Scouting Troop 50

 Welcome to Boy Scout troop 50, the Mighty Bulldogs.
We are a Heart of America Council, Three Trails District, Boy Scout Troop in Kansas City, Missouri.
We are a Scout-Led troop that has an Active Outdoor Program.

Interested in joining or want more information? We would love to connect!
Check out the FAQs page, come to any meeting, talk to any leader and/or send us an email at ScoutingTroop1050@gmail.com 

We meet weekly on Monday evenings at 7pm-8:30pm at Keystone United Methodist Church

MEETING MINUTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

7/27/26 Meeting Minutes

• The boys had a very great meeting with lots of leader support. We are pleased to see so much enthusiasm placed on advancement just after Bartle. All the boys enjoyed the wonderful air conditioning while reviewing items like upcoming merit badges and lower rank signoffs. This group is motivated!

• Eagle Scout Court of Honor - On Saturday, August 1st we will be holding a Court of Honor to celebrate our 2 recent Eagle scouts, Cameron and Ben. It will be held at Keystone in the sanctuary area. All are welcome to attend. It will begin at 2pm (please show up a bit prior to 2pm). Scouts - Please arrive in Class A attire. Protip: There will be refreshments following. For anyone participating (they should know if they are participating), please arrive at 1:15pm for a 'dry run'.

• August Outing - The next campout will be canoeing at Niangua River. This is planned to be a ONE NIGHT campout. We will meet at Keystone August 15th at 8am. It is about a 2hr 45min drive from Keystone, so we will want to hit the road ASAP to maximize the canoeing time (aiming to depart at 8:30am). Scouts should begin thinking about signoffs they can get during the campout and any additional needs like cooking, etc. Come ready for those at the planning meeting on August 10th. IMPORTANT: We would like an accurate headcount so that the outfitter knows how many canoes to get. Sign up here. We are unsure if waivers will be required for this outing, but we are going to ask (will follow up).

• Congrats to Colton S for picking up 1st Class rank! Congrats to Cameron for achieving the feat of EAGLE RANK!

• Special Meeting - For the Troop Meeting occurring on Aug 17th, we will be having a pool party! This event will occur at former Troop 1050 alum's home, Mike Lockmann. Huge thanks to him for allowing the troop to party in his pool and thanks to Bruce for setting this up. Address will be shared when we have it. This meeting will occur at the normal time (7-8:30ish).

7/20/26 Meeting Minutes

• We are glad to be back to our regularly scheduled programming! We had a good turn out with many Scouts focused on advancing. A few merit badge questions and several boys with eyes set on Tenderfoot/2nd Class rank. Loving the motivation!

• Item's from Bartle - Britton's Camping chair WAS located. But... a small green Gerber multitool made its way to one of our families' homes. If it is yours, please reply to ScoutingTroop1050@gmail.com and we can connect you with the person who currently has that.

• Did you think we would miss the shoutout's for advancements that occurred at Bartle? Well... We are not! Congrats to Lucas B and Luke L for picking up 2nd Class rank! Congrats to Frank T for catching Star Rank! Let's see if he can get Life before Bartle next year!

• Court of Honor - On Saturday, August 1st we will be holding a Court of Honor to celebrate our 2 recent Eagle scouts. It will be held at Keystone in the sanctuary area. All are welcome to attend. It will begin at 2pm. Scouts - Please arrive in Class A attire. Protip: There will be food.

• August Outing - The next campout will be canoeing at Niangua River. This is planned to be a ONE NIGHT campout. We will meet at Keystone August 15th at 9am. It is about 2hr 45min from Keystone, so we will want to hit the road ASAP to maximize the canoeing time. Scouts should begin thinking about signoffs they can get during the campout and any additional needs like cooking, etc. Come ready for those at the planning meeting on August 10th. Sign up here.

• Bartle Merit Badges - See the attached spreadsheet with a list of all merit badges that were earned while at Scout camp. This is to assist in any record keeping. 3-4 years from now, this information could come in handy! Please validate that all merit badges that your Scout earned are accurate. We try very hard to work out all details at camp, but we're not perfect!

• Volunteering Opportunity - Have you ever wanted to help out the troop but dislike camping? We have the perfect thing for you! There exists a position, called an Advancement Chair. This is perfect for the organized individual that can assist the troop in keeping our electronic records up to date. They can ensure all Rank advancements are placed into the electronic platform, Scoutbook Plus, and look ahead at our troops' advancement. This position is the most work after scout camp, with little maintenance throughout the year. For the truly motivated individual, they can monitor Scout's activities and give them (some) guidance on what they should be working towards. Note: There is a fine line between Parent v. Scout led troops. We are not pushing, just showing the way.

