Samuel P. Taylor Campout Jan. 22

What makes Samuel P. Taylor Park so special? This 2,882-acre land is filled with majestic redwoods, oak-studded grasslands, canyon groves, and a creek.

“Ahh what is that?! It’s near our tent. I’m not going there!”. On the 22nd of January, 11 scouts from our troop went on a camping trip to Samuel Taylor Park. Upon arrival, we went over our assigned responsibilities and hung up a duty roster. Right away, we set up our tents and unpacked all our gear. Around this time, it was still 3 o’clock so we did some fun activities like lashings, knots, and setting up tents. Subsequently, we started working on dinner and dessert. The people working on dinner, which was burritos, started cooking rice, beans, chicken, chopped bell peppers, and onions, while the people working on the dessert, which was coconut smores pie (Coconut S'mores Pie Recipe), started making the batter with marshmallows, pecans, shredded coconut, and chocolate. Here is what one scout, Tanvi A. , said about it, “The dinner was wonderful. We all had some unease because of the beans but Tanvi A. did a great job cooking them”.

After we finished our dinner, burritos, we acted out some skits while the fire was burning. Also during this time, a curious grey fox kept coming up to our campsite. It returned frequently at night. After the skits finished, around 8:30 pm, we started to cook the dessert in the dutch oven over the fire. When everyone was done eating the pie, they went back to their tents or someone else’s tent and talked for a while after everything was done. After around one and a half hours, at 10:30 pm we went to sleep.

At 7:00 am, we woke up slowly and drowsily. It was freezing and everyone started getting ready for the day in the bathroom and in their tents. The people on breakfast duty started cooking pancakes and making hot chocolate. After everyone finished eating and drinking, they got dressed and packed their gear up. When everything was loaded into the cars, we went on a 5-mile hike. We hiked on the Cross Marin trail which was right next to the Lagunitas Creek. This trail used to be a railroad called the North Pacific Coast Railroad in 1874. After we returned and did a quick sweep, we spotted an adorable raccoon climbing up a tree. Soon after we finished taking pictures, we got into our cars and headed back home.

Sabya, one of the 11 scouts that came, said, “This camping trip was really fun, super productive and activity-filled. We got to practice lashings, we cooked meat for the first time, we went on a good 5 mile hike, and we saw tons of different animals throughout the campsite”. Overall, some things we could have improved on is planning a different breakfast other than pancakes because it took an extensive amount of time to make, and half of them never cooked properly. Also, we should prepare a different dessert than coconut s'mores pie because it didn’t turn out well and is quite hard to make in a camp setting. For example, churning butter by hand*. “While a few scouts cooked dinner, Tanya and Laya took up the chance to try and create dessert. The first part of the recipe called for churning butter and well, let’s just say it wasn’t the easiest task. ” said Laya, who was making dessert. Some of the things we did well are planning the hike and the chicken*, which was outstanding. Another thing we learned is, if the propane tanks are frozen or if the burner sputters, due to frigid cold temperatures, you can pour warm water on it, to thaw it out. If that doesn't work, you can soak 1/4 of the tank in warm water. This ensures the stove receives adequate fuel.

*Thank you Laya

*Everyone loved Sabya's cooked chicken, it ran out extremely fast

〜 Saanvi and Tanya