October 2012: Forestburg Scout Reservation

This month finds Troop 101 at Forestburg Scout Reservation in Forestburg, NY. This camp is actually down the mountain from our summer camp, Camp Turrell.

We tried something a little new this trip, in implementing a theme for the weekend. In this case, it was our Wild West Weekend. We focused on Dutch Oven cooking executed with great success by our first Assistant Scoutmaster, Mr. Foray, as well as firearm safety and shooting at the camp's rifle range. Everyone who went dressed as close to cowboy garb as they could get, but cowboy boots are more appropriate for the desert then they are in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in October.

Not to say that the weekend started out very October like. Friday night proved to be quite humid while we were setting up camp, and just as we were getting settled, it finally cooled off and everyone slept in relative comfort.

We awoke to brisk more October-like weather, and spent the morning practicing woods tools skills to keep the fire going - which proved a problem as a large storm had passed through Friday morning to make sure all the wood in the area was completely soaked. Once we got the fire going, we had a great breakfast made in the Dutch Ovens of a breakfast souffle and Bisquick biscuits (and don't forget the cowboy/scout leader/web designer staple COFFEE!)

Due to the unforeseen issue with keeping wet wood lit, and the fact that Dutch Oven cooking is a time consuming event, we went from breakfast to working on a few rank advancement requirements, to the rifle range for a little shooting!

...and by a little, I mean about 400 rounds of .22 ammunition.

If you ask any camp staff member, they will tell you that the two most dangerous places in the entire camp are the waterfront and the rifle range. As an avid outdoors-man as well as a firearms enthusiast, I am always worried about shooting with mixed groups of people. The meeting before, I had given a brief lecture of firearms safety and operation, and I am happy to say that not only were our Scouts and Scouters very safe, but they are also pretty good shots! Even the range officer said that he almost didn't have to watch because we were so well behaved.

While our one Scout did have his rifle merit badge, our other Scout had never fired a rifle before, and for a first timer, he was as good (and in some cases better) than most of our group! (I say in some cases better, because a left-handed individual has great difficulty firing a rifle designed for a right handed shooter).

All in all, everyone was well behaved, had a great time, and, more importantly, incredibly safe. I'm thinking that we may have to schedule some time in the future to work on the shotgun merit badge...

Now I wish I could say that the shooting and the cowboy aspect was the memorable part of the trip, but I think the most memorable part was that this entire trip was sponsored by Bisquick. Every meal we ate had Bisquick in it. Mr. Foray, despite his pre-planning, forgot a few crucial ingredients for his beef stew - specifically, the flour to thicken the gravy, and the bouillon or 'Gravy Master' to make actual beef gravy. So, what did we have that was close to flour? BISQUICK!

So, dinner (which came out quite tasty) was a Bisquick Beef Stew, along with fresh corn bread and salad - and we got fancy since we had croutons as well! We had one minor mistake with the corn bread; while it was edible, we couldn't quite figure out why it had an odd taste to it... it wasn't bad per se, just a little...off. After eating a few pieces, it occurred to us that perhaps we had greased the pan with olive oil infused with garlic as oppose to Crisco...

Yep, that was it.

At any rate, after a busy day, we burned the rest of our firewood and headed off to bed.

We got up and packed our gear while Mr. Foray made breakfast; bacon and (you guessed it!) BISQUICK PANCAKES!!!

This is the first camping trip where we went through a whole box of Bisquick... and needed more!

So there you have it; Troop 101's Cowboy Themed Weekend at Forestburg Scout Reservation sponsored by our friends at Bisquick: The miracle powder!

Time to unpack, clean the gear and get ready for the next adventure - and head to the store and stock up on some more Bisquick!

2012 Asbury Park Zombie Walk

What better way to celebrate October and Halloween then dressing up as a zombie, right? Well that's exactly what we did at the 5th Annual Asbury Park Zombie Walk.

