Our troop did the Minuteman Pursuit Trail on Patriot’s Day to mark the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. We got up in time to leave at 4am and arrive at the Concord courthouse by 6am. There were over 100 scouts from several other troops on this hike. Some of them had camped overnight next to the courthouse.

We walked from the courthouse into Monument Square and the Mason’s Lodge where they had a hot breakfast for us. Then we hiked over to Old North Bridge and then followed the back roads to Meriam’s Corner like the minutemen did to ambush the redcoats. From there, we hiked along battle road which was mainly a dirt road through the countryside with some historic sites and markers. Then we crossed over the highway on a bridge into Lexington and walked along sidewalks into Lexington Green. As we passed by the Lexington community center, we got to hear some of the outdoor concert being given by the Boston Pops.

We stopped at the Lexington Academy on the green to raise the first American flag. Then we went to Rancantore’s for ice cream which hit the spot. Next we walked along the rail trail into Arlington and then picked up Massachusetts Ave to our sit-down lunch at Menotomy Grill.

Then we walked through Cambridge to our final destination at Prospect Hill in Somerville where the American flag was flown for the first time. There’s a tower on the hill that was opened for the scouts. We arrived around 6pm and then had to wait our turn to get to the top. There are nice views of Boston from the top.

Next we walked a few blocks to Union Square to pick up the T into North Station where we got the commuter rail back to Concord.

 

For our second warm up for Minuteman hike, we did a 10-mile hike to Coast Guard Beach. We started from the National Seashore Visitor Center and hiked along the salt pond, marsh and cedar woodlands trail to the beach. Then we hiked south along the beach until reaching the opening to the bay. Then we hiked north up to Nauset lighthouse. Next we walked along the shore road back to the Coast Guard Beach parking lot and then on trails back to the visitor center. We stopped at Doane Rock and climbed it.

To warm up for the Minuteman Hike and to work towards hiking merit badge, we did a 10-mile hike around the perimeter of Nickerson State Park. We started from the soccer fields at Freeman Field and then hiked counterclockwise. Besides the scouts, we had 3 family dogs on the hike. The weather was cool, cloudy and windy, but we were protected from the wind in the woods. Most of the time we hiked on dirt paths but also hiked some on the bike paths. Besides some views of ponds, the trail had some scenic parts in the woodlands.

We drove up to East Madison, NH on Friday evening. We left Chatham at 4pm and stopped for dinner at Chick-a-fil in Hanover, MA. We stayed in 2 rooms with 4 beds each at the Tecumseh Lodge. There were only a couple other guests, and we had the lodge lounge to ourselves for playing board games.

On Saturday morning, we ate a simple breakfast at the lodge with food that we brought. Then we got to King Pind Ski by 8am for getting our ski rental gear and lift tickets. Most of the scouts took a two-hour ski lesson since it was their first time skiing. After lessons, the new skiers did many runs on the bunny slope.

We went for an early lunch at the ski lodge. The temperature was a cool 30 in the early morning but warmed up to 50 by the afternoon. The snow conditions were good.

After lunch, all the scouts, even the first timers, wanted to take the lifts up the mountain. Their first few times down the slopes were slow with some wipeouts. But after a few runs, all the scouts were doing well and trying out all the different lifts. The skiing was not crowded, and we were able to take many runs.

On the drive home, we stopped for dinner at Wild Willy’s Burgers which have the best burgers and fries in my opinion.

We went to Klondike Derby at Camp Greenough. The weather was wintry with temperature around 30 and some snow on the ground. We made grilled ham & cheese sandwiches for lunch.

We went to the American Heritage Museum for a Battle of the Bulge reenactment. First we toured the museum which has an impressive collection on military equipment from WW2 and newer. There were several museum guides on hand to explain the history to us. Then there was a ride on a WW2 halftrack to the nearby woods where reenactors had setup American and German camps.

The weather was beautiful for our campout, sunny, light wind and seasonably cool. We setup our tents starting around 10:30 Saturday and then made grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for lunch. Because of the drought, no campfires were allowed. So we did all of our cooking on propane stoves. Also we had a propane fire pit that we placed in the fire ring. It gave the nice appearance of a small campfire but didn’t have much heat.

After lunch, nine scouts did an orienteering course where each station had a scenario written on a card about a case to apply first aid. The scouts were split into two groups by their two patrols. The scouts navigated to each station and wrote down their first aid solutions. Back at camp, the first aid merit badge counselor was there to review their answers. One patrol missed a station and went back out to find it. The patrol that finished first were awarded LifeStraws.

During the afternoon, the scouts made two large pots of chowder which included corn, onions, carrots, potatoes, milk, vegetable broth and spices. One pot also had chicken and the other was only vegetables. At 3:00, guests arrived and joined us for an early dinner since daylight was short. Guests included parents, cub scouts and girl scouts.

It was dark by 4:30 but there was a full moon that started to rise around sunset. We sat around the the fire pit with our simulated campfire. Some scouts settled into their tents as early as 5pm and others talked by the campfire until 8pm.

We were up early to see a beautiful sunrise on a clear morning. We made bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Then we packed up and cleared out of camp by 9am.

 

We had a good group of 10 scouts for the Turkey Shoot at Camp Greenough this year. We arrived at camp around 5pm Friday and setup our tents as the sun was setting. We made cheeseburgers and hot dogs for dinner. Then we went to the safety instruction meeting which was held at the new Welcome Center building. The weather was clear and mild and we could see stars and the planet Jupiter. I came across a snake in the dark on the road which turned out to be a Milk Snake.

We got up at sunrise on Saturday and made oatmeal for breakfast. Then we were ready at the starting time for the events and were able to do shotgun, rifle and tomahawk in the morning. For lunch, we had hot turkey and gravy sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce which the scouts really liked and ate it all up. In the afternoon, the scouts did archery which was the last activity and then we had free time. We went to the Trading Post and got snacks and hot chocolate. Then we played kickball until it was time for the awards ceremony. Dane got 4th place in the junior shotgun. Luca for 1st place in the senior shotgun by shooting 15 of 15. And Luca got 2nd place in the senior rifle with a score of 44 out of 50. Dane got a gift certificate and Luca got two turkeys to take home.

For dinner, the scouts made chicken stir fry with onion, pepper and rice. The scouts ate this all up as well. Because of the dry weather, the town didn’t allow campfire. Still the OA put on a campfire without a fire for the camp. There were some goofy skits including our troop doing a ‘visible bench’ skit where a pot filled with water was left on the back of a scout being a bench. Scouts went to bed early around 8:30.

Scouts were up before sunrise on Sunday. We made bacon, hot chocolate and pancakes for breakfast. Then we packed up and headed home around 8:30.

 

This camporee had around 1000 scouts and was very well organized with many volunteers. The scouts were divided into three groups for doing three activity periods: service project, merit badges and Presidents Trail. We arrived at Pageant Field in Quincy around 10:30 Saturday and setup our camp and made grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for lunch. The weather was warm and sunny. There was an opening ceremony which included the mayor of Quincy who spoke of the key role by John Adams in the American revolution.

Saturday afternoon was our first activity period of a service project. We went to the Dorothy Quincy Hancock historic house where we planted bulbs and shrubs and cleaned up some trash. When we got back to camp, we found that the wind had blown some of our tents over. So we fixed up the tents and staked them down more securely. Then we met some Civil War soldier reenactors who showed the scouts how to do some drills. Before dinner we had some free time and played baseball using a long pole for the bat and a football for the baseball. We made chicken alfredo for dinner. Then there was a patriotic evening program with two fife & drum bands and the singing trooper Dan Clark.

Sunday started with a beautiful sunrise but soon grey clouds rolled in and a cold rain started. We made breakfast sandwiches of sausage, egg, cheese and muffins. Our activity block for the morning was merit badges. Several scouts did the chess merit badge and others did space exploration. The merit badge classes met under the pavilion and were sheltered from the rain. By late morning, there was a break in the rain and the space exploration scouts got to launch rockets which was a fun adventure.

