(May 15th, 2025) By 1st Lieutenant Reimer
On Friday, April 11th, 2025, Troop 19 met at the Jackson Creek Fish Camp on the Columbia River near Vantage, Washington. On Saturday, after a windy night camping, they drove and hiked up into the Saddle Mountains in search of petrified wood. The troops had a very successful day of rockhounding as all troop members found many nice pieces to take home. After spending several hours on the mountain, they drove down into Vantage to visit the gem shop. There they were able to see many large pieces of petrified wood, along with rocks from all over the world. Later in the afternoon, they drove down to the Wanapum Heritage Museum to learn about the local Native American way of life.
On Sunday, the troop attended Palm Sunday Mass at Our Lady of the Desert Catholic Church in Mattawa. There is a large local Hispanic population that takes pride in weaving the palm branches into beautiful displays that they carry on a procession through the entire town. Mass in this very Catholic community was standing room only. The locals were very pleased to see the group of boys there. After Mass, the troops enjoyed a large spread of Mexican food in the parish plaza before heading home. A few troops who hadn’t had enough hiking, decided to scale the hill to the Wild Horse monument in Vantage on the way back to Spokane.
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