Troop 54 participated in the General Knox District Klondike Derby (Western Massachusetts Council) at Horace Moses Scout Reservation in Russell, Massachusetts, our sixth time camping there since 2009. On arrival, at night on Friday, we were assigned the tent site next to the Training Lodge, well-located for the event and for getting water at the Maintenance Shed.
We had four Boy Scouts and two leaders participating on this trip. The site was a few inches deep in snow, and the ground was frozen, so we used a cordless drill to make holes for the tent stakes, a real back-saver.
Temperatures were mostly in the 30's and 40's with an overnight low on Friday of 23°F.
The event, titled “Back to the Klondike”, had a time traveling theme. Each station represented a different time period and had a well-planned activity. At each station, the Scouts also got facts about that time; these were needed in the big race at the end, which featured quiz questions at a series of stations. We were the only out-of-council troop at the event. Our sled lost a wheel toward the end of the race. This time, the actual wheel had broken, losing one of its bearing races.
After the event, we went on a hike through the camp to the site of our last campout, catching several camp features along the way and hiking about 1.5 miles. We collected GPS waypoints to create a map of coordinates of this camp for our Outings Guide:
partial map
GPX File (to download)
The Scouts made grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup for lunch, hamburgers and fries for dinner and breakfast sandwiches for breakfast. Our sled won the 3rd place ribbon in the food judging for that lunch. ASM MacNeal's gourmet fare for the leaders included Beef Keema for dinner and Breakfast Tacos (made with Mexican sausage).
This was the troop's 109th consecutive month with at least one overnight camping trip.
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Page updated 10/7/19
J. Froimson
