2010 Camp Read

Troop 28 just completed two weeks at the Curtis S. Read Scout Reservation, located in Brant Lake, NY in the Adirondack Park. The first week was spent in Camp Buckskin at the fabulous Teheco campsite. Many of our first year scouts attended camp this week bringing the total troop presence to 14 scouts. Highlights included earning over 70 merit badges, attacking the climbing wall, songs in the dining hall, and the announcements at the evening retreat on the parade field. The scouts tried new foods in the dining hall, with varying degrees of likability, learned new skills in Rank Advancement at the Anthony Long pavilion, learned first aid including CPR, and generally had a great time. Several of our adult leaders were spotted "resting their eyes" during the day as well.

The second week was spent at Camp Waubeeka where we were joined by 10 scouts and 2 leaders representing the 8th Rushden Scouts (SA) of England. The combined Troop of 24 scouts was located at the Avalance Campsite in Camp Waubeeka. Over 120 merit badges were earned, the scouts enjoyed the cultural exchange by learning new words for things like garbage (rubbish) latrine (loo), ketchup (sauce), push-up (press-up), neckerchief (necker), along with some other non printable words. The Rushden Scouts enjoyed picking up the "Get'r dun" shout, while the Americans learned the Augie shout. We had several troop campfires, with an exchange of Scout songs and games. Mr. Pucci surprised the adult patrol (the Grey Patrol) with a fine dinner of roasted vension, sausage and cheese on Thursday night during open program.

At Camp Waubeeka, the scouts were split into three patrols, Red, Blue and White, and refined the skills necessary to cook their own meals and keep their sites clean and orderly, as well as working together as a team. Teamwork needs a little more work and practice. The White patrol learned why it is important to take the garbage out of their site everyday, when on the last day of camp, they had some animal visitors during the night for snacks, and three scouts were required to carry the bags of garbage to the dumpster since the bags were overloaded.

5 of the Rushden Explorer scouts along with one Troop 28 Scout took on a sea kayak trek adventure on Lake Champlain during the second week of camp. The group came back with smiles and all scouts bonded extremely well, They were last seen sailing on the Hudson River off Croton Point park on the Goldsmith yacht.

Troop 28 Summer 2010

The Rushden Scouts left Croton on Tuesday, August 3rd for their journey back home. They were seen off by a Senesqa barbeque dinner on Monday night at which the Mayor delivered a proclamation declaring that Monday August 2nd, 2010 was the 8th Rushden Scouts (SA) day in the Village of Croton-on-Hudson. in honor of their visit to the USA and the free exchange of friendship and cultural ideas.

2010 Paul Smiths Canoe Trip - Venture Crew and Troop 28

The Adirondacks beckoned the Croton on Hudson Venture Crew and Boy Scout Troop this summer to tour the St. Regis Canoe Wilderness Area and Hamlet of Paul Smiths. We spent a week paddling and hiking in the area, enjoying the outdoors and learning the skills necessary for extended primitive camping.

Our first experience at Summit Base was with our Voyager guide, Bri, who instructed us to eliminate fully 50% of the belongings which were packed by the scouts, as they were unnecessary. Of course certain members of the trek crew snuck in several bottles and containers of cosmetics and toiletries which remained unused during the entire trip. Shockingly enough, you can go a whole week on two pairs of underwear. Tommy realized that he probably shouldn't pack his three pound bean bag pillow, which took up half his dry bag. It was either the pillow of three days of food, the food won.

On Sunday, after repacking several times to accomodate a weeks worth of food and crew gear, and having Russ, the experienced senior Summit Base volunteer, give a color commentary on who to pack a bag, and extol the virtues of his experience as a Boy Scout, we ate a hearty dinner and bedded down with great expectations of the trip to come.

Monday - 6am came way too fast for some. Up early, we attempted to back our bags... again... and load up the trailer in time for 7am breakfast at the Summit Base pavilion. Bri was the only Voyager without a crew at her table. Not a good start. After eating, we loaded up the van and trailer, and with Tommy trailing behind, we departed for a 90 minute ride to the put in point on Little Clear Pond. Lanie, Russ's wife, did a magnificiant job of driving the van. She really is deserving of her nickname, lead foot Lanie. Of course just as we pulled in, the rain started, which would come to be a daily event. We unloaded, packed the canoes and put in. Some of our crew paddled around in circles enough distance on the first pond to make the crossing several times over. I guess it shows the importance of having someone in the rear seat who has actually paddled a CANOE before, as a kayak handles much differently.

