March 17-18, 2012
Location: Secret
The Treasure Hunt is an annual tradition at Troop 27. It is a challenging, adventerous, and fun-filled outing that our Venturing Crew 27 plans & runs for the Troop. For decades, the Treasure Hunt has consistently been a Troop & Crew favorite. Unlike all other outings, the Treasure Hunt activity details are kept secret in the planning stage, but are all based on a particular theme. which changes from year to year.
It commences with an opening meeting at the church Saturday morning, where members of both Troop 27 and Venture Troop 27 meet for a brief orientation. Patrols must work together as a team to obtain critical materials and clues that they will use to figure out their next destination, where they will perform still more tasks, challenges, and successively obtain more clues to get closer to the ultimate treasure. Adult drivers subordinate at this activity, taking any driving directions entirely from their youth patrol. At the final destination, there is overnight camping in tents.
The creativity of last year’s Harry Potter themed Treasure Hunt will be hard to beat. In that adventure, patrols were grouped by a sorting hat, they earned their wands, played Wizzards Chess, had Quiddage matches, made potions (obtaining a specific color through deductive reasoning), lashed together tripod structures to reach Harry Potter’s owl perched in a tree, traversed through a maze of mirrors, and completed many other challenges incorporating scout skills such as canoeing, navigating with compass utilizing various types of maps, knot tying & lashings, first aid skills, teamwork, and leadership. The adventure ultimately lead to a candy treasure at a camping destination in Monterey.
Among previous years themes include Indiana Jones, and Men in Black that were similarly adventurous outings.
This year’s 2012 theme was announced at the March 6th Troop meeting by a mysterious group of dark-hatted spies in long black trench coats. So this year’s venue will feature a Spy theme, involving Top Secret documents that must be found and protected. It looks to be another great adventure. Following the Treasure Hunt activities, the Troop and Crew will make camp. Organized by patrols, the boys setup their tents and prepare their planned dinners on their own. At the evening campfire, the boys appreciatively thank our Venture Crew for the day’s stimulating adventure, make-up and perform skits and sing songs together. Rising early at sunrise the next morning, the patrols team together to make their breakfast, hear about a reflective, reverent story (Green Bar), and continue to work on their skills. The trip home often includes a refill stop at In & Out Burger, providing one last opportunity together to share the experience, and perhaps, spark some scheming for next year’s Treasure Hunt.
[divider top=”0″]Weather at Camp Site
[forecast location=”Gilroy, CA” caption=”Weather near Campsite Area” measurement=’F’ todaylabel=”Today” datelabel=”%%weekday%%” highlow=’%%high%%°/%%low%%°’ numdays=”3″ iconset=”Incredible” cache=”true” width=”100%”]Check back here again soon at this web site for a post-event report on our Troop 27 shared experience with the Venture Crew 27 Treasure Hunt for 2012.
