A Walk Through American History

Spent the weekend exploring American Revolutionary War history in Boston. Hiked the Freedom Trail then visited Concord and the Old North Bridge where the first shots of the war were fired.



To see all of our pictures from the weekend check out our picture page here:

https://goo.gl/photos/kaRGoV3zjmqrvuG7A

Fishing the Esopus Creek

That's fishing not catching.  Except for William who briefly hooked a trout before executing a classic Long Distance Release (LDR), no one even saw a fish.  It was like aliens arrived and took all the Trout home before we arrived.

Still fishing and not catching is better than not fishing at all.

Most of the Scouts took the opportunity to get lessons in fly fishing and hopefully we sparked a future interest in the sport for some of them.

The campsite was great and the river beautiful.  I can't wait to go back.

For all the photos please visit our photo page at:

https://goo.gl/photos/QMmMLsVtJ6YdZ24X7

Nuclear Lake Hike

Saturday's  hike to Nuclear Lake in Pawling was picture perfect.   The hike was just under 5 miles and looped around a really attractive little Lake.   The lake once had a nuclear research facility on it and is famous for a minor accident.   Who knew we had something like this in our backyard?

The hike follows the Appalachian Trail (AT) around the west side of the lake before it loops back down a separate trail on the east side.   Because we were on the AT,  tradition dictated each hiker needed an AT nickname.   From left to right in the picture above our Scouts became Hangry, Duracell, Snickers, Birchbark Bob, Bassmaster, Marouse, Black Panther,  and Golden Duck while on the AT now and in any future hikes involving the AT.

For a complete view of our terrific day check out the hike's photo album at:

https://goo.gl/photos/UNzAY1Rso9zQznoA8

Clear Lake Campout

A perfect Saturday bracketed by rain on the hike in and hike out.  What's a Troop 4 Outing without a little bit of rain?

Many things to cover, but I want to start with our visitors Saturday afternoon.  North Salem Pack 1 hiked up to see the Troop Saturday and get a feel for what a Scout Camp is like.  The Troop 4 Scouts were great hosts, you should be proud of your going men.  They played silly field games with the Cubs, then each Scout adopted a Cub as a little brother and showed them their tents, backpacks, gear, and cooking areas.  Once again our Scouts did their best on upholding the "friendly" portion of the Scout Law.  I want to thank Cubmaster Peter Dibart for hiking the Pack up and back so we could get a chance to meet the Cubs and their families.

The rest of the day was consumed with canoeing, fishing, rank advancement, and relaxing.

I challenged the Patrols to plan menus that mostly fit the MyFoodPlate guidelines and would require little to no refrigeration.   Both the Flaming Eagles and OnComing Storm hit the mark.  One of the Patrols managed to put together a zero refrideration meal plan the other had only a tiny cooler bag. 

The Batmen had their own ideas (older teens usually do) and went full cooler.  I will say their meals were delicious (especially the Chili) and they didn't seem to mind hiking with the extra baggage.

Our two newest Scouts dropped right into the mix and imediately added value to their Patrols carrying their share of equiplment, cooking and cleaning.

Looking forward to the rest of our Scouting year.

For all of the pictures in the weekend's photo album please go to our picture page:

https://goo.gl/photos/mjosxwwLH5ama97G9

Winter Picture Catch Up

I recently realized I have not kept up with pictures and descriptions of our outings since the Ski Trip.  In order to get caught up and ready for our Spring camping season I am rolling all updates into a single post.  Enjoy and get ready for spring camping.

Gettysburg Trail Medal Hike

20+ miles in two days covering the length of the battlefield.  Pictures:

https://goo.gl/photos/UoFqq879JisxfszT7

Cabin Camping at Ten Mile River

Camping and hiking during a very warm February weekend.  Pictures:

https://goo.gl/photos/sQvUwcvn8ifqczdR6

Troop Klondike Derby

Almost no snow this year, but we managed to pull it off last minute with the little snow mother nature gave us.  Pictures:

https://goo.gl/photos/D76gUiWb2UHN69cq8

Flaming Eagles Snow Tube Patrol Outing

Flaming Eagles went snow tubing and it looks like they had fun. Not sure how they found the snow.  Pictures:

https://goo.gl/photos/K8q3dpoDYpSz27Eq8

Gore Mountain Ski Trip

This year's ski trip to Gore was a blast.  9 Scouts and 5 leaders hit the Mountain both Saturday and Sunday and skied until we were exhausted.

Two Scouts learned to ski and everyone got better.

Even though this winter hasn't been the best for snowfall Gore managed to have enough runs open to interest everyone and the condition were good.

Can't wait for next year.

For a look at all the pictures check out our picture page:

https://goo.gl/photos/gw7q6yqGecXPafMB8

2015 - Troop 4 Year in Review

A photo retrospective of Troop 4's 2015.

2015 is done and it was a fantastic year.  Looking back on 2015 I see several highlights that make me proud of our Scouts and Troop 4.

• In 2015 we  welcomed six new fantastic young men as Scouts bringing the Troop total to 20, both the new Scouts and the old Scouts very quickly became a single group creating friendships and working relationships across different ages and grades.
• In 2015 the Patrols were beginning to work well together as teams.  
• In 2015 the Scout leadership was transitioned from the original Troop 4 Scouts to a new generation of leaders.  The new leaders worked very hard at learning to manage a large group and the old leaders continued to exert a quiet influence on the Troop while they focused on their own personal scouting goals.

So what's left to do in 2016?  Fortunately we have plenty we can focus on to make the Troop better and provide more personal growth for our Scouts in the coming year.

In forming Troop 4 our goal was to create a program as close to Baden Powel's vision of scouting as possible, where the young men are in charge, learn responsibility, and all can share in the managing of the Troop.

With that vision as a goal our 2016 focus will be on increasing the responsibility of the Scouts in our Scout led Troop.

• At the Patrol level we will focus on making the Patrols take more responsibility and building more independent Patrol activities.  I have several ideas on how to make this work I will be sharing with the Troop during the Spring.
• At the Troop level our goal in 2016 will be to push more of the management oversight responsability to the Scout leaders.  Early on in the life of Troop 4 the Scouts sat me down and asked that I do less and allow them to do more.  I think we are at a point where we can ask the Scouts to do even more, to truly make this Troop theirs.  This process may not be pretty but it will be educational.
• Our last goal for 2016 is to be more creative in our activity planning and not do things just because that's what we do.  Even if we liked certain activities lets not just redo them, I would like the Scouts to be a bit uncomfortable and try new things instead of falling back on what they know.

I look forward to seeing everyone in 2016 and having another terrific year.