Troop 626 Annual Tree Sales

Boy Scout Troop 626 of Bellevue will be opening their 31^st  annual Christmas tree sale on Friday, November 29^th, at the upper lot of Newport Hills Swim and Tennis club, located at 5464 119th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98006.  The freshly cut Christmas trees are grown from a local farm on the Olympic Peninsula. Troop 626 is providing Douglas and Noble fir trees, and sturdy tree stands for a supplemental cost. Wreaths made by local Girl Scout Troop 50847 will also be available to purchase. Enjoy hot cider and candy canes while searching for an ideal Christmas tree.  All proceeds from the Christmas trees and wreaths provide general funding for the Boy and Girl Scout troops.  The lot will be open from 9 am to 8 pm on weekends, including Friday, November 29^th, until Sunday, December 15^th,  and on weeknights from 5 pm to 8 pm.

Snow Bowl Hut

On November 9th to November 10th, 9 scouts including myself loaded into a car and drove to the Tahoma trails system to start our journey. The ascent took about 3 hours, as some were falling behind during the climb. When we got there, there was some snow, and the Snow Bowl Hut looked very nice since it was rebuilt in 2012. We played lots of games, made dinner, and then went to sleep not too long after. Overall it was a nice trip, and everyone there enjoyed it.

Pumpkin Carving

On October 15, 2013, scouts attended a troop meeting solely for pumpkin carving. Scouts carved many designs, including scary faces, happy faces, and many others. After that, they had a competition for the scariest and coolest pumpkins. Overall, it was a great experience for everyone to be creative in their pumpkin designs.
 
  

Jason Pyke
Historian

Labor Day Weekend Biking Outing

This Labor Day Weekend, some scouts went to a bike trip. On Friday night, the scouts arrived at the Tinkham Campground, and the next morning, they went to the Summit East Parking Lot. With their bikes, they traveled more than 16 miles through the John Wayne Trail, arriving back at the campground. During this, they got to ride through the Snoqualmie Tunnel, about 2.3 miles long. After they finished the bike ride, they went back to the campsite, cooked their dinner, and went home on Sunday.

Jason Pyke - Historian


Camp Parsons

Summer camp was a great time to advance in merit badges. Most people in our troop earned 2-4 merit badges from the classes, plus extra merit badges such as fingerprinting and art. Besides advancement, we had a lot of fun jumping of the pier, rifle shooting, and playing games at night. The best food that we had all week, was the tomato soup and sandwiches for lunch on Wednesday or Thursday. Overall, it was a great experience, and I would like to go again.

Jason Pike - Historian

Philmont 2013

A couple weeks ago I have adventured to Philmont Scout Ranch arguably one of scouting’s greatest challenges. I spent 10 days out in the backcountry with just me and my crew and now looking back in retrospect I can say it was a great experience.

Now don’t get me wrong, hiking Philmont was not easy. In fact it was the complete opposite. Blisters, sunburn, dry camps and buckets of rain being dumped on my head. Days without showers, dirty clothing and packing down and leaving camp every single morning. It definitely wasn’t easy, but nevertheless an amazing experience that I would love to go through again.

Tip for the future though try pick up a rain jacket that is actually waterproof and not “water resistant”. Trust me, you’ll need it.

Dmytro Banin
Not at all a Historian

www.Troop626.org

Evan McFarlan's Eagle Project

On Saturday July 13 we had Evan McFarlan's Eagle Project.
The goal of the project was to reorganize the trail so as to keep it in good condition. We basically removed the top soil, plants and roots that were growing on the trail and placed rocks and logs on the sides of the trail to make it more defined.

Overall I was really surprised by the amount of people who came to the project: over 20 scouts and adults!

Thank you to everyone who came and congratulations to  Evan for finishing his Eagle Scout project.

Dmytro Banin

Not at all a Historian

www.Troop626.org

Mt. St. Helens Hike

On July 3rd Troop 626 went to Mt. St. Helens. This was a 10 mile long scramble up boulders and snowy mountainsides and definitely not what one would expect when they hear the word hike.

Before the hike we camped down at the base of the trailhead.

After a long night in tents we were ready to go hiking. In the beginning the scenery looked like that of an average hike: forest all around. However as we climbed higher up the mountain we encountered boulders that we had to scramble up. The higher up we got the more snow fields we saw and the harder the wind blew. By the time we got to the top we were absolutely exhausted.

And then, the amazing idea to glissade down the mountain came to mind. For those of you who don’t know, glissading is basically sliding down the mountain on your butt. It’s cold, freezing, and wet. It’s also hard to decide what’s worse, trudging down the mountain on your tired legs or earning yourself a major case of frostbite.

One thing you need to have for sure is an ice axe, because if you’re tumbling down the mountain you better have a way to stop yourself. Overall this was a great hike and I would definitely go on it again.

Dmytro Banin
Not at all a Historian

www.Troop626.org

Owen Dickson's Eagle Project

Two Saturdays June 9th and June 16th we had Owen Dickson’s eagle project.

The project was basically a food drive for hopelink. The job of the volunteers was to deliver flyers to the designated houses for the first weekend

and collect food donations during the second weekend.

Overall I was surprised by the amount of people that donated food.
After seeing all the donated food we had collected it really forced me to realize how much we can do together as a community.

