Nickerson Bike Trip- 9/30-10/2

On September 30th, 2011, we drove up to Nickerson State Park in Cape Cod for our bike trip.  We set up camp, made dinner, and went to bed.  When my tent woke up in the morning, our tent was in a three in deep puddle from the rain the previous night.  Luckily, the floor of the tent held and nothing got wet.  After breakfast, it was raining so we decided to go to a tower nearby.  We climbed to the top of the tower and enjoyed the view before returning to camp and starting out on the trip. We all stopped at Marconi Beach for lunch and then continued on back to camp, while the 50 milers went farther.  On the way back, we stopped at the candy/ice cream store for a rest, and finished up back at camp.  We all had a good time and everybody should go next time because it was awesome.
YIS,
Eric Weidman

Days of Caring Food Drive 9/24

On Saturday September 24, the troop participated in the annual Days of Caring food drive.  We are usually the food banks largest group at these events.  The troop had a great turnout and so did the food bank considering they didn't have much advertisement.  It was a great time and everybody should participate next time because everybody needs community service and fun.
YIS,
Eric Weidman

Liberty Springs Backpacking Trip 8/6-9/11

On Saturday, August 6, we drove up to Sugarloaf campground to begin our high adventure trip. We set up camp and hiked up one of the Sugarloaf mountains.  After that, we were invited to play a game of ultimate frisbee. We played for awhile against another group, and decided to go have dinner.  After we cleaned up, we played some games in the dark with the same group.  The next day, we packed up camp and drove to the trail head we would be hiking from.  We hiked 3.8 miles up to the campsite, made our shelter, and hike up Mt. Liberty and Mt. Flume, two 4,000 Ft peaks, adding on another 3.6 miles for a total of 7.4 miles on Sunday. On Monday, we went the opposite way on the ridgeline to Little Haystack, Lincoln, and Lafayette.  All were above 4,000 ft high, but Little Haystack is not considered one of the 48 4,000 footers in New Hampshire.  Monday Grand total: 7.6 miles. Finally, on Tuesday, we hiked the 3.8 miles down from the campsite, and drove home.  Along the way we stopped at Subway for lunch, and the longest candy counter in the world- Chutters. Overall, it was a great trip and everybody had fun.  I would do it again if it was offered.
                                                                               YIS,
                                                                                     Eric Weidman

Yawgoog 7/3-10/2011

When we arrived, we checked in and lugged our gear down to the site and settled into our new tents.  Hotdogs from the campfire were the Sunday night dinner.  On Monday morning we had pancakes and cereal for breakfast, then the troop picture and the swim test.  After lunch, hotdogs again this time from the dining hall, we went to the afternoon merit badge classes, had dinner, and went to bed.  Monday we had breakfast, merit badges, lunch, merit badges, dinner, and then something special for the fourth of July.  Camp had a special show for the fourth of July.  Tuesday-Friday were similar except Thursday was the mile swim and there was one show on Friday. There were five scouts that participated in the mile swim, four from our troop- Courty, Morgan, Jesse, and Nick.  Everyone finished and it was fun.  On Friday, scouts in the troop in communications merit badge class held a troop campfire with skits jokes and more.   On Saturday, the last merit badge class day, there was only morning classes and all merit badges closed at noon.  Our troop went on a five mile hike after lunch and then there was a camp wide Saturday night show.  Finally, Sunday was the last day of camp.  All that happened then was tent clean outs, breakfast, religious services, and WE WENT HOME!!!!!! Yawgoog was a great time again and I plan on going again next year.
                                                              YIS,
                                                                 Eric Weidman

West Point 2011

The troop went to the West Point Scout Camporee 2011. I did not get the opportunity to go this year, but I heard it was very fun.  I was told that in the morning there was a workout, then all day there were activities to go to.  From what I was told, the camporee was a lot of fun, and I wish could have been a part of it.
                                                                YIS,
                                                                     Eric Weidman

Benton Beach 4/15-16/2011

Friday night, we went to have another trip.  We arrived at around 5:00 on Friday and left late Saturday morning or early afternoon.  When we arrived we set up our tents and started the fire.  Later we cooked spaghetti for dinner and hung out by the fire.  Finally we went to bed. In the morning, we restarted the fire and then had breakfast: eggs.  There were hard-boiled, fried and scrambled eggs.  Finally, we took down tents and left.  It was a good time and a good place to get a lot of requirements signed off.
                                                       YIS,
                                                           Eric Weidman

Merit Badge College 2011

This year, we met at the Bell Amici parking lot at 8:00 in the morning on 4 Saturdays.  We carpooled up to Lyman hall to take our classes.  Four classes later, we either completed our three merit badges, or received partials. Merit Badge college is a good place to get up to three merit badges.
                                                                       YIS,
                                                                           Eric Weidman

Rocks Tree Farm 2/19-21/2011

On Saturday 2/19, eight scouts and seven leaders met at the North Guilford Firehouse at 7am to drive North to Rocks Tree Farm in New Hampshire. Upon arrival, we changed into warmer clothing and lugged our gear down to the campsite, as the road down to the campsite had not been plowed.  After setting up all the tents, we set off to collect firewood and prepare the picnic table for the next couple nights.  We dragged the wood into piles and cut it into pieces that could fit in the fire pit.  Shortly after the fire was started, we had dinner- foil meals warmed up in the fire.  Mr. Ott also made chicken soup to go along with the meals.  Everybody had to stay hydrated with warm apple cyder, hot cocoa, and soup.  After dinner, everybody hung out by the fire and some people played Big Booty, a traditional game.  Later, everybody went to bed for the night.  When we woke up, we changed and ate- oatmeal, pre-cooked eggs, and soup.  Soon after, we got in the cars and drove to Mount Pierce. The sky was cloudy so we didn't expect to summit this year.  The path was slippery so everybody either had to wear some form of extra traction on their feet- whether it be Yak-Trax or snow shoes.  We started up the trail at a fast pace.  We slowed down a little so everybody could keep up.  About an hour and a half later, we took a break at the junction about halfway up the mountain.  Here there is usually a few Canadian Jays that eat trail mix out of your hands, but they weren't there at this point.  A few people chose to turn back at this point, whether it be from exhaustion or injury.  The group that continued up saw soon that the sky was clearing up and we might be able to summit.  We decided to go a little bit faster because we wanted to get to the top of the mountain before the cloud cover returned.  A while later, we reached the Alpine Zone, the point that the trees were gone and the only vegetation was small shrubs. From this point on, we were completely exposed to the wind.  After layering up, we went on, following an already worn path toward the summit. When we finally reached the summit, the view was spectacular, you could see for miles in every direction. For a short while, we could even see the top of Mount Washington! This was one of the few days every year that was this clear on top of these mountains.  Once we took a bunch of pictures and a few people attempted to make snow angels (Mr. Ott), we decided it was time to return to the bottom of the mountain.  We left the Alpine Zone quickly, the wind was blowing pretty hard.  Once back under the cover of trees, we stopped for a short time to layer down and grab a quick snack. We even took off our snow shoes.  Going down was much easier than going up, we could slide or run if we chose to.  Once to the junction again, we stopped for a snack and there were Canadian Jays this time! After refueling, we continued down the mountain, Morgan and Ben attempting to sled on pieces of cardboard. About a half hour later we were back at the parking lot.  We got situated in the cars and headed to the hyland center across the street for a little while.  We used this time to use the nice bathrooms and talk to other people there that climb and hike a lot.  A short time later, we were back in the car on the way back to camp.  There, we changed, gathered more firewood, and packed our bags leaving only what we were going to wear that night and the next day inside our tents. Everything else was packed and carried up to the building at the top of the hill.  Dinner that night was pasta with meat sauce. It tasted so good after a day of hiking.  After a while by the fire, we went to bed, our last night here this year.  Bright and early, we changed and packed up the tents.  Shortly after, we were in the cars again, this time on the way to the Littleton Diner.  We were overjoyed to eat at a place so nice and heated. After we gobbled down breakfast, we got to walk around the street, going in and out of different stores.  The most famous to our troop, Chutters candy shop.  It is the world's longest candy counter.  They have everything!! Even three foot long gummy snakes!  Everybody spent the majority of their time here, and then met back at the cars.  After using the bathroom one more time at Dunkin Donuts, we started our long car ride home.  Four hours later, we were home, most likely sleeping, unpacking, or eating. This trip was a lot of fun and I am definitely going on it next year.  I think it was better this year with more people, so the more people that come, the better.
                                                                      YIS,
                                                                         Eric Weidman

Snowshoe Hike 2/6/11

Today we went on a snowshoe hike in Guilford. We entered a trail right behind the Fixes house and came out behind a house accross the cul-de-sac from them.  Part of the trail was cleared and marked by Mike Ficcorilli during his eagle project. Along the way we saw some cool sights like fallen down trees in cool positions and cliffs with snow on them.  Near the middle of the hike we climbed a steep cliff-like hill.  After a short snack break, we were ready to go again. We followed some trails winding around in the snow and finally came back out to the Fixes house and all the cars. It was a ton of fun and I would definitely do it again!
                                                                    YIS,
                                                                        Eric Weidman