Indianola Outing Report

Troop 15 Weekend at Indianola for Indian Lore Merit Badge by Christopher Schroeppel, Troop 15 Historian

On Friday, March 27, Scouts from Troop 15 gathered in Indianola, near Poulsbo, at the beach house of Eliot and Winston Roberts, for a weekend of camping and earning the Indian Lore Merit Badge. The Scouts attending included Eliot Roberts, Winston Roberts, Mark Brem, Van Senseney, Christopher Schroeppel, Jack Crisera, Blake Pigott, Rhys Fiebig, Matthew Hopkins, Aidan Hayre, Austin Thompson, Gus Ashcraft, Alexander Knox, Sean Johnson, and George Lavigne, along with dads Jonathan Roberts, Craig Hopkins, Rich Senseney, Tom Pigott, Steven Schroeppel, Brian Knox, Ranjir Hayre, and Peter Johnson.

Friday night, everyone took the ferry across to Bainbridge Island and then drove to the Roberts’ house in Indianola. First they set up their tents in the backyard by the beach. Then the troop had some free time, while the parents made plans for the following day and cooked hamburgers for dinner. A couple hours later, everyone was fed and in their tents ready to head off to sleep.

Saturday morning came, and everyone had pancakes and sausage for breakfast before heading towards the Suquamish tribal museum. The museum held many artifacts from centuries ago, including decorated masks, carved canoe paddles, wooden baskets, woven clothing, and a giant fish basket hanging from the ceiling of the exhibit. The troop toured the museum and learned a lot about the history of the Suquamish Tribe, which has been in the Puget Sound area for over 5,000 years. After the tour, the Scouts talked about what they had learned about the Suquamish Tribe with Jonathan Roberts, who was leading the Indian Lore merit badge. Next, the troop headed over to see the nearby burial site of Chief Sealth, who Seattle was named after. It was indeed very large, with big columns of stone and items given by past visitors scattered around the foot of the grave.

Before dinner, back at the Roberts’ house, the troop had a visit from a friend of Jonathon Roberts who is a member of the Suquamish Tribe. His name was Jeff Carriere. He explained how the tribe had traditionally gathered food, which was mainly by catching fish (usually salmon), including using woven fish baskets, like the huge one that we saw hanging in the museum. Then he explained about harvesting geoducks (GOO-ee-ducks), which is an important activity for the tribe today. They harvest thousands of pounds of geoducks every year, in careful environmentally safe ways, and sell most of them in China. A normal sized geoduck is about half the size of a teen’s arm. Then he showed us the most massive geoduck that probably everyone in the troop had ever seen – an Emperor Geoduck, weighing over 8 pounds. This was the size of an adult’s arm (shoulder to elbow). In honor of the tribe, the troop had salmon and wild rice for dinner. Afterwards, everyone went down to the edge of the beach for a campfire, where we made s’mores and told ghost stories.

On Sunday morning, the troop finished off the final parts of the Indian Lore merit badge, and packed up to head back home. It was a great camping weekend, everyone learned a lot about Native American life in the Northwest, and we all earned another merit badge too.