Troop 54 returned to Hoyt Scout Reservation in Redding, Connecticut for a second time (our previous visit was in May 2019). We had the Tyler tent site. Our night time arrival at around 9 PM was a bit of an adventure. Although the link our our event posting had the correct gate location, somehow both of our vehicles navigated to the other camp entrance. We recognized that and found our way to the right gate, but it was closed. After we realized the gate was not locked, we parked in the camp and set out to find our site.
This camp no longer has a ranger living onsite, nor was there a campmaster. The other sites on the South end of the camp, which had looked to be booked were just blocked for work on the grounds, so we had that end of the camp to ourselves. One troop was on the North end of the camp.
We had 4 youth and 2 adult participants on this trip.
During the day on Saturday, we visited the Danbury Railway Museum. The indoor portion of the museum is relatively small, set up in a former train station. The main attraction there is a large model train set originally built in someone's basement; that was impressive with two trains and lots of illuminated buildings. Outside, the museum has lots of rolling stock right next to an active train line. We took a short ride on an old commuter train. We also stood on a recently restored train turntable, and the train conductor spun us around on it. Several of the train cars were open to explore. We had a picnic lunch at the museum.
We went on a hike around the camp. It has recently constructed pit latrines that are pretty nice. Frost-free water valves are located around the camp. Several pavilions had electricity and lighting. There are only two cabins. The council ring looked recently renovated and had lighting.
Temperatures were in the 40's the whole weekend. It started raining lightly as we set up camp and that increased overnight. By the end of breakfast on Saturday, the rain had stopped. The sun came out Saturday afternoon, which was nice.
This was our 184th consecutive month with at least one overnight camping trip.
Page updated 5/12/24
J. Froimson
