Highlights:
Warm days and cool starry nights accompanied Troop 301 at the Joshua Tree campout.
The boys had a good time practicing fire starting skills throughout the weekend.
Scouts rose to the Park Ranger challenge Saturday night and successfully started our campfire using no paper, leaves, needles or sticks – using only an axe, knife and logs to make tinder and kindling the fire roared to life on the first try.
Dinner included dutch oven cooking. Dutch over delicacies included pizza rolls, lasagna, and an ambrosia-like dessert called peach dump cake.
An afternoon hike went by Mastodon Mine (pictured above) and then a summit of Mastodon Peak. During our walk through the valley the chuckwallas (picture) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuckwalla) kept a watchful eye upon us from every rock ledge.
The hike concluded at the Cottonwood Oasis where massive fan palms and cottonwood trees provide respite from the desert heat.