Chariots of Fire Camporee

Friday, October 13 -
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Hale Reservation
Westwood, MA

Event Info

Camporee Patch

This month's trip took Troop 54 to Hale Reservation in Westwood, Massachusetts, to participate in the Chariots of Fire Camporee run by the Spirit of Adventure Council's Great Blue Hill District. We camped around a shelter near Cat Rock Cabin. This was our first time at Hale Reservation since April 2014.

In preparation for the camporee, Scouts Nicholas Gollaz and Reegan Rodriguez painted our Chariot 1, constructed from one of our Klondike Derby sleds for another camporee in 2016 with 10” all terrain tires. We also built the entirely new Chariot 2, a “stand up” model with bicycle style wheels.

We arrived at the camporee at about 8 PM, well after dark. The nearest water was about half a mile away; fortunately, our new chariot turned out to be great for carrying the water containers. The ground is pretty rocky in that area, so finding seven reasonable tent sites left us spread out once again.

Our twelve participating Boy Scouts comprised our largest contingent of Scouts on a trip since May 2012. We had two leaders participating. Seven troops participated with twelve patrols. Although the basic idea was that each patrol was to have a chariot, several used Klondike Derby sleds with wheels and some had no “vehicle”. Of the four chariots, our two were the most solidly built.

In the morning on Saturday, the patrols rotated through the various stations, competing in Roman Ball, Jousting, Dice Throwing, Ring Toss and Caterpillar Walk. In the afternoon, there was a tug of war between the youth and the outnumbered adults. This was followed by a short group hike to Noanet Pond and finally the “chariot race”. That race was a complicated event in which each patrol moved its chariot back and forth, untying objects and stacking them in order. See videos of Chariot 1 and Chariot 2.

The Llama Patrol got a 3rd place ribbon for Jousting and a 2nd place ribbon for Roman Ball. The Troop got a ribbon for "Nice Chariot", which was described as including both chariots.

Temperatures were cool, and there was a bit of rain, with the only real rain during the tug of war. For the first time in years, we had two patrols cooking two separate menus.

This was the troop's 106th consecutive month with at least one overnight camping trip.

Videos by Keith MacNeal

Page updated 10/19/17
J. Froimson

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