Spring Camporee April 13, 2008
Posted by Jim Galley [ASM] in : general , comments closed
Spring has finally arrived, and with it, our annual Benjamin Tallmadge District Spring Camporee. With new members of the dragon patrol afoot, we arrived at our campsite with 12 boys, lots of pop tarts, and a full wood pile just waiting to be thrown in the fire. After the adults figured out how to set up a Texas size tarp (whose size and silver reflective pattern is rumored to have disrupted air traffic by blinding pilots within a 30 mile radius), the boys put on an impressive display of cooking prowess - cooking not only 6 packs of ramen noodles, but steaks, potatoes, onions, hamburgers, hot dogs, pancakes and bacon! (not all at once, but you get the picture). With so much food on site, its surprising that the boys had any time to do anything but eat! But they did - and did an excellent job running their assigned statements, participating in the tug of war event, and even cooking an "interesting" iron chef competition entry of spam and chocolate pudding. Additional pictures can be seen here.
Ice Age: The Escarpment Trail April 1, 2008
Posted by Jim Galley [ASM] in : general , comments closed
Well, many of us had thought that spring had truly arrived, and that winter was nothing but a past memory. That was, until we suited up to go hiking the Escarpment trail in the Catskills. We left out balmy, 50 degree weather in sunny Long Island to brave the snow & ice covered trails - and had fun doing it.
Our planned path was deemed too icy to pass from our trusty park ranger, so we braved the elements and took the long way around - complete with equipment. The main camping sites were closed for the season, so we hiked on, expecting to find a flat spit of land where we would be able to set basecamp and then continue hiking from there.
Alas, flat ground was nowhere to be found, so we improvised - we set camp on a frozen marsh: cold, but big enough to hold our troop. This made for difficult sleeping conditions (hard to keep warm sleeping on an ice cube) and an interesting late night / early morning wake up call - the cracking sound of ice!
Morning came, and everyone was ready to head back safely to warmer climates. We passed some interesting ice flows and traversed a rock + ice + water laden path back down to the cars. All in all - the hike was enjoyable, but we don’t think we will be sleeping on any frozen ice anytime soon again.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
Spring Camporee February 13, 2008
Posted by Jim Galley [ASM] in : events , comments closedLife Saving Demo - Squeavers February 13, 2008
Posted by Jim Galley [ASM] in : events , comments closedSpring Camporee October 18, 2007
Posted by Jim Galley [ASM] in : events , comments closedWhen: April 11th-13th
Where: Cathedral Pines
