This is it, the best mountain bike for the money – the Trek 3700. I was for a long time a Specialized bike guy, but they became too clunky and expensive. Then I purchased a used (practically new) one of these off Craigslist for my son. It has everything you need, it looks cool and it has [...]

There are quite a number of good extended bike trips in the area -Miles Standish State Forest, Cape Cod Canal, Nickerson State Park (Brewster, Cape Cod, right on the CC rail trail), Lexington/Concord RtT, Northampton RtT. I’ll post more on these later. Here is a list of MA trails: http://www.massbike.org/bikeways/ Here is a map of [...]

 I intend to have an entire section on this website devoted to long distance hiking. For now, let me mention this great little hike in MA you might like if you are local. The AT passes next to a historic village in western MA called Tyringham. It was one of the original Shaker Villages (established [...]

  The attached is not mine, it was emailed to me a few years ago. The author (listed), gets full credit as well as an applaud from me for a) doing a great trip; and b) doing a followup trip report that is just incredible. The photography alone is outstanding. Have a read and I’m [...]

I’m of the opinion this is the best map to get if you are hiking in the Whites (NH). They probably make for other areas of the country as well. It is waterproof, colored well, and just plan easy to read.  The AMC maps are fine, but this one just has it all. www.mapadventures.com  (I bought [...]

  This is a pretty useful document to help conduct boards of review. If anyone can find a better one, send across. borguide.pdf addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fscoutingclub.com%2Fboard-of-review-guidelines-and-sample-questions.html’; addthis_title = ‘Board+of+Review+Guidelines’; addthis_pub = ”;

A fun knot that takes just a little practice. If I can do it, anyone can. Here are instructions: make-a-monkey.doc Here is the best, simple, one page (2 sided) handout on the most important knots   your troop needs to learn:    boyscoutknotguide.pdf addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fscoutingclub.com%2Fmonkeys-fist-knot.html’; addthis_title = ‘Monkey%26%238217%3Bs+Fist+Knot’; addthis_pub = ”;

A good resource for free topo (topographic) maps. Sometimes you have to piece sections together in powerpoint but it works. http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4892560&e=287082&s=100&layer=DRG25&size=l&u=0 June08 update: I had to use topozone for something and I see they’ve sold out to trails.com. It is no longer free. I don’t see the point of trails.com and paying for trip ideas [...]

 This is a program I’ve hoped to get our kids involved in. http://www.wpcbsa.org/SummitBase/Activities/IceClimbing.asp This is an article that was recently published in The Wall Street Journal on ice climbing. Well written & worth a quick read: iceclimbing1.doc addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fscoutingclub.com%2Fice-climbing.html’; addthis_title = ‘Ice+Climbing’; addthis_pub = ”;

One of the most interesting and meaningful awards is one of the most overlooked. Not only could a scout learn about an environmental issue, he could take action, solve a problem, and just do the right thing. Furthermore, this is one of the few awards that I think could be mentioned on a college entrance application. [...]

Two suggestions on this if you are in the northeast. In the “off-season” you can go to an indoor climbing gym such as Carabiner’s in New Bedford, MA (pictured), RI Rock Gym in Lincoln, RI, or Boulder Morty’s in Nashua, NH. They provide a MB course to complete this badge as well an the opportunity to [...]