Not making it to the Rendezvous...

Last year in April, I went to my first scout Mountain Man Rendezvous (MMR). Our BSA council, the California Inland Empire Council, hosts an MMR each year. It's for the Varsity and Venturing Scouts. I didn't know much about it, but I did know about some of the activities:

(the links are from the BSA Imperial Council in San Diego)
Black powder rifle shooting
bow and arrow shooting
tomahawk throw
knife throw
flint and steel
caber toss
rock throw (cannon ball throw)
and others.

That was enough to get the boys interested. Those who attend are encouraged to dress in period clothing (1810-1840), though it's not mandatory.

Also there would be a "trading blanket". The original MMRs were all about trading, their "currency" was what they brought to the rendezvous. Mountain Men (trappers) brought their pelts to trade for their other essentials. At the scout MMR, the boys are encouraged to bring hand made (or not) items to trade for what ever is on the blanket. There were beads and feathers for necklaces, Indian chokers, knives, etc. There were also cans of soda, candy bars, and other snacks. That was the only place to get those items if you didn't bring your own. If you didn't bring items to trade, money was acceptable too.

I helped the young men put together some leather pouches to trade as one of our mutual activities preceding the MMR. Neither young man remembered to bring his pouch.

The 2 boys (out of the 4 that said they were going), had a great time. So did I and the other leader. I also got to do many of the activities the boys did. The other leader was just happy to be out doors, and took a long nap that Saturday afternoon.

This year, the MMR got moved to June 6th & 7th. We put it on the calendar. I had a couple more boys that turned 14 since the last one, but I also had one move, and a couple go less active and decide that they were too cool for church and scouts. On top of that, our scoutmaster was recently put into the bishopric (with no replacement), and the young men's president has had personal family issues that have taken him away from his calling the past month. The former scoutmaster assured me that he'd be able to go to the MMR as the second leader (he went last year too). But about 2 weeks ago he said he'd be gone for work. We're in a struggling ward, so available male leadership is spread pretty thin. Couple that with the few boys that can go, not fully committing to go. "I think so." and "maybe" were the most common replies. Then all of a sudden, with a week before the MMR, 2 of the boys are wondering why we're not planning anything for the MMR? I mentioned their responses to whether or not they were going, and I wasn't going to plan a trip and have no one show up (it's happened before). I gave them 48 hours to recruit one more boy. If they could do that, then I would find another adult. They waited till the last minute and were told maybe by one boy. He would tell them for sure on tuesday and mutual. He didn't show up.

I'm not completely blameless. I've been looking forward to the MMR all year, but with the changes and turmoil in the YM presidency, it's all kind of fallen on me to keep the program going. That includes scout camp that takes place starting the 28th of this month for 7 days. My mind has been overwhelmed with all of it. The scouting doesn't come to me naturally, I didn't do much scouting as a youth myself, and then to have to be a scout leader has not been easy. Because of all of that, the MMR trip needed to come together naturally, and it just didn't. So no Mountain Man Rendezvous for me this year.

There will be another chance for our Varsity scouts to do some of those activities in November. It's called the "Turkey Shoot". Probably because it happens in November, there's no turkey's shot. It's actually a service project to maintain the council's scout camp in the off season, but they get out the bows and arrows, tomahawks, knives, black powder rifles, etc. for the scouts to have another opportunity to do those activities during the year. Our Team (troop) hasn't gone to this in the past, but I think we'll have to this year.

I already had it as a goal for this year, but all of this has reinforced that goal, that I need to be a "trained" scout leader. I'm hoping that receiving such training will help me create a program that runs more naturally and fosters leadership in the young men in our ward. Next Saturday, the 14th, I'll be at training all day, and hopefully the following weekend as well. I think I'll need all I can get before scout camp rolls around.

Wow, this turned into a rather lengthy entry for not having any pictures. Sorry about that.