The Memorial Weekend outing began Friday, May 22 in the usual place in the Santee K-Mart parking lot.

Last minute details to improve radio reception resulted in a 7 pm start, but the radios functioned flawlessly during the trip.

The troop pulled in around 3:00 AM Saturday in the same camp site as the previous year. By 3:30, ten tents were set up and Scouts were dreaming of trout.

The high desert camp greeted scouts with sunshine the next morning. After an extended breakfast and camp reorganization to keep camp fees low, twelve scout and seven parents aimed for Rock Creek Lake. Two miles up the mountain scouts found that Rock Creek Lake was still completely frozen and access to the lake was closed.

Not to be deterred, Scoutmaster Bob Arii took the troop down one mile to a bridge where the creek ran and discovered dozens of trout in a recently stocked stream.

Within minutes there were hookups. When the rest of the troop arrived on the site, five trout were being held aloft on a string line by Carrie Arii. Within an hour, so many trout were caught that scouts were instructed to start cooking and start eating their fresh trout. Around dozen trout soon were skinned and cooking on impromptu cooking areas on picnic tables and the back of trucks.

Although some scouts were rumored to have had crackers with power bait and salmon eggs, some scouts had their first pan-fried trout ever and others were reacquanting themselves with the wonderful taste.

Dozens of trout were cleaned in the field expertly by Assistant Scout leader Lenny Morrow and Bob Martin. Also lending expertise were Scoutmaster Bob Arii and Dennis Martin. The next day, scouts were instructed in the finer points of cleaning fish.

Fishing concluded early each day to avoid any entanglements with the game warden over fishing limits.

Camp was a welcome relief for the troop in the afternoon. Dinner time arrived quickly and soon a dozen scouts were applying their culinary skills to spaghetti, trout and other dishes.

Following cleanup, the campfire was lit as the stars emerged through Saturday evenings overcast sky.

Scouts roasted some unusal looking marshmellows, and later were heard throughout the camp in a snipe hunt. None were caught, but that did not dampen spirits.