These shenanigans have been going on for the last few years ever since some suburban mom got fed up with boring Halloween costumes in her town every year. So, she decided to get a bunch of friends together, and really, really, really get into the spirit of Halloween by dressing up as the undead and terrorizing her family, friends and neighbors on Halloween night.

Of course, everyone thought it was a brilliant idea, and like...well, a zombie outbreak, thousands now get together in various places around the country every year to do their own Zombie Walk. Whether its the fact that most of Asbury Park already looks like the zombie apocalypse happened or because of the not-quite-right-in-the-head people who frequent the area, Asbury Park is the home of the largest (and possibly only) zombie walk in New Jersey. A few years ago they actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest gathering of zombies in the country, and every year they manage to bring more and more people.

This year, we were 5 of 15,000 zombies.

Actually, its a pretty interesting experience. Keeping in mind that if it happens, you will become a zombie no matter what you are doing at the time, and this makes for quite the interesting cross section of the American zombie. Obviously we were the undead Boy Scout Troop, but there were also (in no particular order):

• Elvis
• Girl Scouts
• Ghostbusters
• police
• firemen
• K-9 search and rescue
• Bride & Groom
• American Gothic (the painting)
• chefs
• various characters from zombie and horror films
• mental patients (though I think some of these may have been actual escaped patients)
• Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera

Well, you get the picture.

Believe it or not, we were the talk of the walk. Everyone wanted to take their picture with us, and I'm not sure if its because we were a complete, cohesive concept of a costume with more than two people, or if its because of the Scout that was with us.

Because what happens when you take the (at least this is the general consensus in the troop) best looking of us all and glue a giant fake bolt on his forehead and cover him in blood?

Apparently, the zombie girls swoon.

But the highlight for me was not the amount of attention we were getting (which I think was great for Scouting as well as the troop) but for the quote of the day: "Boy Scouts!? Awe man, I thought they were supposed to survive this thing!"

Pictures are here.

2012 Fall Court of Honor

Our season always starts off with our annual Fall Court of Honor. Every year, this event allows us to award all the merit badges and rank advancements that happened over the summer at camp, as well as an opportunity to discuss the events and shenanigans that happened at camp, and what is coming up in the troop's schedule for the year with all the parents and family of our Scouts.

This past summer we had 5 Scouts attend, with the awarding of over 30 merit badges combined with 5 partial completion of merit badges for Astronomy, and one rank advancement for Mike "Foot" Kane to Second Class.

We also showed our friends and family the award that, in combination with Troop 222, Troop 101 won for the weekly Water Carnival at Camp Turrell - the Silver Oar Award for Second Place!

This is actually more of an achievement than it appears. Troop 101 had 5 Scouts, while Troop 222 had all of 3 Scouts (now you know why they combined us into one team). For a total of 8 Scouts competing against troops not only twice their size numerically but also physically, second place is quite the accomplishment!

We ended the night with a new tradition (but my personal favorite) of having all the boys stand in front of the room and tell their families not only what they did at camp, but answer questions about their favorite part of camp, or merit badge, or what they learned, if it was fun, etc. etc. Why is this my favorite part? Because its amazing how quickly a chatty little Scout all the rest of the time clams up once he's in front of a group people! We actually have grandparents drive 5 hours just to see that part of the night!

It was great night of recognizing the hard work of our scouts, and also having a little fun - and maybe embarrassing them a little to. Troop 101 - proving once again that we work hard and play a little bit harder.

Unfortunately, we've had so much going on this year (and its only October!) that we're still sifting through photos. I'll get them up as soon as I can.

September 2012: Camp Lou Henry Hoover

Here we are once again on the threshold of a new camping season, and 101 has once again returned from the field.

