25,000? Knot Bad : Scouting Still Has Its Merits, as Big Turnout in Fountain Valley Shows

Sometimes, to survive in the wilderness, a Boy Scout knows he might have to scale a rock wall.

But that wasn’t the reason Scott Toro carefully maneuvered his way up a 16-foot imitation rock wall.

“I wanted to do it because it seemed like fun, and all the other kids were in line,” the 11-year-old Laguna Hills boy said after climbing the plywood wall dotted with fake rocks.

Toro was one of about 25,000 Scouts and spectators who turned out Saturday for the 1996 Scout-O-Rama/Exploring Extravaganza in Mile Square Regional Park. With more than 400 activities and displays, the annual event allows Scouts to share skills and knowledge about everything from lifesaving and canoeing to cooking and crafts.

The festivities drew uniformed youngsters from across the county, who also watched rescue demonstrations staged by fire and police units from Garden Grove, Fullerton and Fountain Valley.

“The essence of Scouting is teaching life skills, and hopefully in a fun way,” said Devon Dougherty, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America.

For his part, 12-year-old Greg Sobick of Troop 464 from Buena Park showed other youngsters how to tie one of nearly a dozen different kinds of knots. From the timber hitch to the bowline, knots can help a Scout do everything from pitch a tent to save a drowning person, said Steve Nelson, 39, Sobick’s Scoutmaster.

“Knots are an integral part of Scouting,” Nelson said.

But not everything at the event was so practical. Other exhibits included homemade basketball goals made from logs, a putting green, and a method to pan for gold. Well, not exactly gold.

To simulate the California Gold Rush in the 1840s, Troop 1294 from Fullerton filled a canoe with sand, water and BBs and handed out pans to young Cub Scouts.

“Look you’ve hit the mother lode,” shouted Scouting volunteer John Schade to a youngster who found a fistful of BBs after washing away the sand.

One of the day’s more creative exhibits belonged to Cubmaster Peter Hayden of Pack 634 from Lake Forest. His troop constructed an aluminum tepee to cook an 18-pound turkey. Between the narrow cylinders of charcoal hanging from each leg of the “tripod barbecue” and the sun’s heat, the bird cooks to perfection in three to four hours, said Hayden.

“The kids love it,” said Hayden, 38. “It’s a ‘wow’ thing for them. They’ve never seen anything like it.”