Welcome to The Troop Trail

Welcome to The Troop Trail the online newsletter of BSA Troop 557 from California's Mojave Desert.

Devil's Punchbowl day hike. Photo: Scoutmaster Mr.B

Welcome!! The Troop Trail and TroopTrail557 blog:

The online blog (web log) is the living/live online version of our troops newsletter. The print version is to be distributed on Court of Honor meetings. The next court is March 31st 2010. The deadline to email content for print is midnight March 19th. Troop Trail goes to press March 27th. Please email any information, stories, links or photos (full resolution size your camera makes) to: TroopTrail557@gmail.com

The Troop Trail is located at http://TroopTrail557.blogspot.com and is intended to update whenever possible with current information from troop activities and outings.

Yours in Scouting, Eric Reed/Editor, Troop Trail / Troop 557 Committee Member



Boy Scouts of America's Adventure Base 100 is celebrating the organization's 100th anniversary in 2010, will feature a multi-sensory experience during the Post Parade Showcase of Floats in Pasadena, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010.
The BSA Adventure Base 100 Link

Touring Boy Scouts exhibit bids Pasadena farewell
By Brian Day, Staff Writer -Click Here for origional SGVN newspaper story
Posted: 01/03/2010 10:19:23 PM PST

Boy Scouts' Adventure Base 100
(SGVN/Staff Photo by Eric Reed)Click here for Photo Gallery by Eric Reed

PASADENA - Thousands of people got a feel for Boy Scout life over the weekend as they visited the Boy Scouts of America's new traveling exhibit.
The organization entered a float in the Rose Parade and used the post-parade float-viewing to kick off the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.
The exhibit - a 10,000-square-foot mobile campus - is titled "Adventure Base 100" and is designed to give visitors a glimpse at scouting of the past, present and future, said program volunteer coordinator Dan Chaney.
"We're using this as an opportunity to make sure everyone understands that we've had a great 100 years, but we're looking forward," he said.
The Adventure Base features a Boy Scout museum, a ropes course and other exhibits and activities.
A scouting video was shown on the inside of a large dome tent, with smells such as pine trees and ocean spray bringing the presentation to life.
Shane Baynall, 36, of Templeton brought his children Wyatt, 6, and Sadie, 5, to the event.
Wyatt, himself a Cub Scout, strapped on a harness and took on the ropes course as his father snapped photos and shouted words of encouragement.
"He loves (scouting) a lot," Shane Baynall said. "All the different stuff they get to do."
He said he hopes his daughter will also take an interest in scouting when she gets a little older.
"It's great for the kids," Baynall said. "They get to help out with community projects, go camping (and) do stuff with their parents."
Well more than 5,000 people visited the exhibit on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Adventure Base 100 event coordinator Steve Silbiger said. All activities were free of charge.
Following the exhibit's departure from Pasadena Sunday, it will embark on a nation-wide tour, hitting 40 cities in 37 states, Silbiger said.
Chicago-based Pierce Productions built Adventure Base 100, and six members of the company tour with it throughout the nation. At each destination, hundreds of local Boy Scout volunteers will run the exhibit.
Chaney and Silbiger said scouting remains to be important in American society.
"We've been around for 100 years," Silbiger said. "We're still relevant. We still have the same values."
Chaney agreed with Silbinger's take on scouting.
"Can you imagine a society without scouting?...Or the values that scouting gives these boys?"




Adventure Base 100, which opens at 1 p.m. at the Showcase of Floats in the parking median float-viewing area across from Pasadena High School, will travel around the country before concluding its tour at the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. (SGVN/Staff Photos by Sarah Reingewirtz)





I recently dropped by the the San Gabriel Valley Scout Shop in Pasadena for a patch I think is well deserved by yours truly. After getting on the road at 4AM and spending the day working at the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena braving the crowds and traffic to photograph each and every parade entry from a 5 story media platform on Colorado Blvd. not to mention all the oodles of coverage I worked on before and after the parade to bring the sights and color to the parades adoring fans. Here it is.

Rose Parade Story and photo galleries


BSA Rose Parade Float Photos
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prepare |priˈpe(ə)r|
verb [ trans. ] 1 make (something) ready for use or consideration : prepare a brief summary of the article. • make (food or a meal) ready for cooking or eating : she was busy preparing lunch. • make (someone) ready or able to do or deal with something : schools should prepare children for life | by this time I was prepared for anything. • [ intrans. ] make oneself ready to do or deal with something : she took time off to prepare for her exams | [with infinitive ] they're preparing to blast into space. • ( be prepared to do something) be willing to do something : I wasn't prepared to go along with that.