25 Letters To Spell Fun Scouts’ Day In Park Features ‘Abc’ Scavenger Hunt, But X Stumps Them

Garry Padrta was a leader in crisis.

He had a mission, a deadline, two teammates to watch out for and the vocabulary of a 9-year-old.

The last part wasn’t his fault since Padrta is, in fact, only 9 years old, but it was making it harder for him and teammates Gabriel Kohler and Matt Chastek - both 5 - to find something in Cannon Hill Park that started with the letter X.

The boys were part of a Cub Scout scavenger hunt in the park on Sunday afternoon. They and about 16 other boys with Pack 346 from Cataldo Catholic School had to find either things, smells or sounds starting with every letter of the alphabet in a mere 20 minutes.

This was supposed to be the pack’s annual winter outing, complete with ice skating, sledding and a weenie roast over a campfire. But with El Nino keeping Spokane’s February soggy and warm, the only sliding involved some unfortunate steps on dog droppings.

The scouts didn’t mind.

When the alphabetical scavenger hunt began, teams spilled across the park in every direction like a bucket of BBs.

None immediately grasped the fact that the scavenger hunt - since it only involved writing down the names of things, not collecting them - could be completed without taking a step.

But what fun would that be?

“Come on, let’s go over here,” yelled Padrta to his teammates at the outset of the hunt. They ran to one of the park’s stone bridges.

The list quickly filled: wall for w; quack for q; grass for g; rock for r.

Then the trio hit the Everest of letters: x.

“How ‘bout xylophone?” volunteered 12-year-old Amanda John. Related to one of the pack’s scouts, John had previously helped the boys negotiate the treacherous letter z with “zipper.”

But there was no xylophone to be found in Cannon Hill Park.

“How about ex-wife,” Padrta said.

The team knew it didn’t start with x, but … well, it was good enough. Judges later questioned whether there was actually an ex-wife in the park.

After a brief conference it was determined by the pack’s parents that every team was a winner and therefore all deserved a prize - a cookie.

The afternoon’s last event was shrewdly calculated by cub master Bob Schmidlkofer: a game of kickball.

“We’ll wear them ragged right before they go home,” Schmidlkofer said.

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