Scouts at Maple Dell in about 1981

(Photos and memories courtesy of Lynn Larsen)

Troop 522 from the Bountiful 9th Ward spent 5 days and nights at Camp Maple Dell above Payson in about 1981 with Lynn Larsen as the scoutmaster. It was a great time for the boys to participate in outdoor activities and earn merit badges such as shooting, archery, astronomy, canoeing, swimming and some of the other required badges as well. Many of the boys earned 5 or 6. The favorite activity was swimming and diving at the pool as seen in the pictures. One thing that happened that has provided a lot of laughs as it has been retold over the years is when Mike Shurtliff threw a cup of water on the scoutmaster and ran as fast as he could wanting to avoid friendly retribution. After about 40 yards, feeling quite safe, he looked back to see how far ahead he was just as I grabbed him by the shoulder. The surprised expression on Mike's face was priceless. But the part that has provided the laughs is that Curtis Hill was across the small lake fishing and observing the prank. One of the boys he didn't know from another troop said, "Boy, that fat guy can really move." I like to remember the "really move" part.

Positive identification of the boys is not possible because the pictures are small and I couldn't find a picture of the entire group together. But a pretty good estimation is Brand Anderson, Robert Blanco, Brent Barlow, Jim Barton, Craig Byers, Troy Gillette, Allen Hammer, Curtis Hill, David Jarman, Karl Larsen and Mike Shurtliff.