Dogged determination helps Scouts hone skills at Camp Kootaga
BSA scouts test their skills at starting a fire with all natural materials during the annual Camp Kootaga Klondike Derbies. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Scouts successfully complete their station using their skills to grab a weighted object out of the ‘river’ during this year’s annual Camp Kootaga’s Klondike Derbies. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Camp Kootaga’s mascot for their ‘Camp Dog Races’ theme was Camp Ranger John Baker’s 4 year old collie-pyrenees mix, Odin. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Keeping in theme with this year’s Camp Kootaga’s ‘Camp Dog Races’ Klondike Derbies, scouts collected food to be donated to the Parkersburg Humane Society to ‘Feed the Doggies.’ (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
This year’s BSA Buckskin Council Kootaga District annual Klondike Derbies theme was ‘Camp Dog Races’ where scouts tested their skills on a series of challenges to determine who can best ‘pull their weight’ and is most worthy of the title of ‘Top Dog’ according to the Kootaga District camp website. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
BSA scouts test their skills at starting a fire with all natural materials during the annual Camp Kootaga Klondike Derbies. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
BSA scouts test their skills at starting a fire with all natural materials during the annual Camp Kootaga Klondike Derbies. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Scouts successfully complete their station using their skills to grab a weighted object out of the ‘river’ during this year’s annual Camp Kootaga’s Klondike Derbies. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Camp Kootaga’s mascot for their ‘Camp Dog Races’ theme was Camp Ranger John Baker’s 4 year old collie-pyrenees mix, Odin. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Keeping in theme with this year’s Camp Kootaga’s ‘Camp Dog Races’ Klondike Derbies, scouts collected food to be donated to the Parkersburg Humane Society to ‘Feed the Doggies.’ (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
This year’s BSA Buckskin Council Kootaga District annual Klondike Derbies theme was ‘Camp Dog Races’ where scouts tested their skills on a series of challenges to determine who can best ‘pull their weight’ and is most worthy of the title of ‘Top Dog’ according to the Kootaga District camp website. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
BSA scouts test their skills at starting a fire with all natural materials during the annual Camp Kootaga Klondike Derbies. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)
Trending
PARKERSBURG -- The BSA Buckskin Council Kootaga District held their annual Klondike Derbies at Camp Kootaga this weekend, themed 'Camp Dog Races,' to put their scout skills to the test.
The Kootaga District of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Buckskin Council is made up of scouts from Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Ritchie and Calhoun counties in West Virginia and the communities of Belpre, Little Hocking and Coolville in Ohio, according to Scout Master and District Commissioner Christopher Burk. The Kootaga District holds many events throughout the year, not just their annual summer camp, including their Klondike Derbies. The Klondike Derbies are the oldest event in the BSA, beginning around 1949 and continuing to this day.
The derbies are a contest of scouts' skills where they must work in seven teams of eight, using the patrol team method to solve various situations including building a fire with all natural objects, retrieving a weighted object from a 'river' without stepping into the 'river', guiding blindfolded scouts through the forest based on knowledge of the forest, making a first aid shelter and tying the correct knots, or lashings, for a dog sled.
"It's really about working together with other scouts," said Committee Chair of Troop 20 Alan Campbell. "BSA scouts includes kids, male and female, from ten or eleven up to age eighteen, so it's really catered towards the older kids. These kids have crazy mad skills. I've seen teams tie their knots in no time and their knots were perfect!"
"It's a fantastic time out here, no matter the weather, and it's really youth based as well as volunteer lead. We only have one main staff member, John Baker, who maintains Camp Kootaga year round. The rest of the year, we have people volunteer to help clean up, paint or fix up the camp."
Baker, Camp Kootaga's in-house Camp Ranger, is also the owner of the Klondike Derbies' themed camp mascot, a four year old collie-pyrenees mix named Odin. This year's theme, 'Camp Dog Races', is just one of many themes that the Camp Kootaga Klondike Derbies has had in their many years of the camp. Last year's theme was 'Monster Mountain Manhunt', which involved the scout teams, in addition to completing their various stations, videoing a Yeti anytime he might have traveled into the eye of the scouts for extra points. In keeping with this year's theme, the scouts keep track of their points with plastic dog bones.
According to Campbell, the cost for this year's camp was just $15 and included overnight camping, a free lunch and event patch for the scouts in attendance.
"BSA is for any kid, no matter their economic means," Campbell said. "We even have extra uniforms for kids who want to be scouts in case they can't afford to buy one of their own."
For those who would like to join the BSA and would like to know meeting days and times, visit beascout.org and enter your zip code to find the unit nearest to you or call the Parkersburg office at 304-422-4507.
Gretchen Dowler can be reached at gdowler@newsandsentinel.com