Highland Games started with a bit of an adventure as we received a call while on our way to the ferry that our ferry was cancelled, and the new plan was to take an earlier ferry. We made haste and made it on the earlier ferry except one group of scouts who took the later ferry.

Since we arrived early to Nantucket, we had bonus time for a visit to the Whaling Museum. Then we hiked to Camp Richards and setup our tents. We cooked spaghetti dinner.

We had clear and cool weather for the games on Saturday. Our clan (troop) didn’t win any awards but enjoyed the events including golf, harpoon toss, tug-of-war and sheaf toss. We finished all the events early and then had time to walk to the beach where scouts made sandcastles. We also saw whales close to shore! Back at camp, we played football. For dinner, the camp had a delicious bbq. Then there was a bonfire and campfire program.

The scouts had a blast on the ropes course at Tree Top Adventures in Canton.

We rented a Ford Expedition so that we could all fit in a single vehicle and headed out at 7:30am on Saturday morning. We stopped by the Hookset pit stop and got some cider donuts.

We parked at the trailhead for West Rattlesnake Mountain and hiked to the summit where we ate lunch with fine views over Squam Lake and beyond. There was only patchy snow on the ground, but some sections of the trail were icy and tricky to cross.

Since the temperature was in the low 40s, the dirt road to our usual parking spot for camp was too muddy. Instead, we started our hike to camp from driveway of the Russ family house. The hike to camp was about the same distance. Since there wasn’t enough snow, we didn’t build snow trenches and setup tents instead. Then we prepared camp by splitting logs for firewood.

We hiked down the roads to BeeDee Falls which wasn’t frozen this year and just had some ice on the outside edges of the stream. A scout hiked slowly which slowed the group, but we made it back to camp in the twilight.

We got the fire going well in the cabin stove using the split logs, scraps of wood and some charcoal that we brought. We were able to boil water fairly quickly and got the cabin up to a toasty 80 degrees. We had Mountain House meals for dinner which the scouts really enjoyed especially after all the hiking that day. The scouts also did Jiffy popcorn on the stove which was fun and tasty. The scouts also played card games. Meanwhile the weather outside got colder and started snowing.

We settled into our tents around 10pm. One scout setup a hammock instead of a tent which it didn’t work out well because the hammock wasn’t fully secured and slid down to the ground during the night. Overnight the snow was thick and heavy. Around 3am, snow fell from a tree branch onto the tent of an adult and smooshed his tent. The adult had to dig out of his tent and shelter in cabin. The other tents made it thru the night fine although buried with the 8 inches of snow overnight that piled up around the tents.

In the morning, the snow switched to light drizzle. We hiked thru the snow back to our car. Russ kindly came by with his front-end loader to dig out the driveway for us. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast on our drive home.

 

We drove to Steele Hill Resort in Sanbornton, NH on Friday after school. We had two condos with two bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen and living room each.

On Saturday, we woke up early and saw a beautiful sunrise of the mountain view from our condo. We ate a quick breakfast of fruit and bagels, and then drove over to Gunstock. At the mountain, we split up into different groups based on skier abilities. Several scouts were 1st time skiers and had a half-day ski lesson. The weather was perfect for skiing with temperature in the low 30’s, sunny skies and light wind. The slopes were nicely groomed but a bit icy in spots.

After ski, we went for a swim in the Steele Hill Resort pool that had a water slide and hot tub too. Then the scouts made chicken alfredo dinner and played board games.

On Sunday, the scouts made egg sandwiches and bacon for breakfast. Then we went back to Gunstock for cross-country skiing. It was the 1st time for cross-country skiing for most of the scouts. The weather was great and the snow conditions very good for cross-country. We all completed the Brook Trail loop and many did the Lakeside trail too. Then we left for home around lunchtime. 

It felt like the Klondike with the temperature at 18 degrees, some windchill and snow. But the scouts were dressed for it and the sun was out. Plus we put handwarmers in our gloves. So we stayed comfortable as we went to the different stations including knots, building a shelter, orienteering, tomahawk throw, sled rescue, chasm crossing, and fire building. The scouts were prepared for each station, didn’t have any long waits and were able to complete all the stations by the lunch break.

The scouts did well at each station especially the fire building and lashings for the chasm crossing.

For lunch, we setup at the tables under the Tee Pee. The scouts used our backpacking gas stoves to cook grilled cheese with ham sandwiches. Then we stopped at the Trading Post for some hot chocolate and snacks.