Wow! This years’ Klondike Derby was a fantastic, record-setting success!
The Klondike Derby is a fun patrol-level competition emphasizing Scout Skills, Leadership, and Scout Spirit. We draw scouts and units from the entire region for a weekend of fun, challenge, and cold-weather camping.
This year we broke records again with more than 700 participants, including:
• more than 500 scouts
• in 78 patrols
• from 46 units
• representing 10 districts
• from all five NCAC service areas, and
• two councils.
• Twenty-two units that had never attended our Klondike before joined us. That’s
• One impressive District-level event!
The Klondike staff and volunteers developed 36 challenging stations set out across all of the Harpers Ferry KOA. Twelve stations were brand new, another four stations weren’t offered last year, and al-most every station had a new twist on it so returning scouts didn’t have a leg-up on first timers.
Special thanks to these units for sponsoring/adopting their own stations, adding fun and variety for the scouts and carrying some of the water for the Klondike Key 3:
• Western Shore Troop 430, Minecraft
• ODD Troop 856, Sight-N-Go
• Patriot Troop 1346, Yeti Snacks
• Occoquan Troop 1363, Raging River
• Occoquan Troop 1390, Jeopardy
• ODD Troop 1518, Trivial Pursuit
• Western Shore Troop 1785, Svenska Fickilampa
• ODD Troop 1853, Avalanche, Chilkoot Pass, Do You Want to Build a Snowflake?, Headbanger’s Ball, Klondike Kate’s Kitchen (with help from lots of other units), Natural Gas Power, Radioac-tive Tailings, Simple Machines, Swimming Upstream, Palace Grand Follies
• ODD Troop 4673, Compass Pie
The Stations were staffed by close to 200 of our in- and out-of-district scouters who came with their units. Adults don’t accompany patrols, so the scouts had a real test of their skills and teamwork. But, the adults still had fun!
To compete in the Klondike, a patrol must manage their time wisely. They have seven program hours and a choice of stations of varying difficulty and pointes. The planning and leadership challenge is to earn as many points as possible, quickly, and move through as many stations as possible.
Patrols were tested on their leadership and teamwork most of all, but also had to demonstrate Scout skills, Merit Badge proficiencies, backcountry abilities, and being physically strong and mentally awake. The patrols that won also demonstrated the best Scout Spirit at each and every station.
Everyone wins at the Klondike – the event gets patrols out in an environment where they get to have fun and compete without having to worry about cooking meals or doing KP. Plus, Klondike bars …
To compete in the Klondike, a patrol must manage their time wisely. They have seven program hours and a choice of stations of varying difficulty and pointes. The planning and leadership challenge is to earn as many points as possible, quickly, and move through as many stations as possible.
Patrols were tested on their leadership and teamwork most of all, but also had to demonstrate Scout skills, Merit Badge proficiencies, backcountry abilities, and being physically strong and mentally awake. The patrols that won also demonstrated the best Scout Spirit at each and every station.
Everyone wins at the Klondike – the event gets patrols out in an environment where they get to have fun and compete without having to worry about cooking meals or doing KP. Plus, Klondike bars.
The 2019 Old Dominion District Klondike Derby welcomed troops, crews, and volunteers from the following districts: Aquia, Baltimore Area Council’s Capitol District, Colonial, Occoquan, Patriot, Patuxent, Piedmont, Po-tomac, Powhatan, Seneca, Washington DC, and Western Shore. Don’t see your district listed? Join us next year: Friday, January 31 to Sunday, February 2, 2020. Once again, we will offer discounts for units that leave Saturday night for religious observances!
In 1897 a gold discovery near Klondike, a region of the Yukon territory in northwest Canada, triggered the Klondike Gold Rush, which lasted from 1897 until 1899. Around 100,000 people decided to travel there, but only about 30,000 have been reported to have made it there.
In 1949 Boy Scout Troops from the Northern United States and from Canada started their reenactment of the Klondike Gold Rush to test their winter Scout skills and called it the Klondike Derby. It has since been adapted by Troops all over the United States, especially those with snow in their winters.
On Saturday, January 26, Units from the NCAC Potomac District met at Little Bennett Campgrounds in Germantown Maryland, to compete in the annual Potomac Klondike Derby. Despite most of the snow from the previous week washed away by Thursday’s rain, the freezing temperatures ensured the genuine Klondike winter feel, and most of the Scouts earned their Potomac District Polar Bear Patch for overnight camping below freezing point.
On Saturday, February 2nd, the National Capital Area Conservation Committee will kick-off the 2nd year of Milkweed for Monarchs, Inspiring Conservation in Scouts and Their Families. This year’s program is again presented by the National Capital Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, and will be hosted by George Washington University.
The youth-friendly presentation is sure to inspire attendees to take action to help save the vanishing monarch butterfly through the building of a healthy and sustainable pollinator habitat. In addition, Scouts and others who attend will receive a free Milkweed for Monarchs patch, plus an easy-to-use seed packet of milkweed and other native, nectar-producing plants that nourish monarch caterpillars and butterflies throughout the growing season.
Powhatan District has hosted a Chess Classic for a decade under the direction of Roger Claff and Peter Snow. This year, they are expanding the Chess Classic to be Council-wide. This is a tournament with 5 rounds. Scouts need to register for their age appropriate bracket. Please see the links below for tournament rules and additional details.
Thousands of girls registered in Scouts BSA will be participating in 2019 summer camps. To help you find out all you need to know to ensure you are ready for Family Scouting in the outdoors, BSA will be offering a livestream webinar on Monday, February 25th at 7pm CST (that’s 8 pm for those of us in the DMV). Best practices from around the country will be shared, as well as Q&A time with a panel of BSA professionals from the Scouts BSA program team, Youth Protection, and Outdoor Programs. Anyone serving in camp leadership this summer is invited to attend. Mark your calendar and save this link to join the livestream broadcast.
Dick Haas (affectionately known as “The Ancient One” or “TAO” to many throughout NCAC) and his son Mike have over 132 years of continuous BSA Scouting experience between them. They are also the only father/son team actively Staffing an NCAC Wood Badge training Course: a reflection of their unified and lifelong commitment to teaching other Scouters leadership skills to benefit all Scouts and Scouting Families.
TAO was a Scoutmaster for 15 years in New York State, and served as an Assistant Scoutmaster and in numerous BSA training and service positions that impacted hundreds of young men’s lives over multiple decades from the 1960s into the early 2000s. He remains an active Scouter in Stafford, VA, continuing to train and mentor adults in Scouting leadership skills. A World War II Navy veteran, TAO earned lifesaving awards for actions in 1964, rescuing 2 fellow passengers from a bus that crashed into the East River (they were the only 3 survivors). A 1966 Silver Beaver recipient and Scoutmaster of the Year in 1970 in Greater New York Council, in 1976 TAO created a Scouting junior leader training course in New York that trained hundreds of Scouts across almost three decades. Upon moving to Virginia, he energized a similar youth-led leadership training conference which has been running in Aquia District since 2007 thanks to his vision and initiative. Friends and loved ones chipped-in to honor TAO with a brick which was placed on the Camp Snyder dining facility flag patio in 2013 to commemorate his 76th anniversary of BSA service.