Major Events for 2009-2010

September 14, 2009: Cookout and Court of Honor

The annual Fall court of honor and cookout was held on Monday, September 14. The gathering started with a dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs, followed by a slideshow highlighting summer camp at Camp T.L. Storer. Scouts and Scouters were presented with awards earned over the summer and at camp.

September 18-20, 2009: Training Session at Nobscot Scout Reservation

The September camping trip followed closely on the heels of the court of honor, and consisted of a weekend at Nobscot Scout Reservation in Sudbury. The theme of the weekend was training in how a scout troop functions and, in particular, in the patrol method. Each scout took turns rotating through patrol leadership positions, including patrol leader, assistant patrol leader, quartermaster, and chaplain's aide. A great time was had by all!

October 2-4, 2009: Backpacking at Mount Greylock

Last year's backpacking trip to White Mountain National Forest was  such a success that the scouts wanted to see if we could fit in two trips per year instead of just the customary Spring trip. And so, on the first weekend of October we found ourselves packing up and down Mount Greylock in Adams, Massachusetts.

Mount Greylock is the highest point in the state, and has often served as a site for troop backpacking trips, most recently the Philmont shakedown hike in 2008. It features trails of varying challenges and both drive-in and backcountry camp sites.

The weather was everything you could hope for in early October: Rainy and gray. It pretty much rained the entire weekend. But, everyone was prepared for the weather and, fortunately, it was relatively warm. Everyone and everything got damp, but we stayed warm and reasonably comfortable.

Friday night we drove from the Church to the Sperry Road campsite, unloaded, and made camp just before the rain started. It was late, so we climbed into our tents and got a good night's sleep. On Saturday we hiked (in the rain, of course) from camp to the summit, about 2 1/2 miles on a trail that rolled up and down the flank of the mountain, sometimes steep but usually fairly gentle. Half the troop was with full pack, planning to spend the night at Wilbur's Clearing. However, after a couple of hours it became clear that not all of the scouts were ready for the strenuous hike down to the clearing and back up, so we decided to skip that portion of the itinerary. We spent a couple of hours resting, eating, and drying off in the Bascom Lodge at the summit.

After resting, we hiked back down to Sperry Road Campground (in the rain, of course). The backpackers re-pitched their tents, and we hid from the rain in them for a couple of hours until dinner time. We made and ate dinner (in the rain, of course), then retired for the night.

The next morning we got up and were amazed to find that it wasn't raining and, in fact, you could see blue stuff up above the trees (someone recalled that this blue stuff was called 'sky'). We ate breakfast and broke camp before the rains could resume and returned to the Church in mid-afternoon.

November 20-22, 2009: Cooking

NOTE THE DATE CHANGE. Our November camping trip will once again focus on camp cooking. Stay tuned for more information on this always popular event! The event will take place at Camp Nobscot in Framingham, MA. Each Scout will prepare a dish and serve it at dinner. We encourage family members to attend and help eat all this delicious food!

January, 2010: Ski Trip

January is tentatively set as the time for our annual ski trip.

February 19-21, 2010: Snowshoeing Trip

In February we will once again have a venture trip for scouts with more advanced skills (First Class and above), snowshoeing up to the Lonesome Lake hut near Canon Mountain in New Hampshire.

July 26-August 4, 2010: National Jamboree

This summer the Boy Scouts of America marks its 100th anniversary at the National Jamboree, to be held at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia. Several of our Scouts and Adult Leaders will be attending this landmark event!