A page from the 

Crew Super Activities for 2007

Whitewater Rafting

For the third year, Crew 7 organized a five day whitewater rafting trek.  This trek was on the Klamath River in northern California.  It was followed by a day and a half of shooting with a Crew sponsored by a NRA Junior Shooting Club.  A great time was had by all on both activities.

On our way to the trek, we visited Lava Beds National Monument and had a great time exploring the lava tubes.  There are hundreds of caves and Native American rock art sites for the viewing.  Even though the temperature was hot, in the caves, it was wonderful.

During the trek, the Venturers had an opportunity to take Kodiak or Kodiak X.  Kodiak is a Venturing leadership course that is help in conjunction with a high adventure activity.  Kodiak X was offered to the staff who taught Kodiak.  Crew 7 had two Venturers who staffed Kodiak and completed Kodiak X.

For the summer of 2008, Crew 7 will be organizing a whitewater trek on the Flathead River.  The river is on the south side of Glacier National Park in Montana.  As in previous years, we expect Venturers from many places in the United States to attend.

During Christmas 2008, Crew 7 will be going to New Zealand with the Venturers from Orange County Council.

If you are interested in great Venturing opportunities, please contact Crew 7's Advisor Craig Murray by e-mail or phone, (909) 595-7166.

National Parks

Venturing Crew 73 of Diamond Bar went on a tour of several National Parks this summer.  We began by driving to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.  The park was beautiful and gave us the opportunity to take a couple hikes and spend a day fishing.  Our first hike began at 11,300 ft.  We saw several dozen Elk along the way and had a great day.  The next day we rested.  Several of us went fishing and caught enough trout to provide dinner for all.  During the day we noticed bald eagle watching us fish.  Our last day we began hiking by the light of the full moon.  Around 1 PM we reached the "Key Hole" at about 13,500 ft.  Again this was a great hike.

We next traveled to Arches National Park in Utah.  Before leaving Colorado we stopped at Leadville to visit the National Mining Museum.  In the late 1800's and early 1900's this was a famous gold mining area.  Once at Arches we hiked to most of the famous arches and just had a relaxing couple days.  The one thing that surprised us all was the deer we found at our campsite the first morning.

Our final stop was at Zion National Park also in Utah.  The weather here was very hot, but it did not stop us from enjoying ourselves.  In the morning of our first day a group of us hiked to Eagle's Landing.  This is a five mile hike that allows you a great view of the park.  In the afternoon we hiked up the river into the "narrows" were we took mud baths and just sat in the river.

Our trip was a huge success.  We each had the opportunity to participate in the activities we chose.  We also each had the opportunity dazzle the rest of the crew with our cooking skills or not.  All in All a truly Super-Activity.

In 2008, we will be going to Tanzania to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro!