Painting

Painting the buildings at Loll is a never ending task. Fortunately for Loll, we have a painter's son on staff. Jody painted the entire lodge this summer, and on Labor Day Weekend took on the painting of the "new roof" on the Old Office, the Shower House and as many KYBOs as there was paint to cover.

The first thing was to put on a primer coat on the eves of the Old Cabin. This is how Jody spent Friday afternoon. By Saturday morning it would be ready for the finish coat.

Next came the beautiful coat of Kelly Green that is our "Camp Color".

When I asked for someone to go and help Jody, it was Justin Hansen who volunteered. The two spent the rest of the day painting. First they finished the trim on the Old Office.


Then put a new coat of Super Deck on the shower house. Before any paint could be applied the entire building had to be dusted, every inch swept and wiped.


The Jody and Justin spray on the cedar stain that will protect the structure for years to come.

Jody and Justin went on to use up the rest of the stain on the old Kybos. Next summer - all the other building in camp will be painted.

"Midsummer's Night" 2011

The Dance begins, two weeks late, with the call to the fire by our resident expert in all thing ancent and Celtic, High King Aaronious.


We sing around the fire. "Hey Ho" and "Green Grow the Rushes Oh", also "Myra Myra" and any other song we know that has that stomping, heart pound beat.


Lots of woad and "blood".

"Two, two lilly white boys, clothen all in green oh, the King and his Tanus. This year we had plenty of fir tops, scores had come down in the snow. The forest was ready to call in the summer.

"They dance round the fire singing songs with their friends."

"I'll ever be with them again."

"Here was a royal fellowship."

The King is carried round the "sacrifical fire".

His Tanus follows, like the fall the summer.

Fire and the light of the moon and stars.

The King and his Tanus place their crowns on the flames.

The dance leader places the ashes of past Kings on the sacrificial fire.

Gods and Heroes of Midsummer Night fill the Great Hall for the feast.

They also pose for pictures.

And, of course, no Midsummer's festival would be complete without a visit from "the Mother".

"And with Them Came the Spring"

On July 2nd, 2011, the Camp Loll Staff had had enough. We had been kept out of Camp for three weeks by snow, and were determined to get in "no matter what". It had been several days since we had checked the road. We had no idea what lay ahead.

Hopeful and determined we arrived in Ashton, Id just after noon. We had our lunch at the City Park and headed up the road.

The sign at the Forest boundry was rather omonius. We pressed on anyway. The Loll Staff in no mear vehicle.


We made it, cargo van and all to the top of Calf Creek divide, but there, like Gandalf and the Fellowship, we found our path barred by snow. With no mines to pass through we began our battle with the snow. Bill Wangsgard was there to give support.

We only had a hand full of shovels, so the Loll Staff began to clear the half mile snow bank with their bare hands.

After hours of digging we headed back to Ashton. Our heads were bloody but unbowed. We sought help from our long time friends in Ashton, and found a farm house willing to share their yard with sixty Boy Scouts. Of course all the bedding was in the front of the van, so everything had to be unloaded, then loaded back on before we could get dinner and get to bed.

Tanner Johnson, early in the morning and ready for the fight. He would not be alone.

Here we pose with the Spencers, who generously shared their home with us.

Our "big boys" hiked into camp and brought out a lot more shovels. We faced miles of snow, but we dug and fought our way in.

The first vehicles made it in by 2:30 or so that afternoon. The staff and all their gear were in by dark. The winter had not been kind to our Lodge.

The fun had just begun. This is the snow bank just below the Lodge, facing the parking lot.

A view of the drive way from the porch.

We dug the spring out on the 4th of July. We had to make the water test and get the lines purged and hooked up. We were living out of buckets brought down from the hill.

Our Spring on the 4th of July.

On the way back from the Spring, we stopped off at the Apache gate. Our whole camp was full of snow, and the scouts were coming in a week.

We could not even pitch our tents. For most of a week we all slept together in the Jed Stringham Memorial Hall.

When we did get the water hooked up, we found we had a big leak.

Bill and Kent came to our rescue.

We didn't have much water, but we had a great training from the forest service. Ranger Bill Davis gave us the facts, including a session on how to use bear spray. Every staff guide now carries a bottle into the backcountry.

Most of our daylight hours were spent digging snow, opening up the drifts in the camp sites so our campers would have some place to pitch their tents. The crew worked very hard - they worked a miracle. I remember the "spring scene" from Fantasia, where Demeter magically paints away the snow and brings the spring, the Loll Staff was not as quick but just as effective.

We dug and dug and dug. In Oscar Wilde's story "The Selfish Giant" it is the return of the children that ends the winter and brings the spring. Our Legion of "manchilds" fought to do the same. It worked.

It wasn't easy, but what doesn't kill us makes us strong. On July 11th the scouts came, and with them came the summer of 2011.

June 27th, 2011 - One Last Look and the Folks from Texas

Once more the Loll Staff was on its way to Camp. This time a group of the Staff were headed to Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park, to meet troop 17 from Austin Texas. The Texas troop had signed up for our cancelled first week at Loll and spent many thousands of dollars on un-transferable airline tickets. The plan, for Texas, give them a week of Scouting in Wyoming, even with the best part of Loll, our Staff.
We also sent off ten of our Staff to Camp Hunt to help them with some clean up projects for a couple of days. It's not being in camp, but it's good to be at work.

In route, we stopped at Hopper Springs in Soda Springs Idaho. Left to right: Leonard Hawkes, Paul Parker, Christian Lippert, Ian Crookston, Jed Powell, Tanner Johnson, and Aaron Bott.

Tanner takes his first taste of Hooper water, he will crave it for the rest of his life.



Aaron gets ready to take another drink.

I didn't take any pictures of the Texans or of John Darrington who met us in Teton Park. I am confident we will have many pictures of them all by the end of the week.

We kept Ian with us and Paul, Leonard, and I headed for Loll over Teton Pass. Here we stop for a pose before the snow covered Teton Range.

Many miles later we were once again passing Indian Lake. The lily pads are coming.

We made it about 3/4th of a mile beyond where we got to last Monday, but this time there was a lot less snow. It was 985 Conner strides from truck to snow pole. Most of these strides were over wet, but hard ground.

The snow at the pole read less than a foot - but it was even better a few feet away, where the road was bare.

The trouble began on the other side of the summit of Calf Creek. Here Ian stands on the beginning of the drift that leads down the shaded hill. There was little open road, and plenty of snow down to the bottom.

The look down the long drift.

From the bottom of the hill, right by the bridge over Calf Creek, looking back up the hill toward the Calf Creek drift. Pretty discouraging - but a look the other way was more helpful.

This is the view looking toward camp. A week ago this was under several feet of snow.

We headed back to the top of the hill. Here is the speed limit sign which was conpletely buried on the 11th.

Here we are headed back to the truck. You can see the downed tree, and the truck in the distance. One can also see how fast the snow is melting.

The drift that stopped our drive. However, the temperature promises to be even higher over the next two days, with warm winds on Wednesday, and more sun, and temperatures in the 80's promised for Friday and into next week.

One last view of Gibson Meadow. No bear this time, although there were two at Ox Bow Lake in Teton Park. There were the first buds of Camas Lily.

The Camp Loll Staff will be headed to Camp Saturday July 1st. Three weeks late, surely the latest opening in my memory, but we are full of promise for the best, if the shortest summer ever.