BOY SCOUTS WILL BE SCOUTS AT CAMP BAKER.Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard FLORENCE - Cam Iseri was stuck. The 15-year-old Boy Scout was working his way up the water tower-turned climbing wall A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, used for climbing. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material used is a thick multiplex board with holes drilled into it. rather nicely at first: arm over arm, leg over leg. But there comes a tricky point in every venture up the wall, where it's go-up-or-give-in time. "I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where to go from here," Iseri called down to the director of Camp Baker's climbing program, Josh Mann. "I think you've got the right idea; by your left hip there," Mann called back. Iseri found the "rock," which he was warned has a tendency to spin, mirroring the unpredictable nature of real-life rock-climbing. He planted his foot flat and pushed up to the next spot, back in the rhythm. Just before he got to the top, however, Iseri called out "Descending," and his fellow Scout lowered him back down. In the 50 years that Camp Baker has played host to Scouts from across the Northwest, the number of campers that have faced trials such as Iseri did this week is surely too great to count. In the same way, said current and former Scouts and leaders, the value of this 170-acre camp is immeasurable. "It's served generations," said Tom McLennan, assistant Scout executive for the Oregon Trail Oregon Trail, overland emigrant route in the United States from the Missouri River to the Columbia River country (all of which was then called Oregon). The pioneers by wagon train did not, however, follow any single narrow route. Council of the Boy Scouts of America Noun 1. Boy Scouts of America - a corporation that operates through a national council that charters local councils all over the United States; the purpose is character building and citizenship training . "There are families where the grandfather, the father and the son have all been to Boy Scout summer camp at Camp Baker. It's a landmark, really, for a lot of kids around here." Originally named Camp Tsiltcoos, for the lake that borders the peninsula it occupies, the camp was renamed for Register-Guard Publisher Alton F. Baker in 1962, in honor of the funding and effort he contributed to making the camp Western Oregon's "flagship," McLennan said. Over the years, this rugged outpost has added 45 acres and dozens of amenities, from the most striking - the four-sided climbing wall and ropes course A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground. , woven through trees - to the most serene: the waterfront view of reeds and railroad trestles This article is about the surf spots. For the table, see trestle table. For the type of bridge, see trestle. Trestles is a collection of surf spots in San Onofre, CA near the Orange County border. along the docks where young Scouts learn to swim, or tie their pants in a knot, fill them with air and create an emergency flotation device. But the camp's best qualities are the ones that haven't changed at all: the towering 300-year-old Sitka spruce and Douglas fir Douglas fir: see pine. Douglas fir Any of about six species of coniferous evergreen timber trees (see conifer) that make up the genus Pseudotsuga, in the pine family, native to western North America and eastern Asia. trees, covered with iridescent ir·i·des·cent adj. 1. Producing a display of lustrous, rainbowlike colors: an iridescent oil slick; iridescent plumage. 2. moss, shading ferns and Salmonberry bushes that coat the forest floor. "It still looks the same as it did in 1957," said Olympia Scoutmaster Gary Stedman, recalling his first days at the camp. "We watched two ospreys fly overhead yesterday." Each week during the summer, the camp welcomes 10 to 15 troops from Oregon and other nearby states, offering the chance at rare merit badges for 150 to 200 Scouts. It's one of the few places in Oregon where Scouts can learn to sail, for example, or get a badge in environmental science, space exploration - even archaeology. "I like it here," said 13-year-old Evan Townsend, with Thurston Troop 75, after trying his hand at hitting a red bucket with a bow and arrow bow and arrow, weapon consisting of two parts; the bow is made of a strip of flexible material, such as wood, with a cord linking the two ends of the strip to form a tension from which is propelled the arrow; the arrow is a straight shaft with a sharp point on one . Townsend wants to earn his merit badge in environmental science, he said. "It's hard. I have to do a bunch of reports." There are also unique opportunities for pure fun, camp director Patrick Lewis said. One of the most popular summer events is "Dune dune, mound or ridge of wind-blown sand formed in arid regions and along coasts. Dunes are common in most of the great deserts of the world. Often a dune begins to form because material is deposited by the wind as it encounters a bush, a rock, or other obstacle to diving." Scouts travel to a nearby sand dune sand dune Hill, mound, or ridge of windblown sand or other loose material such as clay particles. Dunes are commonly associated with desert regions and seacoasts, and there are large areas of dunes in nonglacial parts of Antarctica. and leap from a high point, rolling as fast as they can to the bottom. "You don't make a lot of money in Boy Scouts," said aquatics director Mark Forrett, overseeing a snorkeling lesson on the pristine waterfront. "But what kind of price can you put on a day like this?" A short hike away, 15-year-old counselor-in-training Zach Nailon talked about the environment with a group of younger Scouts. "Can anyone explain how industrial use affects the water supply?" Nailon prompted. "Pollutes it?" guessed 10-year-old Hunter Oakes, with Troop 400 of Ontario. "Yeah, sometimes," Nailon said. "Don't they have to clean it?" asked 14-year-old David Kilday of Cottage Grove's Troop 302. "Well, they're supposed to, but not always," Nailon replied. "What if something happened downstream, like if a cow died?" "They'd be drinking dead cow," said 11-year-old Matt Smith of Troop 400. "Then they could sue the cow." "I don't think you can take a cow to court," Nailon said. But you can certainly take a Scout to Camp Baker; maybe even for another 50 years. Winston Ross can be reached at (541) 902-9030 or rgcoast@oregonfast.net. CAMP BAKER Camp Baker will celebrate its 50th Anniversary Saturday. To get there: Follow the sign six miles south of Florence on U.S. Highway 101 Cost: $8 for adults, $4 for children Time: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. To reserve a spot: Call (541) 485-4433 CAPTION(S): Boy Scout Cody Kame kame (kām), low, steep, rounded hill or ridge of layered sand and gravel drift, developed from glacial deposits. Kames were probably formed by streams of melting glacial ice that deposited mud and sand along the ice front. , 14, advances across the "hee bee gee bee Gee Bee may refer to:
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