This month we visited Camp Lou Henry Hoover, a great camp located right next to Swartswood Lake near Newton, NJ. The camp is run by the Heart of New Jersey Girl Scout Council (yes, I said Girl Scout) and serves as their resident summer camp and is open all year long for weekend camping. Well maintained and open to not only Scout groups but also youth and business groups, it is a really nice place to visit should you need someplace nearby to camp. Cabins, lean-tos and tent sites are available, with equipment for loan from the camp itself. (Obviously, we didn't need any of this stuff.)

We arrived Friday night, relatively early (for us anyway) to a packed parking lot. I think we were all a little surprised to see about 100 or more Girl Scouts and Girl Scouters running around. Pulling in our first order of business was calling the ranger so he could escort us to our "primitive" site. He arrived and we started our small convoy out to the site - and as soon as we went 10 ft. all the girls realized we were Boy Scouts and started waving hello and yelling at us - we were suddenly more popular then the lead float at Mardi Gras.

The ranger escorted us out to our "primitive" site which we were lucky he was because we drove for almost a mile to get to it - and we were still in camp (though I honestly think we were on the edge of the property). Our "primitive" site included a dual, two-story lean-to with running water, sink, and flush toilets. Apparently, the GSA's definition of "primitive" is far different than that of the BSA's. So, we set up camp, started a fire (it was still pretty early) and sat around discussing...whatever. There really is no conversation rules when sitting around a fire. I made sure to remind our two scouts that they should be alone (i.e. sans a Girl Scout) in the sleeping bags in the morning,  and we hit the hay.

The next morning, while cooking breakfast under an overcast sky, the ranger arrived to bring us some paperwork, and informed us that apparently, we were the talk of the camp. The girls were asking him how many of us there were, how old we were, and if we were "cute" (and I thought boys were bad). Frankly, we thought it was all pretty absurd but funny. Our youngest scout (whom we all agree is the best looking of us all) had to be watched to make sure he wasn't swarmed by the girls - but he did offer to take one for the team and find our assistant scoutmasters dates!

While that may have been a worthy cause to spend the day as matchmaker, what we were really there to do was work on our swimming and water rescue requirements for rank advancement. So, we wrapped up breakfast, and headed over to Mrs. Emmetts' house and hit the water. While it was chilly sub-arctic, the two scouts completed all the water rescue requirements, as well as their swim tests on the first try with no issues! They were done so fast, that we then had time to hit the sailboats for a little sailing around the lake.

...and I mean a "little". As usual, there was enough wind to get out there, but the wind died just as we were heading in. So, here we are all sitting there in three different vessels for 30 minutes or more when I decided it was time to head back and get dinner ready. So, after paddling myself in, I grabbed the electric boat motor and battery and towed one vessel in while the other also paddled in. In launching the boat, I almost swamped the thing, so as a lesson, always make sure you take your time and have a counter weight.

We straightened up, said thank you to Mrs. Emmetts and headed back to Camp Cindy Lou Who Lou Henry Hoover for dinner. On the way in we grabbed some split, kiln dried firewood, and got the dinner fire going. While waiting for the fire to burn down to coals to cook on, we worked on Tote N' Chip requirements for one of our Scouts, Aiden. (The other Scout, Danny, already had his). After passing with flying colors and spending time splitting and cutting wood (which both did since practice makes perfect) we had a great dinner in the "lean-to" because of a brief, but heavy rainstorm.

Then it was sitting around the campfire passing wind shooting the breeze, and then to bed.

All in all, a great camping trip, and a very productive one at that. I'm very happy with the progress both Scouts made this weekend, having combined completed about a dozen or more requirements for Tenderfoot, Second and First Class ranks.

Now to head home, unpack and clean the gear for the next adventure: a cowboy themed weekend at Camp Winnebago!

Sorry, no pictures this weekend: both the SM and the ASM/Photographer left their cameras behind!

The 2012 -13 Season

Every year when the weather starts to cool, there is some part of my DNA that start to become active. I have a Pavlovian response to cool and cold weather - it means nights under the stars, hikes, backpacks, cooking outside, and my personal favorite - shooting the breeze around a roaring campfire.

