Skiing with the Scouts
Posted by mjpete on Mar 9, 2010
We had an excellent day on Saturday skiing at Camelback with the Scouts. The weather was a very nice 40 – 45 degree day with clear blue skies. The slopes were loaded with fresh packed powder snow. The conditions could not have been better. In fact it very well may have been one of the best days, weather wise, of skiing that I’ve had.
We had 13 scouts join us. Their skill levels were as varied as it could possibly be. We had several first timers who tried either skiing or snowboarding. My son was able to join up with another scout who had similar skill levels. They took off for the intermediate and expert trails. I didn’t see the two of them for about two hours. The first time skiers were able to pick up enough skill so that by the afternoon they were able to come down the easier trails from the top of the mountain. We had one bad incident where one of the boys took a bad fall and injured his shoulder. He tried to get some air over a bump and caught the edge of his board. He landed on his shoulder. if it wasn’t for this one injury, the day would have been perfect.
Since we were a group, we were mostly in the lower Sun Bowl lodge. It was the first time I was in this lodge at Camelback. The food there was nothing to write about, but the parking and accessibility. Wow. I was parked within 75 feet of the lodge. Had I known how close and accessible it was, I would have packed a cooler.
The one memorable fall was with my friend Dave. He was wearing black ski pants and a blue jacket. We were making our way down the bottom part of the run when a newbie girl came down the hill and lost control. She came right behind him, interlocking her skis with his and giving him a great big hug. All I saw was this black, blue and pink blur with snow flying. After the fall, she bounces up all bright & bubbly and says “Oh my bad, so sorry” and skis off. Mean while, Dave is a crumpled pile on the ground trying to figure out what just happened. As he recovers and we regroup, I’m thinking “Gee if you were so sorry, why didn’t you help the guy up”. Of course I had more colorful language at the time. This is one of the drawbacks to skiing in the Poconos. Due to the close proximity of the city and the suburbs, there are a lot of people on the slopes who just can’t ski. They think that just because they can survive getting down the mountain that they don’t need lessons. Oh, if only Vermont wasn’t so far away…..
Wilderness First Aid
Posted by mjpete on Jan 8, 2010
In December I completed the Wilderness First Aid that is offered by Solo (Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities). This was in preparation for the Philmont trip in June/July. The adults needed to be certified in Wilderness First Aid, so we would have the background to handle any issues that occur while we are in the back-country.
What a fun course! It has been a number of years since I took a first aid course. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was not expecting the course to be so interesting. With the focus being on the back-country, where medical services are typically hours away, the course covered topics that is normally left for medical professionals. Restoring circulation for a broken limb, de-crumpling a person who has fallen and learning about clearing a head-neck-spine injury were some of the topics we covered.
I have to say that the course really boosted my confidence to be able to handle the situations we may face while we’re in the back-country. If you every have the opportunity to take a wilderness first aid course, even if you are not a outdoors type of person, there is a lot you can learn.
Summer Camp
Posted by mjpete on Jul 17, 2009
Last week we took the Boy Scout Troop up to Ten Mile River Scout Camp. What an amazing time! In addition to the boys working on the merit badges, we also did a lot of other activities such as the polar bear swim, high cope course, mountain biking, repelling and barbecuing. The kids had an amazing time. They earned a ton of merit badges.
If you are involved in Scouting, but have not yet gone to Summer Camp, it is a very relaxing week. It was very nice to have a few hours each day where there was absolutely no demands and you could sit back, chill out. The fact that cell phones either didn’t work or were very spotty (depending upon your carrier) was an added bonus.
Alpine Campout
Posted by mjpete on Jun 1, 2008
The weekend of May 17th & 18th, we took the Boy Scout Troop up to Alpine Scout Reservation. Alpine sits just north of the GW Bridge on the Palisades. We had a great turnout and the weather was picture perfect.
We had a good time climbing the rock climbing wall.
MJ finally got the hang of building a fire. This was the last requirement he had to complete to qualify for his Second Class rank.
Troop Trailer
Posted by mjpete on May 21, 2008
So early in the month of April, Dave & I were busy getting the Troop’s trailer ready for the Turkey Swamp camping trip. Here’s a picture of the inside with the shelves. At the rear of the trailer we decided that drawers would really help organize us with the repair kits, extra parts and the small stuff we need to support the troop during a camp-out. We also decided to custom size the shelves for the gear in order to maximize the space usage. The right hand side of the trailer we left open, so that we could put the tables and bear box in. With the tables on the right hand side, the weight of the trailer is very close to being equally distributed between the wheels.
Here is a close up of the drawers that I made. With the Scouts being a rough as they are, I thought having the drawers made with finger joints would help them stand up to the abuse. Plus the finger joints look really cool. I was able to use the finger joint jig that I made a few years ago. The jig runs on my table saw and controls the spacing. The jig fully adjustable, so it take a bit of effort to get the spacing just right. Once you do, the joints come out looking great.
Winterburg Campout
Posted by mjpete on Mar 1, 2008
Our Winterburg campout was a success! We took the troop up to Forestburg Boy Scout Reservation this past weekend for an overnight campout. The entire troop slept out in tents on the snow! The boys had a great time. We hiked down to the nearby waterfalls. The boys went sled riding.
Ok, so some of the adult leaders went sled riding as well!!
We did have a small cabin to cook, eat and get warm in. However we choose to sleep outside in the 15 degree weather for the night. When you a prepared for the cold, it is quite comfortable to sleep on the snow.
The stew we had for Saturday night was very tasty. Especially after being in the cold for most of the day. Sunday’s breakfast, we tried to use a Dutch Oven to cook up Taylor ham and Eggs. Took over an hour to cook and it eventually turned out ok. We have to re-think cooking breakfast in a Dutch Oven on our next campout.
I’m actually looking forward to next year’s Winterburg!
NJ State Police BSA Camporee
Posted by mjpete on Oct 18, 2007
The 2007 NJ State Police Boy Scout Camporee was an amazing event! Over 9,500 scouts from the state of New Jersey attended the camporee in Sea Girt, NJ. It was held on October 5th, 6th and 7th. The State Police really went all out with an amazing event.
There were so many scouts that I could capture all of them in a single photo!
The State Police had demonstrations from virtually every department, division or group within the State Police. Here are some of the departments that were there: Aviation, Cavalry, Bomb Squad, BioHazard & Chemical Response, Forensics, Criminal Investigation, Park Police, Game Conservation, SCUBA Team, Beach and Shore Patrol, SWAT Team, Hazmat, and Search & Rescue Squad… There was alot more there! I can’t remember all of them. The scouts saw demonstrations of automatic weapons by the sniper team and an assualt on a building by the SWAT team that began with them fast roping out of a helicopter.
