Troop 28 Historian

02/05/2010 – 02/07/2010
Bretton Woods

Every winter in recent history, the scouts of Troop 28 eagerly anticipate the scout ski trip.  This year we were able to return to Bretton Woods, NH ski area.  In years past, the troop was loaned the use of a Boy Scout cabin on Broomstick Hill Road in Littleton NH.  I hear that it’s a cool cabin — rustic, with a wood stove, no running water or plumbing, and accessible by an unpaved road.  Take a look at our website to see photos of past ski trips to get a glimpse of the scout cabin. The troop hasn’t been back to the cabin since 2008 because our troop has grown so much in the past two years that the cabin is not large enough to accommodate everyone in the troop plus the adult chaperones.  So last year, the troop tried the ‘scout overnight’ package at Waterville Valley.  We skied two days and stayed on the floor with our sleeping bags along with two other scout troops in the Conference Center at Waterville Valley.  We had a great time, but everyone wanted to get back to Bretton Woods.

So on Friday February 5th 21 scouts including Christian, Morgan, Alec, Julien, Adam, Reagan, Derek, Nick, Dylan, Robbie, Jack T, Sasha, Andrew, Jack O, Thomas, Luke,  Evan, Levente, Sam, Julian, Brodie came home from school, and hopped into the cars of our generous adult chaperones to make our way to Bretton Woods.

The troop had made arrangements with Bretton Woods to say in their Rosebrook Recreation Center, which is a very short walk through the parking lot to the Base Lodge.  The Rec Center had Ping-Pong and billiard tables, squash/volleyball and volleyball courts, a big kitchen and eating area, a widescreen TV, showers, and a pool which were all constantly in use by the scouts.

Mr. Ackley was our Adult Leader and Derek was the scout in charge of leading the activity.  Derek got lots of help from Christian and Mr. Ackley and considering how large a group we were, everything seemed to run smoothly.

Most of us got to the Rec Center on Friday night between 7pm and 9pm.  Scouts and adults who needed to rent equipment went over to the Base Lodge if they arrived before 9pm, to get their gear.  It was tough settling in that first night.  We were all tired but we were really excited about being there and going skiing.  Some of the adults — Mom! — Wanted ‘lights out’ to happen sooner rather than later.  It took a while to set up our mattress pads and bags and find a comfortable place to sleep on the floor.  After a brief troop meeting, we watched the first half of the ‘Terminator – Salvation’ movie, played cards, and played ping pong.  I don’t think we slept much that first night.

On Saturday we had all agreed to get up at 5:45 am so we would arrive at the Rental Shop by 7am because some of us still didn’t have their rental gear and we were told that a group of 100 British students were scheduled to arrive to get their rental stuff.  A number of scouts set their cellphone alarms and we woke to a chorus of beeps.  Needless to say, we were the first ones at the rental shop and at the Food Court in the Base Lodge.  Mr. Ackley handed out vouchers and we ordered our breakfast sandwiches, pancakes and other good stuff.

We had another brief troop meeting to remind everyone that we wanted everyone to come in for lunch at 11:30 so we would all eat together and get a head count.  We made sure that everyone had a buddy that was of the same skiing level.  Then we set off skiing on some of the easier trails to warm up our legs and refresh our skills of skiing. At 11:30 most of us were there and Mr. Ackley gave us the lunch vouchers. After lunch some of us played cards and a group went out with Mr. Benson to start their Snow Sports Merit Badge.  Later, another group of scouts went out with Mr. Jackisch to do work on their badges.  A video clip of Mr. J’s group will soon be up on the website – stay tuned!

We all tried to get together for a group photo at 3pm at the top of one of the lifts, but not everyone could find the spot.  So we stayed out skiing till around 3:30 on some harder slopes and then we walked back to the Rec. Center.  The plan for the night was to have a pizza dinner party at 5:30pm in our upper floor lodge space in the Recreation Center.  So we played around doing various activities for about 2 hours before we ate.  Brodie had secretly asked Mr. Ackley and Mrs. Benson if the troop could get a cake for his dad who was having a birthday.  So Bretton Woods made a humongous chocolate cake for Mr. Jackisch. There was another Boy Scout troop from Newton, Mass. that was also skiing at BW.  They came over to use the pool and billiard room on Saturday night.  We shared our cake with their whole troop because the cake was that big!  Afterwards we watched the end of Terminator Salvation, while some of the scouts played cards.  After all of our activity during the day, we were all zonked and fell asleep pretty easily.

So on Sunday morning, we woke up at a more civilized hour and ‘broke camp’.  We packed up our sleeping bags and gear and stacked everything in a corner of the kitchen.  We figured it was easier than trying to pack up cars now then trying to unpack to put the skis in after we were done in the afternoon. We then headed over to the Lodge to buy breakfast and we decided to make another attempt to take a group picture just outside of the Base Lodge.  After the photo, we got with buddies or groups and spread out throughout the mountain tackling hard or easy trails.  At lunchtime, we talked with our adult drivers about when we were going to get off the slopes and leave for home. Most of us decided to leave between 3:00-3:30pm. We hit the slopes again for our last runs, and before we knew it we were in our cars driving home to Cohasset all too soon.

The ski trip is one of the best trips of the year and there were no scouts who didn’t love where we were staying or the mountain we were skiing on. This was only my second ski trip with the troop and I didn’t realize what a strong tradition card playing and cribbage was during scout trips.  We have to remember to bring out cribbage boards and cards to Squanto or the Jamboree this summer!  Everyone said they are looking forward to next year and hoping to have just as good or better of a time.

