There is a minimum order amount of $60 Dollars for all Pre-Orders
All orders must be received by June 1st to guarantee sizes and receive a discount
Orders must be accompanied by Full Payment
For Questions Contact: Shawn Halbert, Business Birector at (818) 933-0131 or sehalber@bsa-la.org
* Pre-orders are for Troops only. This service is not for individual scouts. All items ordered in advance will be available for pickup when your Troop arrives in camp Please make only ONE order per troop. Individual items will be available for purchase at camp in the Trading Post ar regular summer prices.
The saying goes that California is the only place in the world where you can surf in the morning, skate to lunch, and ski in the afternoon. In Los Angeles especially, there is a concentration of ecosystems and natural resources that allow us to participate in almost every kind of outdoor activity that has yet been invented, which is probably why California remains a Mecca for adventure travel and outdoor sports.
The Western Los Angeles County Council has introduced California Excursions, a two week excursion that takes participants from the heights of the Sierra Nevada to the depths of the Pacific Ocean in a two week trip that takes advantage of the unique faucets of California that we enjoy at all three of our camps. Read more
Spotlight: Howard Schwartz, 44, is an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 642 in Calabasas, CA, who has seen his two sons through the entire Cub Scout program and into Boy Scouts. Howard, however, never got the opportunity to do Boy Scouts because, as his mother told him when he had asked to join as a child, “Jewish boys don’t do Scouts.” He has watched his sons go become Boy Scouts with a chip on his shoulder because he had never had the opportunity to put himself to the test as a young man. Last Spring, however, Howard got the chance to see if he was Tougher Than a Boy Scout when he was cast in the pilot episode of the show after responding to a casting call for adults who had never been able to participate in Scouting as kids but wished they could have. As a contestant on the show, Howard found that the most difficult challenges were not the endurance challenges, but the challenges that required him to think clearly and act decisively under pressure. “The hardest part for me was getting out of my own way,” he says, “and just doing the skills without over-thinking them.” Howard describes the tense moments before events started as Scouts and adults alike were pushed to the limit—“Thing got a little heated” as contestants were not allowed to speak to one another about events or
sharing information to keep the competitive tension that comes so vividly across when you watch the show from the other side of the screen. But onscreen sparks never started off screen fires, since the Scouts and Adults felt a mutual admiration and respect that you would expect of a Scouting community. Howard says of the Scouts, “They represented Scouting and everything ithas to offer any interested young boy. Who wouldn’t want to do learn about all those amazing skills, become an excellent leader and develop into a well rounded citizen.” The show has only whet Howard’s appetite for Scouting adventure—“I want more challenges!” Howard will be featured on Episode 6, Man v. Scout of Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout, Mondays at 8 PM Eastern/5 Pm and 10 PM Pacific.
Make sure you tune in this Monday, March 4th at 8PM to watch the new National Geographic reality series in which adults who never reached the rank of Eagle test their mettle against young Eagle Scouts on top of their game. In the show, contestants compete in challenges drawn from Merit Badges and outdoor Boy Scout skills to see if the adults can match the skills and traits required to be an Eagle Scout. Therefore, producers of the show had to find a location to host the show for activities such as Whitewater rafting, rappelling, wilderness navigation and canoe jousting (admittedly a new addition to the Boy Scout skill set). Our own Camp Whitsett, which rests in the heights of the Sequoia National Monument near Lake Ida and the mighty Kern River, was chosen for its traditional Mountain Camp ambiance as well as the rugged terrain that could challenge even the most practiced outdoorsman.
Campers at Whitsett this summer will get to see if they are tough enough for Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout by taking on the Tough Enough Challenge. In order to earn the Tough Enough patch, campers will have to complete several challenges from Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout. These events will pair skills tested on the show such as Climbing, Shooting, natural navigation, obstacle courses, and pioneering. Make sure you take advantage of this opportunity to interact with the show in the very same location where it was filmed!
The 2013 Camping Guide is available online and will soon be available at your local service center or if requested by mail. It has descriptions of all of the Boy Scout and Cub Scout Programs that you can find at Camp Emerald Bay, Camp Whitsett, and Camp Josepho, so make sure you use it to plan your unit’s and family’s activities in 2013.
The Camp Josepho staff got together to create a promotional video that describes how fun and exciting our Webelos and Boy Scout Movie Camps can be. Watch what they put together and show it to your pack or troop to see what you can look forward to at the Webelos Movie Camp, Cinematography Experience, and Game Design, Programming and Robotics Merit Badge Cluster.
We introduced you last month to some of the new faces in our Camping Department that you will meet this year up at Camp Whitsett and Camp Emerald Bay. We are very proud to add to the ranks a few more team members who have joined us in the new year. Get to know the Emerald Bay Management Team.
