We camped Friday night at the Boy Scout Camp Wanocksett at the Apache campsite. Saturday was a nice sunny, mild day. We first walked around the camp including the waterfront. Then we climbed Mt Monadnock from the East side. On the way up, we found a pressed penny with a Nantucket whale logo. Then later, we met up with the Boy Scout troop from Nantucket including the leaders of the Highland Games. They said that they plan to host the Highland Games in May 2020 and we said to count us in. We ate our lunch on the summit and had clear views including the Boston skyline. After dinner at camp, we went to Kimball Farm for an ice cream treat.

First we camped out at Camp Acton in Acton, MA. The campground was a nice spot in the woods with only a few sites. We were the only ones camping out overnight. But in the evening, a search & rescue team came to the campground to practice with their dogs. They were friendly to the scouts and it was neat to see their methods including having a scout go out in the woods and then showing how their dog can find them.

Then on Patriot’s Day, we hiked 20 miles starting in Concord square to Somerville retracing the road the Minutemen fought the British after the battle at Concord in 1775. The hike was organized by the boy scout troop in Concord and there were over 100 scouts on the hike. We started with a breakfast at the Concord Scout House and then musket salute by the Concord minutemen. We followed Battle Road and went through the towns of Concord, Lexington, Arlington, Cambridge and Somerville. We stopped at Old North Bridge, Jason Russell House, and Lexington Green, and met with reenactors and park rangers. We stopped for ice cream in downtown Lexington and had a hot lunch at the Menotomy Grill in Arlington. The hiking was on a variety of paths including gravel roads in the park, bike trails and sidewalks. The trail ended at Prospect Hill Tower in Somerville where we met another reenactor and got doughnuts. From there, we took an MBTA bus to North Station and then a train back to our cars in Concord.

We went to NH for winter camping March 9-10. The snow was deep and we needed snowshoes. We hiked up Rattlesnake Mtn for a nice view of Squam Lake. Then the scouts dug snow trenches and caves for camping out.

There was no snow but it was a Klondike-like cold at only 3 degrees in the morning. We stayed in a cabin at Camp Cachalot Friday night. Then the scouts completed all the Klondike activities at Camp Squanto on Saturday and did very well at the “ice” rescue shown here that took tossing a rope and knows including a bowline.

We backpacked to the campsites at Sandy Neck. Since it was late Fall, we practically had the beach to ourselves and were the first to leave footprints in the sand. Scouts spent the afternoon making sand castle cities and one scout was brave enough to go for a swim in the ocean. At our beach campfire, we had a flag retirement ceremony. In the morning, it was very windy with some light rain. We hiked out the trail on the marsh side of the dunes to have some shield from the wind.

We backpacked into Mt Washington State Forest in the SW corner of MA near the NY/CT border. It was a wilderness experience in that we were outside of cell phone coverage. During our nighttime campfire, we saw stars and a satellite passing overhead at which a scout asked “Can we connect to wifi now?”.

After setting up camp, we hiked to the ridge with views of the Hudson river valley, and Catskill and Taconic mountain ranges. It had rained earlier which made for some wet trails.

Troop 71 sent 11 scouts to Camp Squanto for the week of July 23. The camp had nice facilities especially the waterfront. Scouts earned merit badges including swimming, archery, search & rescue, rowing and first aid.

The camp sure has a full day of activities starting at 7am and going to 10pm. Scouts like having “Siesta” for 1 hour after lunch. One morning a scout said “Don’t camp days seem long?” (in a good way). Another replied “I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday morning.” Our scouts really enjoyed the free swim this afternoon. On Monday, one scout caught 5 fish.

The food is good. In fact, scouts were saying “This is the best food ever … expect for mom’s.” The Trading Post is a big hit too, especially for slushies.

We went to Camp Greenough over Father’s Day weekend. Scouts did a timed orienteering course and played manhunt at night. We had a campfire and had baked banana boats after dinner (bananas stuffed with chocolate and marshmallows).  In the mourning, scouts made breakfast with French toast and bacon for the dads.

We had a great time at the Highland Games on Nantucket the weekend of May 5. We took the Friday afternoon ferry with hundreds of other scouts and then walked through town to Camp Richard. We wore kilts with the color of our clan. The games on Saturday included traditional Scottish Highland games of caber toss, stone put, sheaf toss, battle axe throw, archery, farmers walk, bucksaw, cairn construction and Welly toss. Dinner was a pig roast plus Dutch oven dessert contest which was followed by a bonfire. Weather was sunny and mild.

We camped out in Acton, MA with a bunch of other troops for a Patriot’s Day jamboree. The weather was cold and wet. It was the coldest April 16 on record, breaking the previous 1880 record. It was colder than our Winter camping trip and our Klondike Derby earlier this year. The scouts still managed to make a delicious dinner  of chicken alfredo and have fun playing catch. The troop from Concord helped us setup camp and invited us over to their campfire.

The sleet and wind were strong overnight and we woke up to a coating of ice all over. Everyones tent held up.

The plan for Monday morning was to walk the Issac Davis trail from Acton to the North Bridge in Concord and watch the reenactment. But the reeactment was cancelled and with heavy rain coming soon, we decided to pack up camp early and head home.