Troop History

On January 20th we went ice skating as a troop at Sno king. Because there was a day off for MLK we missed our regular meeting, so instead the troop planned an ice skating trip. We carpooled down to the sno king in Renton. When we got there, we rented our skates and stepped onto the ice, trying to find our balance. There was a bit of falling at the beginning but by the end of the session, we really started to get the hang of it. Honestly, it was a fun trip, I got to do something I don’t normally do. The only downside was that I was pretty sore the next morning. Totally worth it, though!

By Charlotte M.

We headed out for the weekend to Camp Shepherd, which is just past Enumclaw but not quite as far as Crystal Mountain Ski resort. Camp Shepherd is a Cub Scout/Scouting America camp, renowned for its unique sled hill, snow shoeing trails and snow volcano field (though this time, there wasn’t any snow).

First, we stopped at Frankie’s Pizza for dinner on the way there. After about an hour and a half drive there, we arrived! We took the traditional trek up the path to get to the camp and were soon checked into our heated cabins. After we had all gotten settled, we all gathered round to sign up for our different Merit Badges. This year the camp had more variety to choose from for activities than ever. 

The next day, (Saturday) we woke up and headed to breakfast, shortly after the first opening flag ceremony. Then, we headed to our different activities. A few of the Merit Badges offered include Pulp and Paper, Fire Safety, Composite Materials, Chemistry, Photography and Art. Other activities included the archery range for the Scoutmaster Shoot and Archery Skills. The Totin’ Chip, Firem’n Chit and Scoutskills were some of the other options. In between all of that, we had a good time stealing snacks back and forth between our two cabins. That night, we partook in the campfire where we got to perform some of our best (and corniest) skits and songs. When that had wrapped up, we got to take a quick stop at the dining hall and get some cracker barrel (shortbread with some jam and whipped cream on top, paired with cider).

Sunday morning, we packed up and thoroughly cleaned our cabins before the inspection crew came. Not long after, we headed back down the steep path to the cars and drove home. All in all, it was a very fun experience with good new changes including better activities and much tastier food.

Anneke P.

On January 5th, 2025, scouts from troop 519/532 had the wonderful opportunity to attend a merit badge clinic for the Automotive maintenance merit badge. The event took up a substantial amount of the day and was graciously hosted at the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma. Our day was portioned into three segments, consisting of an interactive presentation, guided tour, and hands-on lesson in the auto-shop. Scouts learned valuable skills and had tons of fun. An overall great experience for all involved. 

By Hadley Z.

After we fundraised at the Haunted Forest or sold Seattle’s Best Chocolates, scouts that sold $100 dollars during the Chocolate Fundraiser or volunteered 1 day at the Haunted Forest, were rewarded a night of fun at Uncles Games. Everybody going voted on a game to learn and we decided on Magic the Gathering. MtG is a fun card game in which you assemble your deck and by using the creatures, spells and mana to try to defeat your opponent. Everybody got a starter deck and some expansion packs to buff their deck. Then our instructor, James (not to be confused with the James our troop) showed us how to play. He was super enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the game. In just a few minutes, we were casting creatures and tapping mana.  Personally, I really liked how fun James was and once we got the game rolling it was super fun. On the downside, it was a little complicated not knowing what all the rules and special cards did, but everyone was really nice and helpful for newer learners like myself. 

Natalie W.

When we arrived at Fisherman’s terminal in Seattle, we met up with the Sea Scout Boat crew of the S.S.S Propeller. After the long process of carrying camping equipment and bags from cars to the boat, we set sail for Blake Island. During the two-hour boat ride, scouts had the opportunity to take in the many sights of the Puget Sound and Lake Union, including the Ballard Locks that connect Lake Union to the Puget Sound. Despite the pretty stormy weather, we arrived at the island in one piece.

 unloading the ship, we made the quarter-mile hike to our campground. Once the campground was set up, we were given the rest of the evening to explore the island. Aside from the park rangers and a few people camping in their boats, we were the only campers on the island, which meant we had the whole place to ourselves. That evening, we explored the massive abandoned Native American tribal hall in the center of the island. This hall, once a major attraction near Seattle, closed in 2020 due to the pandemic and Argosy Cruises is no longer operating to the island. As night fell, the island took on a spookier vibe. It turned out the island was infested with raccoons! They were everywhere — in the bushes, on the fields, and along the beaches. Some even raided a few of our tents!

