June 17th, 2026 Canoeing Action Camp (CAC) and Adventure Kamp took place as scheduled with a chance of rain forecast. This forecast had been up and down for a solid week. With lots of rain before the trip. Higher water was expected.

We had some changes with last minute cancelations. All the work that goes into scheduling of boats and vehicles and badges and certificates, extra gear and planning has to be refigured on the fly so please folk let your Yes be Yes and your No be No. This is always true for every event.

Thursday we left Ozark AOG with 10 slated to meet at the River. 5 men and 5 young men 12:30 we were at base camp Location at Hebron with the condemned steel bridge.

Thursday we covered 95% of the Canoeing Merit with 18 merit steps with hands on and in canoe training with Tell Show and Do making this FUN! 2 boys were doing the CAC and the others were doing the Adventure Camp. The boys love swamping canoes and learning how to rescue a swamped boat....many times over as they just love sharing the river water with others canoes!

Our Council Fire around the camp fire at dusk with a home made ice-cream was a treat! The boys and leaders were encouraged by Rob's Message.

Lights out at 11:00 pm. Boys talking and talking and talking so we heard about it the next morning.

Hammond Access were it cost us 2.00 each for 2 vehicles.
This was really a blessing in the long float on one day. We only had to do one shuttle.

Friday at 8:00 am 3 of us shuttled 2 trucks and trailers to the take out point and returned to the group and hit the water at 9:15 am. Our float was fun. We experienced the "need to move" with the extra 5 miles so fishing along the way was curtailed but we did lots of swimming, visited caves, rope swings and enjoyed lunch on the sand bars. We made record time at got to Hammond Access at 4:00 p.m.

6:00 pm we cooked our Bring your own, Cook your own or go hungry meals we each brought. (Folks if you have not done this your missing out on the best experience...everyone eats what they want to eat those that don't like what they brought have only themselves to grumble against.) Friday night John Hicks put on party shirt and had a Hawaii type party with limbo contests and had sliced fresh Pineapple, cantaloupe, water melon and grapes to make this party a great fun time. Boys hit the sack at 10:30 pm.

Saturday morning 6:30 am rolled around and I started singing and soon all were up.

We enjoyed breakfast and resting up a bit around the fire ring and talking and our morning devotion being thankful.

Our Closing Ceremony with a hearty we loved this trip. Certificates were sent out to Commanders on Monday.

Fun. Challenging. Character Building and self reliance all the while pointing them to Jesus Christ and His Church. Royal Ranger Ministry is one of the BEST!

Mark Jones  Click on a picture for a larger view.  Pictures by Mark Jones and Rob Batchman.