Colusa scouts experience cold-weather camping

Colusa Boy Scout Troop 5 came home with a second-place finish during the annual Klondike Derby held recently at Cisco Grove in Placer County.

Eight members of the troop attended the event held in the High Sierra.

"The Scouts had to hike in a quarter-mile in 1- to 2-feet of snow," Assistant Scoutmaster Amy Gerrard said.

"They had to either carry in or pull/push with their homemade sled all the equipment they needed for the weekend. The first day they had to build a snow shelter to sleep in, and the temperature dropped to 20 degrees."

The next day featured nine events that were fashioned after similar contests during the Klondike Gold Rush era in Alaska.

"Our scouts placed second in two events: Black Licorice Spitting and Knockout Stick Throwing. They did not, however, place in the Klondike Sled Race where one boy sat on the sled and seven others pulled or pushed in a race," Gerrard said.

A dozen troops comprising more than 100 scouts were at the derby.

"They learned how hard the Gold Rush prospectors going over the Yukon Trail in Alaska had it as well as how to prepare and survive in cold weather," Gerrard said.

Troop 5 is unique because not only is the assistant scoutmaster a woman, but the scoutmaster is, too. Her name is Alesia Tremayne.

The troop is holding a pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 11 at the Scout Cabin, Ninth and Parkhill streets, Colusa. Money raised helps the troop go to events such as the Klondike Derby.

The troop meets weekly, goes on monthly campouts and is active with a number of community service projects.