The next day was spent eating, exploring, and hiking around the entire island while keeping our stuff from the raccoons. While the island had much to offer, I felt it lacked specific things to do but as scouts, we found many places around the island that were spectacular in their own way. That evening, we gathered as a troop in a small building near the beach with a fire pit in the center. There, we performed our annual campfire skits, held a flag retirement ceremony, and the annual ashes ceremony. However, when we returned from the campfire, we discovered the raccoons had raided some tents again! It even seemed that some had eaten some glow sticks, hopefully they were not poisoned.

On the final day, we packed up camp, carried our gear back to the boat, and made sure the raccoons hadn’t taken anything from our bags (we were too exhausted from the day before to do much exploring). The boat ride back was much calmer and smoother than the ride there. I enjoyed the experience of going up in the locks, as I’d only ever gone down before. Once we arrived at Fisherman’s Point, we unloaded the boat and reloaded the cars then headed back to the park and ride.

Overall, this trip was a unique opportunity to explore one of the few untouched natural areas just a few miles from Seattle. While many people enjoyed different parts of the trip, my favorite part was watching the Seattle skyline glow in the dark while sitting on the beach.

Maxim S.

Fundraising is an important and fun part of scouts, that makes sure we have the money to support our activities. The Haunted Forest is a highly anticipated fundraising event for our group and my personal favorite.

The Haunted Forest of Maple Valley is an organization where you get to make grown men cry. The experience started with a drive down to maple valley arriving around 5 o’clock, then standing in a line where you can sign up for where to act. There are many scenes along the trail where you can act and it changes each year. I was a part of the scene, ‘in the dark’ which was a set that was pitch black and the group of us were given noise makers such as Aztec death whistles, a bass drum, and other items to screech or bang together. 

After choosing our scene, we were given our costumes and headed into another large tent for make up. The make up for actors is truly astonishing, with bloody gashes and colorful clown’s walking about. During this time, there was food served to all volunteers. Next, we were all gathered up and shown where our set was. Then the scaring began. At first we would try different techniques to figure out which would get the most screams and about an hour in we were able to scare everyone. 

My favorite part of this fundraiser was seeing peoples reactions to our set and the pure terror creeping up on their faces. Being on the other side of the haunted house and scaring people was really fun and i will definitely be doing it again next year!

By Isabel M.

The Iron Horse Trail is one of our annual events, and this year we decided to extend it, from 15 miles to 20! It’s also one of our Webelo recruiting events, but this year we had only one Webelo come: Andrew. He did, however, bring the energy and you would’ve thought there were three of him running around.

The Trail itself starts with a departure from the Hyak ski area into a 2 mile-long tunnel. This year, the tunnel was especially cold, but riding in the dark was as thrilling as ever. Continuing, we traced the old railway line with a leisurely downward slope the entire length. Along the way, we made a couple stops, most notably for the coveted Ape Caches (a unique type of geocache that were released in 2001 as a publicity stunt crossover with the Planet of the Apes film) that reside in the base of Humpback Mountain. Lunch followed suit and the scouts enjoyed a hot cocoa treat. Normally that would’ve been our stopping point, but after a quick candy refuel by the virtue of Mr. Dorsey, we pushed on to Rattlesnake Lake.

Although the biking may have stopped there, the scouts were far from out of energy, so while we waited for our parent chauffeurs to arrive, we burned our time by checking out the waterfront and by playing some extreme Capture The Flag.

Joey G. 

Up near Steven’s Pass, Lake Valhalla is a beautiful clear lake surrounded by mountains. The trail there is full of stunning cliff-sides and vibrant flowers.