6/29/26 Meeting Minutes

• Where were the leaders this meeting? They were busy with Bartle planning! While the boys were discussing Merit Badge signups, the leaders were working on last minute logistics.

• Medical Forms - Great job turning all the forms in! We got all the forms minus a couple. Those few should have direction.

• 2 Big things to remember for the upcoming Bartle trip next week. 

  1. We will be meeting at the church at 2pm on Sunday for Trunk/Gear drop off. Do NOT wear your Class A uniforms, but BRING your Class A uniforms. Good example of a trunk is here. Trunk's are encouraged so that all of your Scout's gear stays together (they make a great table at camp, too!). Having a location to lock is nice and wheels are not necessary (think of Bartle as a Rock Theme Park). If you plan to purchase a lock, ensure it is a combination padlock and not a keyed lock (The key will easily be lost!). Writing down the combo and providing it to a leader as backup should be considered. Notable: Not all of the Scout's items need to fit in the trunk (ex: sleeping bag). Swimsuit should be near the top of the trunk, so they can be easily changed once we arrive at Bartle (First thing we do is the swim test). A list of items can be found on the Prepare for Campouts page.

  2. Boys will be meeting at the church at 10am on Monday to depart. The trailer will be leaving sooner, so we do not expect much time hanging around. Be sure to pack a lunch (we will NOT be stopping at McDonald's). It takes just under 2 hours to get to camp. All Scouts need to arrive on Monday in full Class A attire. This includes these 4 items: BSA Button-down tan shirt, pants/shorts with belt loops (no sweats and/or basketball shorts), neckerchief, and a belt (does not have to be BSA pants/shorts or BSA belt). We will return on the 15th (time TBD).

• Visitor's Sunday (July 12th) - We will provide more details later. Typically, we have a potluck. This is a great time for parents to visit camp and see how things are going. Scouts are VERY excited to show off what they have done! This is highly encouraged.

• IMPORTANT: Good news, we have lots of scouts going to camp (21)! Bad news, we need to transport them! We will need THREE volunteers to transport boys down and back from camp. It will just be transporting boys since the trailer will be filled with the gear on the day before. If you can help, let us know by filling out this signup.

6/22/26 Meeting Minutes

• Such a great meeting! Outdoors and sign offs and advancements, oh my! A list of preliminary merit badge assignments was given to the scouts for Bartle to ensure everyone got what they wanted. If your scout did not see this list, be sure they see it at the next meeting! Everyone was so busy talking about Bartle and medical forms (have you turned yours in?) and pushing forward, we forgot to discuss the previous campout. Spoiler alert... It was wet!

• Bartle preparation - We are getting down to the wire on collection of medical forms. The form can be found here. Don't forget the insurance card photocopy! We are approaching the halfway point of form returns at 15/31. Keep them coming! It is typical to have them returned for something missing, so the sooner we receive them, the sooner we get that feedback forward.
  We have NOT received forms from the following:

  1. Josh B

  2. Michael B

  3. Britton J

  4. Tilden K

  5. Luke L

  6. Mario R

  7. Colton S

  8. Patrick S

  9. Gill V

  10. Jonas V

  11. Ed V (tsk tsk!)

  12. Sheldon V (there was an error on the form)

  13. Brian L (😬)

  14. Bruce C

  15. Sam C

  16. Clark C

• Did we mention advancement? We had FIVE scouts make amazing progress this evening. Congrats to Martin N for picking up Scout rank! Congrats to Luke L for Tenderfoot rank! Huge congrats to Josh B and William B for their Star ranks! Last, but not least, congrats on the monumental achievement of getting Eagle, Ben G !!

• Finally - Next week will be an important meeting for parents. We will be having a pre-camp committee meeting next Monday at about 7:15 (after the boys perform the starting ceremony. Parents are encouraged to attend.

6/15/26 Meeting Minutes

• Things started off like a typical pre-outing meeting. The boys collected names and organized travel arrangements for the upcoming campout. A couple older scouts were playing Labyrinth and a large group peeled off for some outdoor activities (it was beautiful outside!).

• Bartle preparation - All individuals (Scouts or Adults) are required to have a physical completed to attend camp. This is a hard rule that we cannot skip. If your scout does not have the proper paperwork for this very important task, they will not be able to attend Bartle. The form can be found here. The sooner we can get  the form, the sooner we can provide feedback. It is common to have the form returned due to missing information, so getting those to us promptly can save much stress leading up to the event. Don't forget the insurance card photocopy! We are doing quite poor turning these forms in, with only 7/31 collected so far. It is highly advised to deliver these sooner rather than later.

