Elevation: 6 ft
GPS coordinates: 33 deg 28.382' N,-118 deg 32.993' W

    The Parson's Beach war canoe trip was scheduled for Tuesday.  By 6:30am, each scout needed to have his bag packed and brought down to the waterfront.  By bag I mean a large trash bag.   Which contains the following items:    Sleeping bag, light jacket, towel, sandals or water shoes and a water bottle.  This bag is loaded into the canoes along with a few crates of food, several water jugs and of course the scout and adult paddlers.  After breakfast is finished, the canoes are lowered into the water one by one with everyone lending a hand.  The cargo is loaded and they are off on a two-mile trip up the coast to a stretch of beach marked as Parson's Beach as seen on the map. 

    At Parson's Beach the canoes begin landing sometimes several at a time.   The cargo is unloaded and piled onto the beach, The canoes are dry docked onto life preservers to protect the bottoms of the canoes.  Each group is assigned a camping spot at one of the picnic tables along the beach.  Each scout transports his gear and helps with the food and water supplies.  An "Easy-Up" is provided for shade and two Dutch ovens for use to prepare the meal later that day. Lunch consists of sandwiches, chips, apples, oranges, and punch mix.

    The activities available for the day included a hike to the point, snorkeling close to the cave at the point and swimming in the surf.  Shortly after lunch, a trip to Beaver Cove was announced. The trip included a short hike up the hill then down into the cove.  Once the scouts and adults were done with snorkeling, everyone hiked back to Parson's Beach to rest, swim in the surf or work on their rock and sand burms before dinner.

    Dinner was going to be stew with peach cobbler for dessert.  The scouts cooked the entire meal.  They worked together to cut the onions, carrots and potatoes.  The stew meat, which was already cut into pieces, was cut one more time to make the pieces smaller and easier to chew.  Water was added to the ingredients along with a seasoning packet in a Dutch oven and placed onto coals for about 45 minutes.  When it was ready they had the best stew they had ever made ... that day.  The stew was a big hit and was completely devoured.  Ranger Joe said our troop's stew was the best this week, but maybe he says that to all the troops.  The peach cobbler also turned out well and quickly disappeared.  By this time, the sun had set and the boys were exhausted so they began going to bed one by one.  Several of our scouts were taking wilderness survival merit badge and were not allowed to use a sleeping bag.  This meant they had to make due with a towel, their jacket and some shelter material they had gathered.

   The "time to get up" call came way too early. The sun was not to rise for almost another hour.  It was time to pack everything back into the bags and load the canoes for the trip back to camp.  All went well and everybody enjoyed the canoe trip back.