our campsite. Since it was raining that meant we had to set up rain tarps. It was hard to set up because it was raining. Brother Bradshaw and Brother Weed had to climb up trees to set up the tarps. It soon turned out that the scouts were making silhouettes, which made setting up the tarps a whole lot more fun.
After finally setting up camp we got to build a campfire and make dinner. For dinner we had "hobo meals" (tin foil dinners) with potatoes, hamburger, and carrots. Zach buttered the tin foil and distributed the hamburger while Justin and Porter washed and cut the potatoes and carrots. Brother Bradshaw prepared the charcoal that we cooked on.
By then it was about 11:00pm and we all wanted to go to bed. It rained hard for several hours then it stopped except for a few occasional sprinkles. But that's when the wind started. Instead of mild winds as the weathers reporters told, the winds were very strong. But all the tents were fine except for the leaders tent that the canopy blew on to and ripped a hole in it.
In the morning we got up and played by the river digging holes in the river bank and making a "sand castle" like city in the dirt. Then we had breakfast of hot chocolate and cereal. And since it wasn't raining at that time, we started taking down some of the tents and rolling up our sleeping bags. After we did some more playing and drew faces on wood planks that we then floated down the river and set on fire. 
For our skills training we learned to build fires without matches. Using flint and steel, we had a competition to start fires with the goal to make the fire large enough that it would burn a string which was tied about 2 feet above the ground. The first to do this would be the winner. It took us a long time to get fires started...approximately one hour. Justin got a few good fires started, but then they went out. Zach has several little fires that he couldn't get to catch to the large wood pieces. Porter's was first to get a fire that kept going, but then ran out of wood before it could burn the string. Zach finally cheated by pickup up his burning wood and holding it to the string. Nobody ended up winning...After that we took down our camp, packed up and drove home. We got home around 3PM on Saturday. Even though it rained a lot, it was a great campout. We really appreciate Brother Bradshaw and Brother weed for taking us.
To see all of our campout pictures, please go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/severtson/CoonSBluffCampout
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