But you have to be alert: many other hikers are always streaming in to claim the camping spots. Our troop met up nice and early to backpack the 5 miles from Steven’s Pass to the lake and claimed the ledge overlooking the beach. After eating lunch, we went down and had a ton of fun sitting on Pride Rock and beachcombing.

We finished dinner and went to hang up bear bags to keep our breakfasts from getting into the stomachs of squirrels. There were no hefty branches or pre-placed power lines like at other campsites like Philmont. Note to future planners: bring bear canisters or tough it out.

Some of us woke up early to observe the orange-pink hues breaking through the canopy and surrounding the peaks around us. It was the perfect backdrop for heading home.

By Matthew H.

The Iron Chef cookout is a yearly activity that we do at the end of the summer. It is a cooking competition where each patrol gets to choose a special ingredient to make an awesome meal. The meals are ranked based on different things like taste and presentation. The patrol with the most votes is crowned the top chefs of the cookout! In early September we had the Iron Chef Cookout. This event took place at Blyth Park. Everyone pitched in; it was an enjoyable experience for all the Scouts.  The Rabid Antelopes group  was Rumi, Joey, Anneke, and Zafar came in first with a cauliflower steak, quesadilla and mac & cheese. The Hairy Wolverines including Jack, Evan, and Ethan cooked smash burgers with home fries. Lastly, the Greedy Axolotls group of Austin, Carter, Will, Jonathan, Simon, and Samson made orange juice, potatoes with mushrooms and garlic, salad and grilled cheese. 

By Ethan

We went to the Tacoma Rainiers Scout Night baseball game, where they give you a free hot dog, you watch the game, and then you sleep in tents on the field. The game was fun to watch, and everywhere you look there were scouts. The hot dog was kind of small, but it did taste good.

After the game, we got our tents from the car and waited to get into the field. The difference between the Cub Scout and older Scout sections was quite large, as all of the Cub Scouts were in regular car camping tents, whereas we and the rest of the older Scouts mostly had backpacking tents, with a few people sleeping under the stars.

It was a late night, as we watched a movie called The Sandlot starting at 10:00. It lasted basically until midnight, so we all fell asleep sometime around 1:00. The next morning, we got up at 5:40 am, so I don’t think anyone got much sleep at all. We left right around 6:00, and drove to the Original Pancake House for breakfast.

By Jonathan P.

I went to the Fire Mountain merit badge clinic. It is a fun camp in Mount Vernon. This was an optional scouts event and I decided to go because it was a great way to earn Eagle merit badges that I need to advance. 

There were different merit badges each day and you could work on one badge a day. Examples of fun merit badges are Plumbing, Theater, and Home Repair. It is worth doing the camp if those things interest you. You could stay over night or go for the day.  I went for two days. I didn’t stay the night because the two badges I wanted to do were not offered on back to back days. 

The classes ran from 8am-5pm so it was full day of work. I liked all of my instructors.  They were really nice, bubbly, and fun to be around. They made the classes fun and easy to understand. The property was really nice, too. 

There was a gaga ball pit, horseshoe game, bocce ball, and other activities to play so if you stayed the night there was a lot to do in your free time.  There was also a trading post, but it was not that great. It was small and did not have a lot of stuff to pick from. 

The food was really not that great. I was served mystery meat for lunch! Bring lots of snacks if you are a picky eater. 

I gained partials from the camp, but I am left with only 2 requirements each. If you are planning on getting your Eagle, then this camp is worth going to! You can get started on a lot of badges in a short amount of time. 

By Anastasia K.

During the last week of July, Troops 519 and 532 departed for the highly acclaimed Camp Meriwether. The camp was located outside Tillamook, Oregon and required a 5 hour drive south to arrive. To break up the travel time the drive was sprinkled with pit-stops mainly consisting of rest stops off the highway and culminating in a wonderful visit to the Tillamook Creamery. Scouts enjoyed delicious pints of ice cream alongside friends and were also able to wander through the facility and learn about the fascinating processes at work in such a factory. 