Dmytro Banin
Not at all a Historian

Troop262.org

Owen Dickson's Eagle Scout Project

My Eagle Scout Project was a food drive in the Enatai neighborhood for the Hopelink organization. The project took place over 2 separate days. One day was June 8th and the other was June 15th. The first day we passed out flyers to all of the houses in the neighborhood and the second day was for picking up the food. On the first day I had 8 scouts and 4 adult drivers that participated. On the second day I had 12 scouts and 7 adult drivers that participated. Finally when I took the food to Hopelink, the total weight of the food that we collected was 1033 lbs.  Thanks to everyone who helped out!!

Cooking Merit Badge Campout at Tolt-MacDonald

On June 7-9 about 10 scouts and 4 leaders went to a cooking campout at Tolt MacDonald park. There we made various types of food, depending on the group. Our group made a stew on Friday night, and noodles for lunch the next day. After we made our foods, some of us went on a hike to explore the park. We had alot of free time, and played some card games to pass the time. Overall it was a fun experience, with lots of time to cook, and lots of time to do other things.


Jason Pyke

International School | 2018


www.Troop626.org

Eagle Court of Honor

Lee Griffin, Will Helmer, and Riley Hsia just celebrated their Eagle Court of honor on May 19.

Click on the link below to read more.
http://www.bellevuereporter.com/community/213574581.html

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Jason Pyke

International School | 2018

Camporee 2013

On May 3-5 Troop 626 Scouts participated in the annual Camporee at Ensign Ranch.

At Camporee we were lucky to have warm and sunny skies and absolutely no rain! For those of you who don’t know Camporee is an annual event organized by the Order of the Arrow where scouts have fun, preforming skits, practicing essential scout skills and passing different ropes course challenges. The day is split apart into two sections, the first part of the day field events, and the second part of the day high adventure. Field events is basically where you go around the field and are faced with different types of scenarios that force you and your team to work together to overcome. This part of the day focuses on testing your scouting knowledge and skills. High adventure is where scouts work together to overcome obstacles in rope challenges. This part of the day is mainly focused on your teamwork abilities. After this we have the campfire, where scouts gather around at the camp-fire bowl and different patrols perform skits for each other. Overall I think this was a fun, bonding experience between scouts and I would definitely do this again.

Dmytro Banin
Not at all a Historian

Earth Day Eagle Projects

Yesterday was 4/20/13 or Earth day a day to support environmental protection. On this day we had Sam & Gabe Reardon’s Eagle projects.

These were two different projects both at one area (Chism Beach Park).

Sam’s project was to renew a trail by placing mulch to preserve the trail. We would use wheelbarrows to move the mulch and spread it across the trail. Gabe’s project was to remove ivy and other invasive species in the nearby area. It was hard and dirty work due to the steep incline of the slope and the mud but this project was a success as well.

Overall I think this was a great way to celebrate Earth Day as well as help maintain the trail and its slopes. Congratulations to our soon to be Eagle scouts.

Dmytro Banin

Visiting Cascade Mountain Men - an outing to remember!

On February 3^rd, 2013 scouts from Troop 626 spent an exciting few hours at the Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club as guests of the Cascade Mountain Men and Bear Creek Mountain Men.  Scouts were instructed in the loading and firing of traditional black powder muzzle loading rifles.  

Scouts learned how to pour black powder into the barrel, insert a round lead ball (the bullet), push it down with a rod, and fire at various targets.  Some rifles had cap lock firing systems and others used flint lock systems.  There were flashes of fire out the barrels, plumes of smoke, and lots of noise.  One of the members of the Cascade Mountain Men, Steve Baima, allowed scouts and parents to fire his self-made replica of Davy Crockett’s rife.  

Our hosts had hot drinks for all and when the shooting was over served us hot chili dogs.  A great time was had by all.  A big thank you to our hosts for giving our scouts an outing to remember.

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Tiki Torch Outing

On January 26, 2013, 13 scouts from Troop 626 went to the Tiki Torch outing. The weather was extremely cold, but we started close to the West summit of Snoqualmie and headed on an extremely short, quarter mile trail to the campsite. However, the trail was narrow with snowbanks on either side, so it was extremely easy for the sleds to tip over and cause a 10 minute backup. When we got to the campsite, we found that Mr. Norelius had already set up 4 tents, halving the time it would have taken to set up all of the gear. I think that every scout who went on the trip was extremely thankful to him for this.

After setting up the rainfly, we scouts were allowed to play in the snow. We built snow caves and snow tunnels, went sledding, and had a snowball fight with snow shovels. Around 4:30, we started trying to make a fire. We had to keep moving the fire though, because the fire would melt the snow underneath it and then go out. By nightfall, the Tiki Torches had been lit, making a really cool scene as the orange light from the fire blended with the dark green trees and the soft white snow. Everyone went to their tents around 8:00 and eventually fell asleep.

All of us scouts woke up at 7:00 in the morning to the sound of cannons. The WDSOT had apparently caused avalanches now to make sure that an avalanche would not happen later and hurt somebody. I could see why: it had snowed around 10 inches over the night. So after another 8 cannon blasts (and several jokes about the Hunger Games), we started making another fire and hot water for breakfast. By the time we all were ready to go, so much snow had fallen that we were sure that we had left something behind, covered with snow. The trip was really fun, even though it had snowed the whole time.

Reshan Fernando