Few scouts understood what the Council patch on their shoulder represented. This hike, knox-trail-proposal.ppt, was meant to bring meaning to it all. Ft. Ticonderoga is between Lake Champlain & Lake George (on NY/Vermont border). Major battles in the French & Indian war occured in this area and many soldiers endured extreme hardships here for the [...]

Besides suggesting someplace interesting to go, another reason for this presentation was to suggest to the older venture kids that when we did things, we did them well and for a purpose. With everyone’s time consumed with homework, troop activities, sports, jobs, and whatever else, I was trying to coach them into putting a lot of effort into the [...]

This is a great overnight hike for the older scouts. Hike up above the treeline across the entire Presidential Range and up and over Mt. Washington, the highest mountain in the northeast (6288ft). It is quite a challenge and achievement. I wanted to revise this slightly but ran out of time. I’ve also attached a copy of [...]

This is a great hike idea if you are looking for something the scouts can be quite proud of  - From Monson, Maine, the Appalachian Trail begins its journey through the fabled 100 mile Wilderness. This is the longest stretch on the AT that doesn’t cross a paved road. Many of its best highlights are [...]

There are some great hikes out west (MA!). Mt. Greylock on the AT, Bash Bish Falls, Kent Falls, Snowhole (a cool cave where you’ll see snow in August). You won’t be disappointed in any trips to this area. Start here to get some ideas: http://www.berkshirehiking.com/hikes/a2z.html addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fscoutingclub.com%2Fberkshire-mountain-hikes.html’; addthis_title = ‘Berkshire+Mountain+Hikes’; addthis_pub = ”;

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 [...]

 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 = ”;

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 [...]

  If you are looking for something special to do with the venture crew or the older scouts, this is a great program. You can combine with an overnight. Solo puts on a Wilderness First Aid program that goes far beyond the scout first aid. This is information always good to know. http://www.soloschools.com/wfa.html addthis_url = [...]