Upon arrival at camp we were given a tour of the property before heading to the waterfront for swim checks, which many scouts passed with flying colors. The day concluded with an entertaining and energetic opening campfire showcasing wonderful displays of comedy and talent from the staff. 

Throughout the week, scouts worked hard to earn various merit badges and collect hullabaloo points that were put towards voting their favorite staff member into the lake while wearing their full Class A Uniform! All of the counselors were so encouraging and informative, allowing many of our scouts to find success in their merit badge courses. Meriwether was more than just merit badges, though, as plenty of other awards were earned by scouts and adult leaders alike. Among the patches distributed to our troop were the Polar Bear Plunge and Paul Bunyan Woodsman awards. 

It wasn't just our scouts having a blast this week, the adults were busy too! There was a wonderful program for the scoutmasters with so many great activities (my personal favorite being the egg drop competition). 

On Wednesday, the troop cooked both our lunch and dinner in our campsite on lovely cooking fires built by scouts needing advancement requirements. The evening wrapped up with all our scouts piling into cars and driving a mile out from camp to visit magnificent sand dunes and play king of the hill and capture the flag. 

The week ended with the Hullabaloo, a scout spirit competition done entirely in song and dance, building to the staff dunking later in the afternoon! 

Overall, both scouts and adult leaders thoroughly enjoyed their week at Meriwether and grew from the variety of lessons taught. 

By Hadley Z.

Our troop went to Pete Lake for an overnight alpine backpacking trip, which was 9 miles in and out of our campsite. The hike we took gained over 400 feet of elevation, and it went through forests and streams. We saw a cute little frog on the trail in a stream and that made us smile.  We even shared the trial with horses!

When we arrived at the Pete Lake we sat on the beach, played on the rocks, skipped a few rocks and hung out with each other.  We even hung out with a neighboring family that was camping. A little later in the night we had dinner. After dinner we had to hang our food in bear bags to keep the bears away from camp! Sadly, we couldn’t keep the mosquitos away so they started biting us like we were their only food source! 

The second day brought us a 16.5 mile hike that went up in elevation by over 4000 feet. The hike almost ended because of a river that we couldn’t cross, but then we found a big fallen tree that made a bridge for us to walk across. So the hike continued! 

The temperature was around 85 degrees or more so it was hot. We cooled off by splashing water from the streams all over our head and body. The hike had its ups and downs. The view while we were hiking was beautiful. We passed meadows, rivers, waterfalls, and a burnt forest. The downs was the amount of switchbacks right in the direct sunlight and it burnt us out very quickly. We took water and food breaks to keep our energy going. When someone yelled break we found a shady spot and rested.  After the hard parts of the hike, it led us to Spectacle Lake, which was another really pretty alpine lake, we dipped our feet in the water, admired the beauty and cooked lunch, which we inhaled because of how long the hike was. From where we were we could see snow on the mountain tops! 

The trip was really fun, and because it was a small group and everyone was very close it made it 10x better. 

By Anastasia K.

Philmont was a 12 day, 140 mile hike and was the hardest thing most of us had ever done. It was really fun though. We started off by flying to Colorado, where we would stay at hotels, and go sightseeing during the day. 

We eventually made our way to New Mexico, and then to Philmont basecamp. At base camp we met our ranger, Aaron. He made the early days of the trip so much easier because he taught us how to do things like  hang bear bags and purify water.  After he left on the morning of day 3, despite many annoying turns, we made it to the camp for that night. 

From then on out, the days got easier with a schedule. Wake up, pack up, eat, hike, get to camp, and set up camp. Despite setbacks on the trail, we eventually finished the most fun and difficult thing I’ve ever done. 

Along with the trip itself we had a sister crew. They were on the same trek as us and were helping us along the way, such as taking their own time to mark paths so we wouldn’t have to navigate in the early morning.  They also played games with us.  

Overall, the trip was very fun. Each of the camps had a cool thing to do and it was always really fun. Most of us had different favorite things that we did but at least for me, my favorite thing to do was climbing Baldy Mountain.

By Evan D.