For the first time Dixon’s Troop 152 Conquer Mount Baldy
For the first time Dixon’s Troop 152 Conquer Mount Baldy
DIXON, CA Ben Edokpayi © — In the words of Tuskegee Institute’s famous agricultural
scientist and inventor George Washington Carver “Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness
of the woods before sunrise”
Last month seven Boy’s scouts and three leaders from Dixon, California experienced the thrill of conquering one of America’s highest peaks, Mount Baldy setting out early from their camp base. The bucolic town (Population 21,000 is located on Interstate 80 between the capitol and san San Francisco) After a trek through the Philmont scout ranch in New Mexico the team reached the top of the 12,441 ft peak hydrated and recuperated with lunch before hiking back down to camp base.
“It was a fantastic trip, Said Matt Latham Scoutmaster for Dixon Troop 152 who said this was the troops first time on one of four top Shakedown field trips required by the Boys Scouts of America, BSA.
The Philmont Scout Ranch offers 214 square miles of rugged northern New Mexico wilderness.
Visitors can Experience backpacking treks, horseback cavalcades, and challenges such as rock
climbing, mountain biking, and sport shooting. Latham said the team experienced all of this.
“It was a fantastic time. The scouts perfected their backpacking skills, leadership training, crew
dynamics and how to navigate extremely difficult terrains,” said Latham who has led Troop 152
since 2021. He was thrilled to know that I joined The Boy Scout at age Nine in Nigeria with a late friend Fred Elumeze. His sister Patience sits on the Delta State High Court as a Justice.
I jokingly told Matt Latham how I and Los Angeles Times’ Managing Editor Scott
Kraft https://www.latimes.com/people/scott-kraft and Voice of America’s former Newsroom editor
in Washington DC and Moscow Correspondent Sonja Pace got lost in the Cameroonian forest on a hike to the top of lake Nyos where a limnic eruption in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746
people and 3,500 livestock. Sonja Pace Met with Vladimir Putin at the
Kremlin. https://www.insidevoa.com/a/voa-managing-editor-central-news-sonja-
pace/1211760.html The journalists based at a Bamenda Cameroon hotel hired a Landrover to get to the forest area and then trekked single file with local interpreters, and a French TV crew to the foot of the Lake. It was on the way back that this reporter and Sonja Pace got lost.
“Thank God we didn’t get lost throughout the 75 miles of the uphill trek to the Peak of the
Mountain, “said Latham with a chuckle.
He said Troop 152 was prepared for the unique challenge. “This was a pretty solid year of training for 18 months prior to arriving in New Mexico. Boots were broken in, gear was broken in and we hit the ranch with boots on the ground,” he said on a trip where the Dixonites mingled with about 20,000 Boys Scouts from Troops across America.
The three other Peak Challenges required by the BSA are the Summit Bechtel reserve in West
Virginia, Sea Base Florida, And the Northern Tier near where the Rapidan Dam Collapsed Last
Month.
“The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is chartered by Congress to serve our nation’s
youth by instilling the values of the Scout Oath and Law. The BSA aims to
prepare young people for lives of impact and purpose. We welcome, at every
level of our movement, youth and families who wish to live such a life of impact
and purpose, guided by the Scout Oath and Law.
‘
The BSA is committed to creating a welcoming, safe environment where Scouts
can freely express themselves, share their experiences, and become the best
version of themselves by learning from and respecting each other.
The BSA is non-partisan. The National organization, Local Scout communities
(councils), and units will ensure that their decisions, public statements,
relationships with third parties, activities, and events are consistent with our non-
partisan nature and maintain the welcoming and supportive nature of Scouting.”
Photo 1: The Troop hiked 75 Miles to get to the Top of Mount Baldy in New Mexico.
Photo 2: Exhilarated Troop 152 Members Celebrate the Thrill of Getting to the Peak of Mount
Baldy.
Photo 3: President Barack Obama in 2016 talks with Girl Scout Gold Award winners in the
Oval Office. Courtesy White House Photo by Pete Souza. https://letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/07/02/making-history-first-ever-white-house-campout
Dixon Troop 152 Says Local Girls
Can Now Participate in their programs. They meet every Tuesday. For information on Dixon’s
Troop 152 Visit Their web site.
https://www.troop152dixon.com/
Ben Edokpayi is a freelance journalist who has worked for the Voice of America, and Tell and Newswatch Magazine, both based in Nigeria. He is the former editor of the Dixon Tribune and has written for all print publications in Solano County.
