Camp River Du Bios September 5th - 8th, 2023 Located just across the River in St. Louis on the Illinois side about 12 miles from the Gateway Arch.
This is not the official report.  I hope to add those as they come in.  They are found at the bottom of this page!!! Click on a picture for a larger view.  Zip file of all these pictures.  More pictures at end of report.

Rick Dostal Voyagers Rep and Bob Triphahn Rivermen Sharing of God's Blessing on this young man.

Rick Barnhouse "Dark Horse" Gulf Region Coordinator

Camp Du Bois pronounced Camp Debwaw

 

Rivermen and Voyagers Territories joined up for a neat Rendezvous at a replica of a Lewis and Clark Fort that one of the FCF Chapters holds some of their events there.  It's located right in the heart of a industrial park surrounded by Train tracks and highways and major gas lines yet if you couldn't hear the activity of all that it looks like your out on the Frontier at a 4 cabin log fort.  Pretty cool optics.  A tight fit to get all the trucks and trailers parked with some spillage up and down the entrance road.  
 
Once you get past the constant traffic and trains you settle into FCF life. 40 plus shelters wrapped around the Fort.  Plenty of good free dry firewood for camp fires and heat.  Nice grassy and pretty flat areas to set up tents a few elevation steps from level to level but a nice place to set up camp.  
 
Our adventure towards this Rendezvous started back in January  with young bucks being prepped for Buckskin Advancements as well as scout nominations at our Winter Trace.  To get young bucks to these events takes the team to get them ready.  Funds, Time, Preparation, Parents on board, Advancements, Trappers Brigade as well as communication with all of the group.  
 
With our Chapter Scout terms being 2 years 2023 - 2025 for this term.  We held scout testing during our Frontier Adventure and with District approval we had our election and then preparations for Territorial Scout elections came next.  Double down on the Advancements, Pathfinders, Buckskin helped propel our District Scout to test out and win the Territorial Scout position.  Moving our next highest score up and then up again at the Division levels.  So Congratulations to Logan Fortner "Barbwire' as our new Rivermen Territorial Scout.  Congratulations to Logan Fifield "Split" as our Daniel Boone Chapter Scout.  Then Taylor Fifield, "4 legs" as our SW Division Scout.  It's a good thing we had a group of nominations from our Division as well as they all tested and competed and we kept the score sheets so at promotion time it was black and white as the boys moved up in the FCF SCOUT!    Great job young bucks.  Jackson Bell from NW Div and Evan Harris from NE Division were big contenders as well and we are very pleased with our Daniel Boone Chapter Scouts.  ALL OF THEM!
 

We really enjoyed all the traditional competitions.  Knife, Hawk, Horns, Outfit, Flint n Steel, Traps, Stump Preaching, Archery, Black Powder Shooting and Cooking.  Several candle light competitions as well to add a fun spin to it all.  I am hoping to get a list of the winners and will add it here when it comes out.

 
Also the pictures are from many sources I found most of them from Facebook pages of various attendees.  I will add more I am sure to this zip file.  Thanks so much for sharing your Shot with us.
 
Daniel Boone Chapter had a great turnout of 47 of it's members attending.  
 
So much time of fellowshipping, worship, services, Fires being lit in the hearts of young and old as they shared around the campfire as well as participating in the events.  Johnnie Barnes had this figured out when he developed Royal Rangers and FCF.    Click on a picture for a larger view.
 
Report from our very own Bob Triphahn, Two Forks

Great Adventure with our Rivermen and Voyager Brothers at Camp Dubois! The Joint 2023 Rivermen – Voyager Territorial started with a combined Pathfinder project at the host, Camp Dubois. Camp Dubois is a recreation of the Lewis and Clark over winter camp of 1803-04. Situated in Wood River, Illinois Territory off the mouth of the Wood River and the Mississippi River. The camp consists of five cabins (four on each corner and one in the middle) with a post fence around it. Members arrived on Sunday, Oct 1 st and began work the next day, Monday, Oct 2 nd . Thirteen men and four Young Bucks came together to make improvements to the camp. Upgrades to the buildings, roofing the outdoor ovens, tarping the wood shed, repairing a bridge that leads to the Wilderness camp area, and fixing a leaning shed were completed in three days (Monday through Wednesday). A few members straggled in on Wednesday afternoon, bringing a light drizzle with them.

The bulk of the membership arrived throughout the day Thursday, October 5, the official start of Rendezvous. As far as schedules go, there is always a change. The Wilderness Vigil was moved to Friday and Buckskin Testing and Scout Testing were moved to Saturday. More on that later. Thursday night we had live music provided by the Voyager Territory with announcements and schedule changes. Immediately after service started the Frontier Adventure.