Respectfully Submitted,

Adam N. Benson, Historian

12/17/2009

Cohasset Troop 28 held the 2009 winter Court of Awards on December 17th at the Lightkeeper’s Cottage.   This Court of Awards saw a large number of rank advancements and merit badges along with a change in the running of the meeting.

The ceremony began with the traditional Colors procession and the Pledge of Allegiance.  The next part of the opening ceremony is the lighting of 13 candles which represent the 13 parts of the scout law.  Alec and Derek lit each candle reciting — a scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent – at each candle.

Senior Patrol Leader Christian presided over the night’s ceremony.    After the candle lighting, various scouts were called up to talk about the many trips the troop went on since the June 2009 Court of Awards.

In another change from tradition, the advancement awards were delivered by SPL Christian, not the scoutmaster or the advancement assistant scoutmaster.  There were a large number of scouts advancing, 15 in all – one Life, two Star, three First Class, seven Second Class and two Tenderfoot.  Scouts from the Moose and Hawk patrols earned the ranks of 2nd Class and Tenderfoot. These two ranks are earned by mastering outdoor skills such as knots and camping. Hopefully by next summer these scouts will be well on their way to achieving the rank of first class. Scouts from the Stags and Viper patrols earned the ranks of Life, Star, and 1st Class. Life and Star require a scout to serve in a position of leadership; all require increasing hours of community service. For every rank a scout advances they must pass a Board of Review and Scoutmaster Conference.  As the ranks get higher the Boards of Review become more difficult.  Everyone did a fantastic job with their Boards of Review and even though some scouts didn’t earn the rank they had been working on, everyone learns from the process of discussing their progress in learning scout skills.

The next phase of the ceremony was the awarding of Merit Badges earned.  Most scouts earned 2-3 of these merit badges but some hard workers completed the requirements for as many as 6 merit badges. Two scouts received the award for completing the mile swim at Camp Squanto and the four Philmont participants – Christian, Robbie, Tucker and Morgan received the special 50 Miler Award patch.  The Philmont guys also briefly discussed some of the cool things they saw and did at Philmont in July.

After the ceremonies were completed and the flags properly placed in the back of the room, it was time to eat some of Mrs. Hillman’s delicious treats baked just for the occasion. This time she made Peanut Butter Bars and cupcakes along with chocolate dipped pretzels. Scouts left this Court of Awards with a full stomach and new goals for the coming year.

Respectfully submitted,

Derek A. Benson, Historian

11/14/2009 – 11/15/2009

All week we were watching the weather reports leading up to the Mt.Monadnock trip.   We all knew in advance that the weather was not going to be our friend.  So with this in mind, we set about preparing for our trek to Jaffrey NH, not far over the Massachusetts border.  Mt. Monadnock is 3,165 feet above sea level and is 1,000 feet higher than any other peak within 30 miles.  Unfortunately our first year scouts would not be able to enjoy Monadnock’s vistas.

This year’s trip leaders were Jack T. and Jack O. (or as we called them, “The Jacks”) with Tucker O. acting as a senior advisor.  At our special pre-activity Thursday night meeting for all Monadnock hikers, tents and gear were readied and plans for meals and patrols were made.  We all agreed to meet on Saturday morning at The Locker at Deer Hill @ 6:45 a.m.  Together with our scout leaders, we had Nick, Levente, Dylan, Luke, Thomas, Adam B., Evan, and John C.  The adult leaders were Messrs. Butler, Fogarty, O’Brien, Clay, Marat, and Mr. Oddleifson.

We departed the locker at around 7:30 am after carefully packing lots of gear into Mr. Fogarty’s truck and stowing away all of the great food we planned to cook that night.  The first cars arrived at Mt.Monadnock at around 10:30 a.m.  Scouts went into the trading post where we waited for everyone else to arrive.  Once we all were present and accounted for, “The Jacks” decided on what they were going to do because of the weather.  It was typical November weather in New Hampshire – cool, in the mid 40s and raining, sometimes heavily.  We decided not to pitch our tents and make camp, leaving all our gear locked in the cars.  The leaders checked in with the Monadnock Ranger (a requirement before hiking up a mountain).  We were told that because of the wind, rain and falling temperatures, the peak was closed to hikers.  So we continued with Plan B.  Numbers were assigned to each scout to keep track of everyone.  Then some of the adult leaders drove their cars to the pond parking lot.  The plan was to hike the pond trail then drive back to the campsite.  So the group hiked for three hours to the pond and then were driven back to the parking lot.

Once everyone had returned from the pond, Mr. Fogarty took the cooking supplies out of the truck so our cooks, Evan and Adam B. could start to cook dinner.   Even though each cooks prepared meals for their individual patrol, everyone ended up sharing and taste-testing. The meals were grilled chicken, stuffing, potatoes & corn or beef stew.  Even though we didn’t hike to the peak, we were all really hungry, so we broke into the breakfast bagels and the cake for dessert.

While dinner was being prepared, the leaders knew it was time for the troop to either pitch their tents or to make other arrangements. Because of the adverse conditions, Mr. Oddleifson led the troop in a communication exercise called ‘roses and thorns’.  After this, the consensus among the scouts and adults was that the group should pack up and head home to Cohasset.  So with full stomachs, we headed for the cars and everyone was home ready for a hot shower before 9:00pm.