Boy scouts are known for starting fires, tying knots, and of course first aid. Yes, the annual Klondike Derby showcases these skills but it also re-enforces something much greater...Becoming good men.

"It's competitive," says Kyle Southern of Troop 73. "People are racing down the trails trying to go to the next place faster and be the first to start it. It's pretty crazy."

Crazy and cool, for area boy scouts in Augusta and Rockbridge County, as they showcase their scouting skills in the annual Klondike Derby.

"It's all about teamwork and being able to use the skills that they've learned over the last year," says Tim Caldwell, assistant Scout Master for Troop 44.

Skills like fire starting, first aid, and of course tomahawk throwing, but the bigger emphasis is on teamwork.

"If we don't work together as a team it would have taken forever to put up these tents and the tarp," says Southern. "You have to learn to work together whether you like them or not."

"We actually helped these guys up here the other night," jokes Brad Moser of Troop 73. "They couldn't ge their fire going. We had it going in a couple of minutes. They were at it like an hour and half just to get their fire going."

And it's this teamwork that builds these boys into young men.

"You just learn to be more mature," says Southern. "You learn how to become more a leader than a follower."

"Scouting is a program that helps build them up and builds values, morals an character," adds Caldwell.

"At school, I no longer try to go along with whatever is going on," says Southern. "I go my own way. If I like it. I like it. If I don't, I don't."

Scouting attendence is up in recent years, thanks in part to some recent recruitment efforts. Leaders say overall, the boys' learning is fun and that's the most important part.