Daniel Boone Chapter had one representative, Kyle Hahn, who completed his requirements and is now a full-fledged member. A highlight of the night was Candle Shoot with Black Powder rifles. I am proud to say that Daniel Boone’s John Davis tied for first. Competitions started on Friday morning after a devotion led by Rivermen National Scout, Ryan “Bare Feet” Evarts. These competition’s continued through Saturday afternoon and included: Hawk Throw, Knife Throw, Flint and Steel fire making for time, Trap Setting for time, Black Powder Shooting, Primitive, Archery, Stump Preaching, Horn Blowing for time, and Cooking. There was supposed to be a Log Cutting Team event but no logs could be found to conduct it. The Wilderness candidates gathered at noon to begin their Vigil. Rivermen were represented by OT, Mel Hardage, and YB’s Matthew Hardage and Teddy Vearrier. Seven total went out but only 5 returned successfully. Congratulations to Mel and Matthew for completing their Wilderness Vigil. Friday night after wonderful worship music led by the Voyager Territory,

 Rivermen Rep, Bob “Two Forks” Triphahn brought a word on Discipline in the Christian life using the camp setting as a backdrop to his preaching. After prayer for our members the group broke into a new event, Prairie Dogs and Patches, a patch trading and Round Robin trading event. Those who bought a special Prairie Dogs and Patches patch also received a hot dog. A good time was had by all. Both Friday and Saturday mornings we awoke to cold temperatures in the low 40’s. Capote and/or blanket weather for sure. The devotion was brought by the Voyager National Scout, Trenton “Snow Shoe” Snyder, immediately followed by a missions auction. Many wonderful items were donated and over $5600 was raised for the U.S. Royal Ranger Missionary, John Robinson.

Competitions continued and the testing for the Buckskin candidates and new Scouts started. Representing the Quapaw Chapter, Micaiah Hardage completed his Buckskin Challenge and passed. Testing for National Scout, Teddy Vearrier (Quapaw), Logan Fortner (Daniel Boone), Keegan Boudreaux (Jim Bowie), and Matthew Hardage (Quapaw) all gave their best performance. But, only one could come out on top. Our new National FCF Scout is Teddy Vearrier. Taking the position of Rivermen Territorial Scout, Logan Fortner. Congratulations gentlemen. Since we Reps made the mistake of forgetting Outfit judging as a competition, Simon Tanner made a special effort to drum up prizes and hold the competition at his lodge. Thank you Simon. All other competitions concluded

Saturday and the Cooking Competition began. While the boys were cooking up a storm, a 4 x 4 post shoot took place. I was busy tasting the wonderful meals prepared by our cooks so I did not hear who won. Saturday evening service began with worship and then a spirited message by the Voyager Territorial Rep, Rick “Simon Tanner” Dostel. Again, prayer for our members concluded the message. Immediately following was a night Hawk Throw and Night Archery event. If a member competed in 3 out of the 6 special events they earned an Activity patch. Again a cool morning graced our Sunday.

Members gathered to hear who had won the competitions and to continue the auctioning of items forgotten on Saturday. The Rivermen Winners are: Young Bucks Old Timers Place Name / Event Score Place Name / Event Score Black Powder Black Powder 1 Terry Vearrier 45 1 Paul "Wild Cat" Galina 44 2 Keagan Holbert 35 2 Bryan Boudreaux 37 3 Logan Fortner 32 3 John Davis 34 Flint & Steel Flint & Steel 1 Logan Fortner 3.00 1 Ryan Reed 6.1 2 Taylor Fifield 7.19 2 Ryan Evarts 7.43 3 Evann Harris 12.6 3 Bryan Boudreaux 8.16 Trap Setting Trap Setting 1 Taylor Fifield 11.1 1 Maxwell Buck 14.64 2 Teddy Vearrier 15.58 2 JohnMark Bell 30.02 3 Logan Fortner 22.22 3 Larry Vearrier 32.97 Stump Preaching Stump Preaching 1 Trevor McCrate 87 1 Larry Vearrier 86 2 Jackson Bell 70 2 Rodney Eaton 85 3 3 Travis McCrate 75 Horn Blowing Horn Blowing 1 Evann Harris 39.78 1 John Davis 39.13 2 Logan Fortner 33.66 2 Rodney Eaton 33.97 3 Teddy Vearrier 30.13 3 JohnMark Bell 33.16 Knife Throw Knife Throw 1 Teddy Vearrier 18 1 Maxwell Buck 21 2 Logan Fifield 12 2 Bryan Boudreaux 18 3 Evann Harris 10 3 Ricky Zeiler Jr. / Travis McCrate 13 Hawk Throw Hawk Throw 1 Trevor McCrate 21 1 Bryan Boudreaux 18 2 Keegan Boudreaux 18 2 Paul "Wild Cat" Galina 18 2 Teddy Vearrier 18 3 Craig Kelly 18 Archery Archery 1 Keegan Boudreaux 8 1 Bryan Boudreaux 9 2 Cooper Page 1 2 Rick Barnhouse 7 2 Weston Bell 1 3 John Slocum 6 Cooking Cooking 1 Evann Harris 91 1 Steve McFarland 98 2 Trevor McCrate 79 2 Frank Reed 95 3 2 Daniel Gilliland 95 Top Bobcat - Young Bucks Top Bobcat - Old Timers Teddy Vearrier Bryan Boudreaux Finally, a closing word by Mark “Pinewood” Craft and the event was over except the packing and driving home.

The top Chapter was not announced since yours truly didn’t get the math done in time. But, the Daniel Boone Chapter again (4 th Territorial in a Row) took home the honors. I would like to thank everyone for attending, participating, and most importantly, praying for this event. We will see you in two years in the Volunteer Chapter, our 2025 host.

Submitted by: Robert “Two Forks” Triphahn Rivermen Territorial FCF Rep