We had hot dogs, chips and potato salad for lunch. We also made oatmeal-chocolate-peanut butter cookies on the gas stove skillet. Our afternoon activity was the Presidents Trail walk which was 5+ miles and included the Church of the Presidents, Adams Academy with a museum exhibit by the Quincy Historic Society, John Adams house, the hill where Abigail Adams and John Quincy watched the battle of Bunker Hill, and Peacefield. We had guides for our walk who explained the sights and there were reenactors at a few stops. The rain held off for the walk except towards the end.

For dinner, we made pizzas on tortillas on the gas stove. The rain was steady but tapered off enough after dinner in time for a very large bonfire. The Quincy fire department had a fire truck parked nearby just-in-case. There were a bunch of goofy campfire skits.

Monday morning was a quick breakfast, pack up, quick closing ceremony and then drive home.

We camped out at Camp Greenough to work on Emergency Preparedness merit badge with scouter Don Mack. Our troop brought nine scouts and there were six scouts from other troops.

The rainy weather was a big part of this campout. The forecast was for the rain to be scattered and to wrap up Friday night. Before the trip, it had rained steadily for over a day. Still we had some hope as we packed up to head out from Scout Hall as the rain had just let up. But then on our drive to camp, the rain started again, and the forecast kept getting worse. The rain was constant Friday evening and heavy overnight. Then the rain was steady Saturday and very heavy around lunch which turned our campsite into ponds and rivers. Thankfully the rain eased up in time for dinner and a campfire on Saturday night and finally stopped before sunrise on Sunday. Overall there was 4+ inches of rain that weekend.

We setup our tents in the light rain on Friday evening. Next, we setup a popup tarp and put a picnic table under it for cooking. The scouts made spaghetti and meatballs plus Texas toast for dinner. It took a long time to boil the water for the spaghetti and we were running behind schedule and it was past sunset. So instead of cleaning our dishes, we put them out in the rain to let nature wash them. Then we put on our raincoats and grabbed our flashlights and hiked out from our campsite at Stonewall to the Lewis & Clark campsite to meet Don Mack and start on the merit badge. The campsite was deserted when we got there and we guessed that they decided to meet at the pavilion because of the rain. So we hiked over to the pavilion and indeed found Don Mack and the other scouts patiently waiting for us. Don Mack got started on the merit badge lessons. Then we hiked back to our campsite. We didn’t see any other people in the camp but the scouts did find some frogs on the path.

On Saturday morning, we found that our popup tarp had collapsed because rain had collected on the tarp and became too heavy. The scouts made bacon, bagels with cream cheese, fruit and juice for breakfast. Then we drove over to the pavilion where we could stay dry while doing the merit badge class. Don Mack had someone from FEMA talk about the organization needed for emergency response. The scouts practiced skills like making a stretcher to carry someone. For lunch, we made sandwiches under the pavilion. Class wrapped up at 4pm and the rain was light. Scouts went back to camp and explored around the campground before dinner of burritos with ground beef. After dinner, scouts played manhunt in the sports field next to our campsite. Using a large fire starter and lots of nurturing, we got a good fire going despite the wet wood. Then we made smores including having a chance to try having a reese’s peanut butter cup in place of chocolate bar. Yum! Then about half the scouts went over to the dining hall. Don Mack arranged to have it open for us and the other troop setup a movie screen and we got to watch the original Twister. They also had popcorn and cookies for us. Double yum! Back at camp, most of the scouts opted to sleep in the dry lean-tos at our campsite instead of their tents which were a bit wet.

On Sunday morning, we made egg, sausage and cheese breakfast sandwiches. Then there was a practice emergency response scenario of a plane crash where the scouts had to deal with simulated injured airplane passengers and damage to the campground. Then there was a pizza lunch brought in.