We participated in our first district event in the Western Massachusetts Council, the General Knox Klondike Derby at Moses Scout Reservation in Russell, MA.
We had four Boy Scouts, one Arrow of Light Scout and three leaders participating on this trip.
This event was chosen because of its Star Wars theme. Perhaps the most theme-oriented participant was one patrol that had constructed a Klondike sled that looked like a Tie Fighter. The event activities included shelter building, wall climbing archery and other mini-events. Over two hundred participants, mostly from the host council, gathered for this event. Troop 54 and Troop 281 of Ware, MA were the only out of council units at the event.
The temperature was a bit warmer than usual for this time of year, with the overnight low dropping to perhaps 10°F. We kept water on the stove through much of the evening to enable cleaning of dishes (otherwise, the suds froze right on). This adventure provided a more convincing demonstration of the need to layer up than any discussion at a troop meeting.
At the camp site, the biggest challenge was attaching the tents to the ground. We used a steel spike to pound holes into the frozen ground for the tent stakes. Getting that spike back out of the ground was often almost as hard as pounding it it.
Our camp site was the Birch Point site, a tent site right on the edge of Russell Pond. Although people from the town were fishing and skating on the pond, Scouts were not permitted on the ice due to think area.
For dinner, the youth cooked chicken quesadillas. ASM MacNeal prepared a a spicy Sauerkraut soup for the adult dinner.
This was the troop's eighty-fifth consecutive month with at least one overnight camping trip.
Page updated 2/1/16.