Camp Whitsett is breaking ground this Spring on a project to overhaul the nature center to make it a better interactive classroom space as well as a museum and display area. The new lodge will be divided into four sections, Natural History, Living History, Environmental Science and Astronomy, that will allow classes and displays to share an indoor-outdoor space opening up to the surrounding Sequoias. The lodge will also preserve the history of Camp Whitsett and the memory of Camp Wolverton though photographic exhibits and displays of artifacts from the long history at the two camps. We need your help assembling parts of the exhibit and making this renovation work. See how you can contribute to the project through contributions or with specific objects for the center here.
Join us at our annual Arborist Weekend at Camp Joespho during the weekend of March 15-17. We will be offering the Forestry Merit Badge to any Scouts who want to participate, an Food and lodging is covered in the $45.00 registration cost. Come learn about arboriculture from real environmental professionals, and earn the merit badge while doing so! Register here!
Recipe: Beyond Classic Cobbler
Every Scout has made the classic peach cobbler. But Scoutmasters, Staff, and enterprising scouts have developed over the years an abundance of substitutions and alterations to the classic recipe that make it their own. Try these out on your next Cobbler to spice things up!
Base Cobbler Recipe
2 cans sliced Peaches in syrup
2-3 cups yellow cake mix (depending on consistency wanted)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Butter Dutch Oven cooking surface. Drain half of the syrup from the canned peaches. Add yellow cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon to canned peaches and mix into a batter. Add to dutch oven. Sprinkle additional mix over the top layer before closing oven and putting coals on top. Cook until top layer is crispy and inside moist.
Substitutions:
Use Sprite or 7-Up instead of Peach Syrup in batter.
Slice Fresh Peaches on top layer for crispy fruit topping.
Substitute other fruits such as Cherry or Blackberry.
Add Chocolate to batter or chocolate chips in the topping.
Crumble Chocolate Chip Cookies or Graham Crakers over crispy topping for a cruchy texture on top layer.
Be creative, and try new things as well!
Questions? Contact (818) 933-0130 or email camping@bsa-la.org
Camp Whitsett is breaking ground this Spring on a project to overhaul of nature lodge to make it a better interactive classroom space as well as a museum and display area. The new lodge will be divided into four sections, Natural History, Living History, Environmental Science and Astronomy, that will allow classes and displays to share an indoor-outdoor space that opens up to the surrounding Sequoias. The lodge will also preserve the history of Camp Whitsett and the memory of Camp Wolverton though photographic exhibits and displays of artifacts from the long history at the two camps. We need your help assembling parts of the exhibit and making this renovation work.
The project will require funds for the structural changes that we are making to the nature center, as well as specific objects for the displays that we populate exhibits on the natural and living history of the region. Please look at the list of objects below, and if you can donate an item or the funds to purchase them, please email Camp Director Joshua Bryan at joshua.bryan@scouting.org.
Artifacts from Whitsett and Wolverton History
Interactive Map of Region
Telescopes
Scrolling Marquee
Weather Station
Soil Erosion Box
Planters
Sinks
TVs
Headphones
Tables
Whiteboards
Terrariums
Heating Elements for Terrariums
Books on local Natural History, Science, Audubon Field Guides
Taxidermy Specimens from Ecosystem (rabbits, foxes, bats, beavers, deer, bobcats, mountain lion, owl, Golden Trout, etc)
The first episode of Are You Tougher than a Boy Scout will premier on the National Geographic Channel on March 4th at 8 PM Eastern/Pacific. Make sure you tune in with your Troop to see Scouts and Scout leaders from across the country (including several from our own council and camp staffs!) test their mettle against each other in competitions of outdoor skills, physical endurance, and problem solving. The real star of the show, however, is our own Camp Whitsett, which is the setting of the high stakes challenges that push these contestants to their limits. As you watch competitors do canoeing challenges on the lake, navigate the peaks around camp, and try to best each other in shooting, hiking, and ropes adventures, remember that these are (for the most part) activities that you will be doing for yourself this summer at Whitsett! Are You Tougher Than A Boy Scout: Thurs, March 4th, 8 PM EST/PST, National Geographic Channel. Be there!
Those of you who read Scouting Magazine would have seen the cover story about the National Geographic TV show that will be premiering this February. The show pits several fit middle age men who ooze machismo against Boy Scouts (real Boy Scouts—not twenty-five year old actors masquerading as teens) in competitions that challenge their outdoor mettle. What you may not have noticed in the back, however, is that the competition takes place at our own Camp Whitsett, which hosted the production last spring. The show is a product of Thom Beers, the producer of the popular reality shows Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, and like those shows, it highlights that adrenaline-pumping adventure in a community that is not always visible to the general public. “I’m hoping the show will give people a better idea of what Boy Scouts are really like,” Diallo Whitaker—one of the “super-scouts’” in the competition— said in a recent Scouting interview. “Seeing us do all these cool challenges, it lets people know Boy Scouts are about more than just earning merit badges.” Many of the competitions featured in the show, such as whitewater, canoeing, mountain biking, and high ropes are central parts of the Whitsett merit badge program that most scouts do when they come to camp. Make sure you tune in to the show when it begins airing, and sign-up to do the same activities with your troop when you come out to Whitsett this summer!
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