The rain continued as we reached the far shores of Little Clear, and took our first carry into St. Regis Pond. During the carry, we had several boughts of pounding rain, thunder and lightning, which caused us to pause in the middle of the carry and get to know one another quite well. We ended up camping at a less than optimal but servicable site on Monday night as the threat of thunder and lightning kept us from putting in the water again. It was a good chance to receive instructions from Bri on how to put up a dining fly, set up the stoves, and sort through the next day's food.

Tuesday had us in the water by 8:30, a bit late of a start. We were aiming for the "Great" Lean-to on Lower St. Regis Lake. This lake is reached by traveling through several small ponds with short carries to Upper St. Regis Lake, through Spitfire Lake, and onto Lower St. Regis Lake . Upon reaching Upper St. Regis Lake, we encountered... Sun.... and some amazing historic camps built in the late 1800's and early 1900's. See pictures. The Great Lean-to was occupied, so we paddled on to another lean-to on Lower St. Regis, which was deemed uninhabitable, due to the amount of trash left by the last occupants. Being service minded, we cleaned it up and piled the rubbish for us to retreive on Thursday when we would be passing by again. We continued on and camped on the middle branch of the St. Regis River, finding the "hidden" lean-to, so named because it is not on the map. Camp was set up and we took a much needed swim break in the river. Of course the fisherman who decided to fish where we were swimming was not too amused by the amount of splashing we were doing.

Wednesday was our hike day up to the top of St. Regis Mountain, a 2,874 foot summit, with a 3 mile hiking trail and an approximate 1,100 vertical rise on the trail. Of course, being that we were up to the challenge, we took the long route from the campsite and turned the 6 mile round trip hike into a 10 mile hike due to the infrequent use of our compasses while hiking on a trail not listed on our maps. After our extended morning hike, and finding the summit trailhead, the crew voted to make the climb, provided we stop for lunch at 12:30. Lunchtime found us still on the trail up to the summit, so we stopped for a quick creamcheese and jelly on a baaagel (Bri's pronounciation, which was also highlighted the following week on the kayak trek with the Rushden UK scouts). Of course just as we finished lunch, the rain started, for the third day in a row. Picking up on our hike up to the summit, we continued for a brief 15 minutes and found ourselves alone at the top of the mountain. We were alone, because nature had decided to produce a light show using special ground to cloud static electricity discharges, commonly known as lightning. After a quick look around, we hightailed it back down the trail, through heavy rain, mud, and newly formed streams. Back at the lean-to, an executive decision was made to stay put for the evening due to the weather and threat of lightning, which would have kept us off the water. Tarin finally got to dry out her shoes and clothes, and Cecelia enjoyed some peace and quite.

Thursday had us padding for two days worth of mileage. not a big deal because the Wednesday portion was short. The first carry on Thursday was through the campus of Paul Smiths college, which provided a break to use the bathrooms and stock up on snacks at the bookstore. Chris bought a Paul Smiths sweatshirt, which he had been talking about the whole trip, Kristian found new uses for toilet paper, and Tommy and Tarin spent $5.00 for a bagel. The cashier felt bad and only charged them $2.50. We got rid of our lean-to garbage and made the carry through the college onto Church Pond. Through several more ponds and we stopped for lunch. Tommy got to examine duct tape up close, even was able to smell and taste the adhesive. During this experience, the rest of the crew was able to enjoy 45 minutes of silence. Of course we experienced another day with some rain, just to make things interesting. We also had to carry around a beaver dam, where Chris, ever the gentleman, let Tarin stay in the canoe while he jumped out and pulled the canoe over the beaver spillway. Unfortunately for Tarin, no beavers were sited. Nor to my dissapointment, were any moose. We did see several grey herons, loons, turtles, frogs, a swimming beaver, and a cuban. Tarin remarked that her dad makes a loon call, however he sounds nothing like the real thing.

The last carry was Thursday afternoon, and was the longest and most rewarding, since it was the last one, at 0.75 miles, onto Rainbow Lake. It was so rewarding that some of our crew did it twice. Our campsite on Rainbow Lake was found around 4pm. Billy earns the Crew Navigator award by navigating the entire for the crew, for all of the Paddling on Thursday.

