Mt. Greylock Hike, September 22-24.

 

 22, Friday: 25 scouts, including adults, rode to Massachusetts. It was about a three hour drive.  We set up camp after dark.  Patrick Conrad saw a raccoon around 3:00 a.m.  So we concluded that we were in the middle of a raccoon path, later to be proven.

23, Saturday: Breakfast was quick and easy.  It was raining lightly and foggy.  We hiked for about six miles to the summit where there was a war memorial.  We visited that, but it was too foggy to see anything from the top.  Then we rested at the lodge that was there before resuming our journey.  They had the best hot cocoa.  We only had to hike about a mile back to the campsite.  This was quickly finished and the preparations for dinner began.  After dinner, cards were played or people sat around the campfire.  In the campsite was a lean-to where the senior patrol slept Friday night.  But they wouldn't tonight because too much food was spilled there. Two of the senior patrol made "weapons" to go raccoon hunting.  The other two joined in.  They stayed in the lean-to after all had gone to their tents.  We talked until we heard sounds and grabbed our weapons.  We couldn't see the raccoons very well but we guessed that there were three.  When we saw a mouse scrambling around in the lean-to we knew the raccoons were close.  Then one of us saw a pair of eyes bigger than raccoons.  So we all retreated to our tent, where an unidentifiable creature paced around it constantly.  Later the hunter said that he believed that it was a puma. 

 24, Sunday: We broke camp and washed any dishes left.  Then we made a final sweep of the campsite, and traveled back to good old CT.   

D. Casinelli
Troop Scribe