Boy Scout Troop 52, chartered to the First United Methodist Church of Lawrence, had its monthly campout July 26-28 at Clinton Lake.

The boys earned their Wilderness Survival Badge and Cooking Merit Badge. They swam at Bloomington Beach and played chess.

Boys who attended were Mason McCurdy, Evan Cloar, Henry Reiske, Wes Hinkle, Andre Ramos, Steve Wilson, David Oelhausen and Josh Cosgrove, senior patrol leader. Adults accompanying them were Wayne Deaver, Mike McCurdy, Ralena McCurdy and Nancy Wilson.

Boy Scout Troop 53, chartered to the First Christian Church of Lawrence, attended Camp Alexander July 21-27. The camp is located in the Pike’s Peak Council west of Colorado Springs, Colo. Twenty-six Scouts attended, and they earned 56 merit badges. Ten boys advanced to the next rank. They also participated in a polar bear swim and blue mountain hike. They placed third in the Gold Rush Relay, a team athletic contest.

Julian Spangler served as the Troop senior patrol leader and Larry Thornton as the Scoutmaster.

The boys who attended were Chris Berger, Joey Berger, Nick Blessing, Nick Chance, Patrick Coffey, Ben Cornett, Devon Griffin, Zach Guy, Ben Harvey, Frankie Hurtig, Michael Hurtig, Nathan Ideus, Jimmy Kelley, Jonathan King, Tim Malcolm, Stephen May, Evan Mielke, Tim Muetz, Phillip Ozorkiewicz, Neill Ross, Zach Schmidt, Julian Spangler, Zach Stremel, David Teefey, Alex Webster and Jordan Yulich. Adult leaders who accompanied them were Larry Thornton, Evan Grosshans, Eric Muetz, Carey Berger and Ron Spangler.

Boy Scout Troop 59, chartered to the First Presbyterian Church of Lawrence, had a troop adventure in July in Colorado.

The troop took a backpacking hike in the mountains at the Flat Tops, a wilderness area near Glenwood Springs, Colo. The troop trained and planned for the trip for more than six months. The participants carried equipment, personal gear and food for five days in the mountains in their backpack. The participants were Doug Brickell, Chris Bergman, Sam Gleeson and John Armstrong. Each crew took a separate route and hiked about 30 miles. The boys hiked to the Wall Lake area to see a 11,000 foot rim, named The Ampitheatre, which overlooks Trappers Lake. Some of the Scouts fished in the streams, and each crew exceeded 11,250 feet in altitude during the hike.

Before the backpacking trip, the Scouts participated in mountain biking, rock climbing and wild cave tours. They also spent a day whitewater rafting on the Colorado River and were able to view the extensive recent forest fire damage on the hills surrounding Glenwood.

Scouts who participated in the backpacking trip included Nathan Billings, Reid Crow, James Garito, Kendall Scarffe, David Stogsdill, Brian Workman, Evan Hilpman, Zachary King, Ian McCafferty, Anson Stancliffe, Eli Stogsdill, Zack Owen, Will Armstrong, Daniel Bergman, Steven Glasker, Nolan Kappelman, Grant Schenewerk, Sam Sutheimer, Gary Gardner, Colin Kappelman, Weston Norwood and Jordan Wright.