I remember several years ago when I was in Boy Scouts. Every winter the Great Salt Lake Council would host the Klondike Derby. The Last Friday in January would come and that afternoon our scout leaders would pile us into their 18 passenger van and off to a barren winter landscape we would go. All of us were unprepared. As cold as it was I always looked forward to the Klondike Derby. We’d set up camp right when the sun was setting. Some of us would be in charge setting up the tents while others were in charge of getting the fire going. Our moms had all prepared the legendary “tin foil dinners” that you could throw right on the fire coals. After dinner we would head over to the night program the Great Salt Lake Council would put on. They would have a big bon fire and hot chocolate. Each scout troop would put on a skit and that would be our entertainment for the night. After the program around 11:00 PM we would all scurry back to our tents and get into our freezing sleeping bags.
After one of the coldest nights you will ever experience in your lifetime (waking up every hour seeing your breath and being completely miserable) the sun would finally break and Saturday would begin! As you lie in your sleeping bag you don’t know if you’ll be better off lying there frozen or getting out in the cold to start a fire. After coming to a full conscious state (i.e. growling stomach) you throw on some long johns and put on your frozen boots and step foot into the -3 degree weather. Finding wood was always a fun thing to do during the Klondike Derby. Their usually isn’t any and it’s all buried by the 3 feet of snow blanketing the ground. Once you grab a few scraps of kindling you manage to get an embarrassing fire going. No worries, at the grand age of 14 you’ve learned a thing or two about pyrotechnics! With a little lighter fluid and newspaper you’ve managed to get a healthy 3 foot flame of integrity going. Once the coals get warm you throw some snow in a pan and heat up the water for some warm hot chocolate and instant oatmeal.
9:00 AM comes and the excitement begins. It’s time for the official Klondike Derby winter games to begin. The famous human dog sled race, the cross country ski race, fire building, snow tug of war and scavenger hunt. My favorite was the human dog sled race. This separated the men from the boys! We would hand make a dog sled out of wood and attach some old 1980’s skies from the local thrift store to the base for easy gliding. We would then attach rope with loops to the front of the sled where each boy would securely fasten themselves in position and run like dogs desperately across the barren lands for a half of a mile.
About 12:00 PM we would wrap up the games with the snow tug of war youth against the leaders and of course the youth would always win! An award ceremony would be held and the victorious scout troops would be awarded medals and we would pack up and go home. I will always have a special place in my heart for the Klondike Derby. If you ever have an opportunity to attend the Klondike Derby I would strongly recommend not turning it down. It by far was one of my favorite campouts when I was a kid. I can only imagine how rewarding it was for the scout masters and leaders.
author Sam Jensen president of www.mycamplife.com