• June Outing - The next campout will be at Knob Noster State Park. This is planning to be a Fishing/Service TWO NIGHT campout. We will meet at Keystone June 19th at 4pm. We are pushing this up an hour because most everyone should be available due to the Juneteenth holiday. Fishing will be available (ages 16+ requires a license) and we are requesting some type of conservation-based volunteering activity. We will be shooting for about 2 hours worth of time. These 2 night campouts are THE BEST time to get sign offs and/or advance. Nature is everywhere and demonstrations are plentiful. We will be looking into ~4 troop poles so that anyone without a pole can learn/fish. All fishing will be catch & release.
  IMPORTANT: After planning the event, it was determined that we do not have the capacity to return all Scouts on Sunday. We will need 1 adult leader to make the trip on Sunday morning to help bring back, at minimum, 2 scouts. If we are unable to do this, we will need to shorten the outing to only 1 day (Friday night). If we do not have a volunteer by Wednesday at 7pm, we will send communication that this outing will be reduced by 1 day. We apologize for any planning that disrupts.

• Scouting Fun Fact of the Week ⚜️ As we stress the importance of getting those Bartle physical forms turned in, here is a bit of history to inspire you: The H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation has been operating since 1929! It was named after Harold Roe Bartle, a former Chief Scout Executive of the Kansas City Scout Council who later became the Mayor of Kansas City. (Fun fact within a fun fact: Mayor Bartle's nickname was "The Chief," which is exactly where the Kansas City Chiefs football team got their name when they moved to town in 1963!)

Did we miss something important? Want to add something to future meetings? Contact us! 

See past meeting minutes HERE

UPCOMING EVENTS (2026)

August SIGN UP HERE

• • Campsite: Hidden Valley Outfitters (Niangua River)

  • Activity: Canoeing Campout

  • Depart: 8am Saturday, Aug 15th from Keystone

  • Return: ~11:30am Sunday, Aug 16th

  • Estimated Cost: $30 each

September

• • Campsite: Undetermined

  • Activity: Caving Campout

  • Depart: ?Time? Friday, Sept 18th from Keystone

  • Return: ?Time? Sunday, Sept 20th

  • Estimated Cost: 

October

• • Campsite: Undetermined

  • Activity: ??

  • Depart: ??

  • Return: ??

  • Estimated Cost: 

November

• • Campsite: Undetermined

  • Activity: Feast in the Forest

  • Depart: ??

  • Return: ??

  • Estimated Cost: 

PAST EVENTS (2026)

January

• Activity: Ice Skating (General)

• Location: KC Ice Center

• Time: January 17th @ 1:15pm - 2:45pm

• Estimated Cost: $10 +$5 for skate rental (Inquiring about a group discount)

February

• • Campsite: Lake Jacomo (one night)

  • Activity: Regular Campout

  • Depart: 9am of Saturday, Feb 21st from Keystone

  • Return: 1-3pm of Sunday, Feb 22nd

  • Estimated Cost: $5

  • Notes: Campsite #8 - No water available during offseason

March

• • Campsite: Watkins Mill State Park (TWO nights)

  • Activity: Regular Campout

  • Depart: meet @5pm Friday, Mar 13th from Keystone

  • Return: ~11am Sunday, Mar 15th

  • Estimated Cost: $30

  • Notes: Campsite #1 "First on the left"

    • Includes a Tour of the Mill ONLY (3pm, arrive in the visitors center at 2:15pm)

April

• • Campsite: Bruce's place - 7015 NE 600 Rd, Osceola, Mo 64776 (ONE night)

    • See email with a map where Google Maps leaves off

  • Activity: Survival Campout

  • Depart: 10am Saturday, April 18th from Keystone

  • Return: ~11am Sunday, April 19th

  • Estimated Cost: $10

  • Notes: This is less a 'Survival' and more 'Pioneering' where the boys forego tents and build a shelter to sleep in. Lots of great knot tying application!

May

• • Campsite: Poosey Conservation Area (ONE night)

  • Location: Chillicothe, Mo

  • Activity: Backpacking

  • Depart: 9:00am Saturday, May 16th from Keystone

  • Return:  ~11:00am Sunday, May 17th

  • Estimated Cost: ~$15 (Food only)

June

• • Campsite: Knob Noster State Park

  • Activity: Fishing/Service Campout

  • Depart: 5pm Friday, June 19th from Keystone

  • Return:  ~11am Sunday, June 21st

  • Estimated Cost: $25

July

• • H Roe Bartle Scout Reservation

  • Session #4

  • Sawmill (Walnut campsite)

    • Depart: 10am Monday, July 6th from Keystone

    • Return: ~11:30am Wednesday, July 15th