On Thursday evening, we took a night paddle out into rainbow lake for some quite reflection on the trip. Kristian took an evening dip in the water, twice, thanks to Chris's deft handling of the canoe. Kristian managed to wake up the entire population of campers at the lake by announcing that Chris was the biggest moron ever. Kristian was a trooper by participating in the night paddle with a canoe a quarter full with water and clothing that was dripping wet.

Friday brought an extra half hour sleep and the final paddle to the take out point at the Buck Pond camping area. We arrived about 30 minutes before our van. When the van arrived, it was piloted by both Russ and Lanie, which provided Tommy some much needed fodder for a bought of laughter. The trip back to camp broke all records by exceeding 3 hours in duration, while only being 4 miles longer than the trip from camp to our put in point on Monday. It was combined with a 30 minute bathroom break at a Stuarts Shoppe, which apparently was the only bathroom available for the whole town of Long Lake, judging by the line to use it. Tommy managed to sleep for most of the trip, only waking up when I announced that Russ was in charge when I left the van to use the Stuarts bathroom.

We arrived back at Summit Base around 3:30, unloaded, showered and prepared for the Friday afternoon BBQ.

White Water Rafting - May 2010

BEST CAMPING TRIP EVER was the most prevalent comment heard during and after this trip. The Troop and Venture Crew took a trip at the end of May to raft the Upper Hudson River, north of Warrensburg, NY for a high adventure outing.

We camped at the outfitter's campground on Friday evening, suited up in wetsuits, helmets, booties and PFDs Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast (well the Troop ate hearty, the Venture Crew decided to go the instant oatmeal and apple route) and boarded the deluxe transport provided by the outfitter to the put-in site just below the Indian River dam. We put in and took on the white water after a quick lesson in paddle forward, paddle right, paddle left, paddle back and GET DOWN, provided by our guides Josh and Shaggy (well his real name was Tom, but the Venture crew thought he laughed like Shaggy from Scooby Do). Interestingly enough we had 2 guides named Tom, and two Tom's on our trip. So we nick names were in order (we also had two Nick's but that's another story). We had T, Big Tom, Little Tom and Stokes.

Saturday we cruised, bumped, crashed, and paddled through 13 miles of Hudson River White Water(Class III and IV for you technical types), to our campsite at the junction of the Boreas and Hudson Rivers (Check out the pictures upper right). During the day Saturday, we had a few spots to swim, jump off a large glacial erratic called Elephant Rock, and generally have a great time. We arrived at our Saturday evening campsite around 3:30, helped bring our gear up from the two equipment rafts the guides rowed ahead of us and were already at the site, and found that lunch was already being prepared by those same guides. After lunch, we gathered wood for a cooking fire for dinner, put up our tents, and generally hung around the rest of the day.

A few scouts explored the two rivers and found some native wildlife, which included some type of bug called a helgramite, which really freaked out our guide Kristal, who coincidently had just finished telling us about the various animals that may be around our campsite if we leave food out or in our tents.

Dinner was awesome, with bbq chicken, baked potatoes, beans, peas, and smores to top it off. There was way too much food, but we made a pretty good dent.

After a restfull night, with no sightings of animials, except for the sound of the wild boar we brought with us in one of the tents, we awoke around 8am and started a fire for breakfast. The guides cooked us sausage, bacon, eggs, home fries, and of course coffee. We projected to get back on the river around 2pm, since we had to wait for "the bubble" to reach our campsite. After the snow melt, the Hudson water level is too low to raft, so the rafting companies have contracted with the town on the Indian River to release water for 2 hours a day from 10 to 12. Since we were 13 miles downstream, the water takes 3 hours to reach our site, at which point we could continue our journey to the take-out. The term for this is "the bubble" and you can actually see the water rise about 2-3 feet in about a minute.

In the mean time, we went for a short hike on an unused rail spur, packed up our gear, had lunch (No one was hungry since breakfast was huge), and loaded up the rafts. We put in the river, and had one more set of rapids to run. The Bus Stop, is a large smooth rock face across 3/4 the width of the river, and if you hit it just right, you'll flip out of the raft. The Venture Crew took this challenge, and all flipped out, except for Margaret, who said she forgot to let go. Then it was paddling against a head wind, which put us behind schedule. We arrived at the take out around 4pm, headed back to the outfitter campground, changed, showered and loaded up for the 3 hour ride back home.