If I had my way (and I know there are others out there) I'd make an aftershave to smell like wood smoke. I think I'd call it..."Burn"... or maybe "Coals". Even as I write this, one of my neighbors has a fire going, and it makes me want to run out and sit around drinking some hot chocolate talking about life, the universe...everything. (I know, I know, 42).

Either that or there is a house on fire somewhere, but since I hear no sirens, that can't be the case.

For the new year, my assistants, committee chairman, members of Crew 100 and I sequestered ourselves for over 8 hours pouring over campsites, maps, information and websites figuring out our entire schedule for the next 10 months on a humid Saturday in August. I'm happy to report that not only did we schedule all our camping trips for the month, we also worked out what skills we were lacking in, and when and where to build them up. In some cases, the basic groundwork is there, we want to get more advanced - so you can light a fire with one match? Do it with none.

Yeah, I said it. (You parents will thank me when the zombie apocalypse comes.)

What do we have scheduled? How about:

1) Asbury Park Zombie Walk in October
2) Thanksgiving Dinner on our November campout
3) Day trip to NYC in Decemeber
4) Themed campouts!
5) Rifle shooting
6) Camping trip combined with a day at the Franklin Institute in Philadephia
7) Nature Rank Requirements
8) Orienteering Rank Requirements

... and that's some of the stuff we have scheduled on top of our normal array of wacky adventures. Did I also mention that every campsite this year is a brand new (to us) camp! It'll be pandemonium!

Sometimes I wonder who gets more excited for campouts - me or the Scouts. 

While all our Scouts are returning "veterans" this year, we are always on the lookout for fresh meat new recruits. If you know anyone, or you yourself are looking for something new and different to do other than play video games all day, come down on a Friday and see what the fuss is about!

This ain't your daddy's Boy Scout troop!

Summer Camp 2012

Once again this summer we found ourselves at our home away from home for summer camp, Camp Turrell nestled in at the southern end of the Catskill Mountain range, and home to that rarest of beasts - the summer camp staff member.

Returning to the same site from last year, Campsite F, or F Downtown... actually, we're thinking of adopting the site and renaming it Campsite T (for Tortuga) but we haven't totally sold ourselves on that either. Basically, the site is part of the larger Campsite F (where we were for years, but as times and attendance changes, we are forced to give up or space to other, larger troops... but we don't mind) though because of the upswing in camper participation at Camp Turrell, the idea has been thrown out there to turn this little piece of the larger into its own site.

Frankly, we're thinking of just making it another campsite, and asking for forgiveness later... but I digress...

At any rate we found ourselves in our same site as last year, smack dab in the middle of camp - which is right where we want to be. Close enough to all the merit badge classes, but hidden from the general public paths. Basically, we want staff to know we are there, but not know where we are... which has been pretty easy when staff doesn't venture far from their assigned work areas.

We were a small tribe this year, 5 Scouts and 2 adults, but what we lacked in numbers, we made up for in hard work and studying. We built our annual monkey bridge, but also we:

a.) between 5 Scouts earned over 30 merit badges
b.) had one rank advancement from Tenderfoot to Second Class
c.) celebrated not one, but TWO birthdays
d.) combined with another small troop (3) came in second place in the Water Carnival!

Wednesday  found us being visited by Crew 100, who assisted another Scoutmaster in opening the Orange Trail within camp. This trail, while not "abandoned" per se, had not been maintained in quite sometime - perhaps as long as 10 years. We are now proud to say that the trail is open, and work on continuing the nature trail stations is in the planning stages. Hopefully sometime over the winter, the station will be put up and a guide will be developed for the whole trail.

...and this was all accomplished despite the weather. Yes, Mother Nature was quite erratic during the week, ranging from cool in the morning, to windy, to humidity levels the equal Ecuador, to a small "hurricane" to just plain H O T. The kind of humidity and hotness that just drains the energy right out of you - well, maybe everyone except Danny. He had energy right up until he got in the car on Saturday morning.

