POTTER TOWNSHIP — Chase Lykens, 13, aimed down the handle of a bright orange hatchet Saturday, wound up, flicked his wrist and let the tomahawk fly.
His first throw thumped off the ground. The second, getting closer, clanged off target. On his third and final try, the tomahawk sunk into the wood with a resounding thud.
“It was fun,” said a humble Chase, of State College, one of about 600 children from the area who participated Saturday in the 41st annual Juniata Valley Council Klondike Derby.
The air at Seven Mountains Scout Camp was filled with smoke from campfires and chants shouted by each of the roughly 100 groups of Cub and Boy Scouts in attendance.
Scouts hauled sleds — modeled after Alaskan dog sleds, but without the dogs — along muddy paths that twisted through the woods.
They stopped along the way at various stations designed to test their Scouting skills and problem-solving abilities.
The stations ran the gamut from educational — teaching first aid and survival skills— to just for fun, like the tomahawk throw.
“We put them through the gauntlet,” said Paul Fagley, derby chairman. “We want to teach them different skills.”
The Scouts’ creativity was on display Saturday afternoon at the cooking station, where packs were tasked with preparing — then cleaning up — a meal simply using what they could carry and a fire pit in the snow.
A pack from West Hanover, near Harrisburg, was cooking eggs inside halved and hollowed out oranges placed on hot coals.
“I call it egg and orange,” joked Tyler Werkheiser, 15.
His friend, Pat Rafferty, 14, said they picked up the trick from a Scout leader. He said the cooking method keeps the eggs from drying out.
“We probably have one of the best Klondike Derbies around in 100 miles,” said Mark Lively, of Port Matilda, an adult volunteer who was judging at the cooking challenge station.
Lively said one group made a steak dinner, complete with table, chairs, tablecloth, dinnerware and an iPod playing Beethoven. Others opted for simpler fare— breakfast, hamburgers.
Scouts had a balancing act between how much gear they wanted to use, and how much they were willing to carry — especially without the aid of snow on much of the ground.
The sleds, designed for snow use, were instead lugged along muddy paths more suited for hiking.
Still, Scouts found a way using teamwork. “It was really hard,” said Andy Bliger, of the Lewistown area.
Fagley said teaching teamwork — and other values — to the boys is an important part of the derby, and of Scouting in general.
“The idea is to install values like citizenship and character,” he said. “In some ways, it’s very much like what (Joe Paterno) taught — life lessons.”
Matt Carroll can be reached at 231-4631.
