We participated in the "Old Salty Rat" training activity on Mission Bay.  Old Salty Rat involves camping overnight at Fiesta Island, then packing all our camping gear into canoes and paddling a prescribed course on Mission Bay.  To fulfill the requirements of Salty Rat we needed to prepare a hot lunch at Santa Clara Point.  Salty Rat helps paddlers prepare for a Canoe Trek by learning how to keep their gear dry and loading it into canoes. This was a joint activity with Troop 626. 

     

We participated in Island Adventure 2011 (formerly known as Venturing Rendezvous at the YAC).  We enjoyed camping out on the beach on Mission Bay with nearly 200 Venturers from around the Council. We competed in the challenging "Amazing Race" event.  Everyone feasted at Saturday's potluck.  Saturday night there was a fun night time kayak outing.  One of the best parts of Rendezvous is having the opportunity to visit with Venturers from around the county. 

     

In August, we went to the Youth Aquatic Center (YAC) and participated in a Canoe Training Session.  This was a joint activity with Troop 626 to prepare for the upcoming Black Canyon Canoe Trek.  We had a range of skill levels, and some members were learning new skills, while others were just refreshing skills previously learned.

 

Our Super-Activity for 2011 was a week long camping trip to Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra.  Twin Lakes Campground was our "base camp".  The campground provided us with the comforts of piped potable water, flush toilets and showers were nearby at the camp store.   We ventured out on day trips in the area.  We enjoyed mounaitin biking, kayaking, geocaching, fishing and day hikes (Sky Meadow, Devils Postpile & Rainbow Falls). 

    

   
  
     

We went to Mataguay Scout Ranch and participated in the BSA Council organized "Shooting Sports Weekend".  We camped at Mataguay, and on Saturday we could shoot 22-rifles, center fire rifles, shotguns and hand guns.  We also utilized the archery range.  Before heading home on Sunday, we enjoyed an hike in the Santa Ysable East Preserve.

     
 
     

We traveled to Palomar Mountain for a Day Hike. It was foggy and cool up on teh mountain.  A few Venturers used teh day hike as a "conditioning hike", and they loaded up their backpacks for the hike.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the Silver Crest Picnic Area. 

       
  

 In March, we went "rock climbing" at Solid Rock Gym in Poway. We invited potential Crew recuits to join us for an evening of climbing.  We took a break from climbing for a pizza dinner.

    

On January 7th, we joined approximately 50 Venturers from around the Council for a night of Broomball at the Salvation Army Kroc Center.  It is a great facility and we had lots of fun.  Other than being sore the next couple days, we managed to avoid significant injury.  We thank Venturing Crew 324 for hosting this event.

We went Mtn Biking at Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP) near Santee on January 22^nd.  This was an impromptu activity.  Troop 626 is having a Mtn Biking Campout at MTRP in early February, and Michael and Evan decided to check out the trails before the campout.  So, Crew 626 jumped on the bandwagon and turned their reconnaissance trip into a crew outing.  We had great weather and it was fun exploring the Spring Canyon Trail.  We had a good workout and most of us admitted to being a little sore at the end of the ride.  We managed to squeeze in a brief visit to MTRP Visitor Center before they closed.  We capped of the day by going out to dinner at Pinnacle Peaks.