I have to say, that as a Scoutmaster I am really proud of our Scouts. They not only accomplished all of the above (and special props to the crew for their work on the trails) but the also worked together and played together without any issues. There was no arguing, bickering, attitude or rudeness to each other or other scouts and staff. Yes, they need some motivation now and again, but I never had to be on top of them 24/7. They learned and understood what had to be done, what needed to get done, and when it was time to play, and when it was time to work. There were no major injuries, no homesickness, and no fights.

While my job is never a walk in the park (in fact, its like having a part-time job) having well-behaved, and a unified troop does make it a whole lot easier. Thanks guys!

I wish I could say more about the week, but its a lot of scouts going to and from merit badge classes, and my assistant and I making sure that everything is in order - and what we are going to do, not do, or change for next year. It is surprisingly the easiest camping trip of our entire year!

Summer camp is for scouts - not adults :)

Pictures can be found here.

Canoe Trip 2012

Its the Annual Troop 101 Canoe Trip on the Delaware River!!!

That's right this past weekend it was the time of year where we dust off the PFDs, load up the water guns, re-learn how to do a T-rescue, and prepare to defend against pirates and river rats and hit the old Delaware, that lazy stretch of river that people seem to think is the Colorado and rent giant rubber rafts thinking they'll get to see rapids! (and I glide by, point and giggle every year too.)

Frankly, I have never laughed so hard on a canoe trip before.

This year, we had 16 people (one of which was a Cub Scout) with 8 canoes, and we had a great time. The weather wasn't the best (it was overcast most of the day) but it was warm, the water was... I'll say refreshing, but we all know that really means cold as hell... and we had a really great group of people.

Every year, there is at least one "problem canoe" and this year was no exception, however, I wasn't expecting it to be from the Cubmaster, who is not only an Eagle Scout, but also an experienced canoer. Apparently, he, his cub scout, and the cub scout's father had an argument with gravity the day before, and gravity was definitely being a little vindictive.

Canoes work best when they are upright, not full of water, and you are in them paddling. All during the day, one of this trifecta of canoeing goodness eluded the members of this boat team for one reason or another. The CM and the Cub father attempted to paddle the runoff of a reservoir with disastrous results (though two really funny videos, one from the POV of the father in the front of the canoe thanks to a camera lashed to his PFD), something that I think was supposed to be a T-rescue but wound up being something more like a Japanese letter rescue, and the inability of the two of them to keep the boat steady through even calm water.

It was something that really needed to be experienced. I'm still waiting on other people's pictures to come in to really have the full story in image.

At any rate, we had a nice lunch on the river, the weather, though overcast was warm and at times just sunny enough to give everyone a little sunburn, and the river itself was 3.5' over normal, and running like fast and steady. Other than a little more sun, we couldn't have asked for a better day...

...well, less pushy ducks knocking on the side of the canoe for food would be nice. (I think they might have been visiting from Central Park...)

Unfortunately, my normal photographer was at the anime convention along with some of the Crew and several of my ASMs, so there aren't that many photos. I was taking them with my iPhone, and happily they are pretty clear considering I had a waterproof case it was in, and photographing through a wet piece of rubberized clear plastic. (That's why they might seem a little foggy). I was also alone in the canoe as I apparently can no longer so simple math without significant amounts of caffeine in my body, and it was hard to paddle, steer, and take pictures at the same time. Despite this, there is some video (I have to figure out how to post it) and a few pics here.

Want to know what happens? COME ALONG NEXT YEAR!

Sadly, is the last trip for us for the normal Scouting year. We will be heading to summer camp in July, and then we are done until September when school starts again. Now we can properly stow and clean the gear, and I'm going to go and get some sleep before I have to go to summer camp, and start this all over again in September.