Best Trip Ever.

Post Camp review

The two weeks went by fast. The scouts all seemed to like Waubeeka better than Buckskin. Maybe it was the better food, or cooking it yourself that made it taste better. Maybe it was the larger waterfront, or maybe it was just the "new" experience, but all wanted to return next year.

The boys earned a significant number of merit badges which will be distributed at the first Court of Honor in September, and the adults learned that the scouts can work together and produce some great meals in addition to working on Merit badges.

We all came home with something more than we left with, and I'm not talking about the bug bites.

Here are some pictures from the two weeks that weren't included previously.

Tuesday at the new camp

We've settled in quite well at the new camp. Mr Livingston and Mr. Kaplan joined us on Sunday, our first camp meal was a BBQ put on by the staff. the camp is a little smaller and the boys are finding their way around after a few trips down the various trails.

The meals in our campsite are falling into place. Everyone is eating well, and we're finding that its a little easier to customize each meal as we cook it. the boys each have a specific duty for the day to share the load. We're cooking in two separate patrols and have a friendly competition to see who eats first.

The boys are enjoying the lake and swimming area, most of them are doing the 6:15am polar bear swim, and most of them have been in open swim yesterday and today. Painting is a new merit badge being offered at camp. Several of the boys are taking it.

Aaron's walking around beat to crap from all the swimming he is doing. Everyone is definitely ready for bed by taps at 10pm.

Ben says hi to Mom and Dad, and wonders how their doing on the boat and is looking forward to his trip up the mountain for wilderness survival.

The Stay Over Weekend

Friday, we caught up on most of the merit badges we've been working on. Astronomy was a tough one, since every night was cloudy. The boys will work on finishing it this week, if the sky's clear. Friday evening we had a large campfire in our campsite, and we had many entertaining skits with 100% participation.

Saturday, we slept in an extra hour, prepared to do laundry and went into Lake George to the laundromat. Interesting how many scouts wanted to separate their whites from darks. I think everything was the same color anyway...dirt.
A few of the older guys took a side trip to Walmart. Kristian was enthralled by the Megatron toy in a box. He can't stop talking about it.
I should mention that we took the scenic route to Lake George by way of Canada. Well it seemed that long. It actually should only take 30 minutes, but we set a new record at 75 minutes.
We went for a pizza dinner. Tommy K. really enjoyed the Lake George scenery, you'll have to ask him for details.
Today we're setting up the new campsite and waiting for the 6 additional scouts to arrive and get set up.

Thursday - Hollywood day

For the Hollywood themed retreat at dinner time, Troop 28 had 5 paparazzi photogs following a budding young starlet, played by Tommy K. He really has a future in costume design. The paparazzi also swarmed their favorite staff member and chased him around the parade field trying to get his picture. All in great fun. Other troops had a red carpet entourage, and a visit by Bruno. The staff also dressed the part, with Snakes on a Plane, another playing a "green screen" and standing behind all the staff doing announcements, and a spotlight. Batman made an appearance, along with several staff who we couldn't figure out what they were.

Dinner was chicken and potatoes, one of the better dishes. During dinner, Matt and I drove into Lake George to pick up a car load of pizza for the staff at camp. The pizza employees were a little confused when we told them we were there to pick up the pizza's but not to start putting them in the car, because we wanted to order dinner (we left before dinner was served). The staff really enjoyed the pizza, and wanted to convey their thanks to you for sponsoring it.

Friday, we'll spend the day finishing up whatever is left to do on the merit badges for the week, and start to think about packing up camp.

Henry and William just walked by, and are on their way up to cooking to finish up their menu's. William is finishing up some kind of green candy which he's called an airhead. He's rubbing his stomach to indicate that its good, or maybe giving him a stomach ache. I can't tell. He's only on his third shirt for the week, and pretty proud. He forgot to change them every day. I guess he was too busy.

Henry has built up his stamina by running from area to area every day. He wants to work on passing the swim test for next year.
We're looking forward to the rest of the troop coming up on Sunday. Some of us have visited the other camp, and it looks really fun. We'll be moving in their on Saturday, then going to Lake George to do laundry and maybe a game or two of lazer tag.

Thats all for now.