CAMP GEIGER & EAGLE DAYS
December 3-4, 2005

Scouts were given several options for activities on Saturday after setting up camp. They chose a road trip to Mound City, Missouri and everyone was happy they did. 

Upon arrival at Squaw Creek we were greeted by the incredible music of 60,000 snow geese, one of which had just been taken down and eaten by three of the bald eagles.

We were also fascinated by the muskrat mounds upon which many of the bald eagles perched.

 We saw more bald eagles than I thought we had in entire midwest. Mr. Driggers was the official auditor and he counted 63 separate bald eagles. The refuge wildlife biologist counted 181 on Monday, December 5, so either Mr. Driggers missed a few or the eagles did some serious recruiting on Sunday. The biologist counted 200 A. Coots though I only counted 6 old coots.

The game wardens had numerous spotting scopes for the scouts to get up close and personal with the eagles. Mr. Driggers had his monster scope which allowed us to look into the eyes of the eagles, herons and geese.

We then took a driving tour of Squaw Creek before heading back to camp. Upon our return and a quick lunch, scouts practiced various skills including fire building, orienteering and flag pole height guesstimating.

We had a snow flurry on Saturday afternoon but there was not adequate accumulation on the ground for white coups. While the temperatures were very cold and our morning eggs were frozen in their shells, we remained seven degrees above the coveted clear coup temperature of zero degrees. No scout asked to sit in the vehicles but they all hit the sack at 7 pm. Did you know that a scout tent is a full 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature? They had toasty tents at 17 degrees before they entered. Their body heat increase the temperatures to much more tolerable levels and their sleeping bags were a welcome refuge.

Scouts were trained to make lasagna in a dutch oven for supper. Leaders had Philly Steak sandwiches for lunch and breakfast pizzas in the frosty morning. Boys had a variety of good food for lunch and breakfast.

The only mishap was when Mr. Kesner leaned a little too close to the camp fire. Before long, another leader said, "Jeff, your hair is on fire!" He singed the front third of his hair to little nubbins. He did not make it to the committee meeting the next night and I suspect he is wearing a hat to work these days.

This camp may have set a record for early bedtimes. The scouts were all in bed by 7 pm. The majority of the leaders were in bed by 8 pm with Mr. Driggers and Mr. Goertz lasting until 9 pm. When I returned to camp at 11:15 pm the fire was out and not a sound could be heard... not even snoring. I was certain aliens had taken the entire troop but morning found them all returned from the mother ship. Since temperatures were a warm 7 degrees, the scouts decided to return home 90 minutes early where they each were busy washing their clothes to remove the smell of smoke.

Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge

Friends of Squaw Creek NWR

Bald Eagle Information

Information on Muskrats