11/18/2006 – 11/19/2006
This year was our third year climbing Mount Monadnock. We kept up the tradition of going in mid-November so that we could get a cold weather camping experience and an invigorating hike all rolled into one trip. This year it was warmer than it had been the past two years, as it did not enter the twenties or below during the night. The troop met at the Scout Locker at seven o’clock on Saturday morning, and left by quarter of eight. We had a large group this year, with lots of kids and perhaps more gear than we really needed, so it took five cars of varying size to carry everything. The drive was over two hours long, one car arrived first close to ten minutes before the next one, with all the others arriving in short intervals after that. The first car checked in and went to the two sites next to each other that we had been assigned, to find one of them underwater. Upon returning to the entrance and talking to the rangers, the troop was allowed to swap for two other, water-free sites. Once all the cars had arrived and driven up to the campsite, everyone gathered what they needed to hike, and after a brief talk on map orienteering and hiking safety, we headed up the mountain. The troop was faced, as in the past two years, with two trail options for the side of the mountain we were starting on: the White Cross Trail, and the White Dot Trail. We chose, as we had on our previous ventures, the White Cross Trail for our ascent, being the harder of the two, and the White Dot Trail for the trip down. We hiked together, stopping fairly regularly, and made it to the top in a little over two hours. We had lunch up there, and after a quick photo opportunity we started our descent, breaking up into groups based upon climbing speed.
It took close to an hour and a half for the first group to reach the bottom. As they arrived, scouts went about setting up camp, pitching tents and taking troop gear needed for cooking out of the cars. We started dinner once everyone had made it down, eating in patrols. One patrol had beef stew with peach cobbler for dessert, while the other had chili and had forgotten to bring dessert. Luckily, there was enough peach cobbler to go around. Tired, the younger scouts started to go to bed at nine o’clock. Some of the older scouts stayed up for a bit longer before heading off as well with the adults. In the morning, the Senior Patrol and Patrol Leaders woke the scouts shortly after seven. Even though the young scouts had received the best sleep, they were still unwilling to get out of bed. Many of the adults were already up, and everyone took down their tents immediately. Both patrols had oatmeal for breakfast. After we had all packed up and inspected the campsite, we loaded into the cars and began the trip back to Cohasset. At the Locker, the cars were unloaded of all troop gear, scouts and adults were given their personal equipment, and everyone departed for their homes.