Mountain Bike Overnight at China Camp State Park in Marin

November 23-24:

China Camp provides some magnificent panoramic views of the Northern Bay along with miles of multi-use trails all just a short distance north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

In addition to getting a chance to ride the multi-use trails along the salt marshlands, Scouts had a chance to work on rank advancement and learn about trail courtesy and bike safety. While the main group was out riding some Scouts remained in camp to work on requirements for Tenderfoot and Second Class ranks. Several Scouts also got a chance to fulfill cooking requirements for rank advancement, while others worked on their Cooking Merit badge.  The camp was in a very nicely wooded area right by the trails and the weather was nearly perfect for the trip.

Before leaving the area Sunday, we made a short trip over to visit the remnants of a former Chinese fishing village. There the Scouts got a chance to explore a little of the history of the area as well as to play and skip rocks along the shoreline.

It was a wonderful trip overall to a beautiful area that is surprisingly close to the Scouts' home base in Montara.

Scouting for Food 

Saturday, November 16

This year's Scouting for Food was a huge success with the boys bringing in -- literally -- tons of food!  Things were very busy Saturday at the Coastside Hope drop-off center as Scouts from Troops 255 and 263 along with Cub Scouts from Packs 255 and 263 worked to sort and box the donations as they came in from all over the Coastside. 

Scouts work to sort donations into containers and then move them into boxes.

The donations continued to come in right up to the ending time at 2 p.m. It was wonderful to see all the contributions. This year's donations topped last year's record and set a new Coastside Scouting for Food high with 4,389 pounds of food collected and sorted. 

Thank you all so much for contributing to this wonderful, valuable, and caring community service effort!