Yawgoog 2013

  Yawgoog this year began on Sunday July 7^th, and ended Sunday July 14^th.  On the first night, we had to provide our dinner, and instead of the usual hotdogs on the fire, we had meatball grinders. 

            Monday began with breakfast, then the usual first day routine of photos, swim tests.  We then had lunch followed by waterfront orientation.  This orientation introduces first-time scouts to the procedures at the waterfront and reminds returning scouts of the rules.  Shortly after that, we had our first merit badge classes.  The afternoon classes begin on Monday and end Friday, whereas the morning classes begin Tuesday and end Friday or sometimes Saturday.  Then there was dinner and we went to bed.

            Tuesday was the first day of morning classes.  We continued afternoon classes, and began the daily routine, which continued for the rest of the week.   

            This year, the troop’s spin-off of Minute-to-win-it, a.k.a. Wood duck Games, continued.  Teams of three were assembled at the beginning of the week, and stayed together for the rest of the nights.  Each night, there would be three surprise games, one per each team member, and points would be appropriately awarded to each team. 

            Also continued this year was the chain mail tradition.  With two pairs of pliers and some metal rings, scouts have created anything from necklaces to neckties to headdresses to gloves to full vests. 

            In contrast to last year’s high participation, the mile-swim was less populated by our troop this year.  More people are encouraged to participate in this fun event next year.

 

Hamden Bike Trip 9/15/20

Since the participation level and weather forecast were questionable, the bike trip location was changed this year, from Cape Cod to a more local trail in Hamden .  We all met at the Hamden Middle School . The turnout was much larger than it would have been had we gone out of state.  We rode out about 10 miles to the end of the bike trail, with a few breaks along the way.  At the end of the trail, we regrouped and decided what to do next.  Everyone rode a couple miles back to a cool area for lunch.  After lunch, we decided to ride back to the starting place, then ride an additional 3 miles out then back in order to successfully complete 25 miles.  Everyone had a great time and there only two flat tires!  To top it off, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back to Guilford !  This day trip is a great alternative to an impractical overnight trip.

                                                YIS,

                                                    Eric Weidman

Everyone met up at the parking lot at Yawgoog on Sunday, July 8th at around five o'clock. When we finally got permission to enter camp, everyone piled down the road to our site in Three Point: Frontier. We organized our tents, which took a while because the camp didn't give us enough tents and we had to combine some. Then we had to set up the garage tent, the tent that we put over the picnic tables for the week. Next came dinner: hot dogs cooked at our very own campfire! After that was lights out.

    Monday morning, we got up and everybody did their jobs posted on the bulletin board. Breakfast was pancakes, and we had to go straight to our troop photo after. After an unreasonably long photo, we went back to camp to prepare for our swim tests which took place at about 10:00am. We then had the rest of the morning free to hang out in our campsite. Lunch was hotdogs, and then we had our water front orientation. After that, we had afternoon merit badge classes. At Yawgoog, you have for merit badge 'classes' during the day, and one more after dinner. Two occur after breakfast, and two after lunch, so scouts can earn up to about five merit badges in the week, but three is usually a rational amount so you can have some free time and time for homework. Anyway, afternoon classes started Monday and ended Friday, while morning classes started Tuesday and mostly ended on Friday, but may have to have a short class Saturday. Dinner was pasta w/ meat sauce, and of course some bread and butter.

    Tuesday began the normal schedule. We had eggs and sausage for breakfast, and then of to classes! Lunch was grilled cheese, and then after a short break, back to classes! After a dinner of roast beef, we returned to camp, and some of us went off to one more class! This general schedule was fairly consistent throughout the rest of the week.

    There are some friendly competitions throughout the week of camp to help scouts enjoy themselves even more. There is a troop competition that takes place after lunch each day that consists of a game in which troops select a representative to play and some troops are eliminated each day until only one remains. We got eliminated on the second day in a game of ninja.

    Also, there is a mile swim at camp. In order to take part in this "not race", you had to swim 20 lengths in the waterfront to qualify. This year we had a troop record of seven people qualify for the swim, that's more than any other troop we swam with. The seven were Nick Apuzzo, Adam Germaine, Jesse Warner, Dan McCloskey, Cliff Mackowiak, Ian Slattery, and me (Eric Weidman). I finished first in the "not" race, and the others followed strong. Everybody finished, which was the goal seeing as it is a hard thing to do.

    The final competition that was held at camp was the mile run. Each troop gets one representative to run for them, and the troop decided to make me do it. I accepted my fate, and decided to make it worth something. So I ran. On the last turn, I passed the kid that was in first and sprinted to the finish. Yay!
On Saturday, there is a show called the Saturday Night Show that we go to watch along with every other scout and person on reservation. Unfortunately, I had to leave camp the day before so I missed the show, but I'm sure it was great just like every other year.

    Everyone left on Sunday, July 15 in the morning, avoiding the parade that the other troops do (shhh!).

    I think Camp Yawgoog is a great experience for all scouts, and they should try to go if they can.

YIS,
Eric Weidman

Nickerson Bike Trip- 9/30-10/2

Nickerson Bike Trip- 9/30-10/2   On September 30th, 2011, we drove up to Nickerson State Park in Cape Cod for our bike trip. We set up camp, made dinner, and went to bed. When my tent woke up in the morning, our tent was in a three in deep puddle from the rain the previous night. Luckily, the floor of the tent held and nothing got wet. After breakfast, it was raining so we decided to go to a tower nearby. We climbed to the top of the tower and enjoyed the view before returning to camp and starting out on the trip. We all stopped at Marconi Beach for lunch and then continued on back to camp, while the 50 milers went farther. On the way back, we stopped at the candy/ice cream store for a rest, and finished up back at camp. We all had a good time and everybody should go next time because it was awesome. YIS, Eric Weidman

Days of Caring Food Drive 9/24/11   On Saturday September 24, the troop participated in the annual Days of Caring food drive. We are usually the food banks largest group at these events. The troop had a great turnout and so did the food bank considering they didn't have much advertisement. It was a great time and everybody should participate next time because everybody needs community service and fun. YIS, Eric Weidman

Rocks Tree Farm 2/19-21/2011

 

On Saturday 2/19, eight scouts and seven leaders met at the North Guilford Firehouse at 7am to drive North to Rocks Tree Farm in New Hampshire. Upon arrival, we changed into warmer clothing and lugged our gear down to the campsite, as the road down to the campsite had not been plowed.  After setting up all the tents, we set off to collect firewood and prepare the picnic table for the next couple nights.  We dragged the wood into piles and cut it into pieces that could fit in the fire pit.  Shortly after the fire was started, we had dinner- foil meals warmed up in the fire.  Mr. Ott also made chicken soup to go along with the meals.  Everybody had to stay hydrated with warm apple cider, hot cocoa, and soup.  After dinner, everybody hung out by the fire and some people played Big Booty, a traditional game.  Later, everybody went to bed for the night.  When we woke up, we changed and ate- oatmeal, pre-cooked eggs, and soup.  Soon after, we got in the cars and drove to Mount Pierce. The sky was cloudy so we didn't expect to summit this year.  The path was slippery so everybody either had to wear some form of extra traction on their feet- whether it be Yak-Trax or snow shoes.  We started up the trail at a fast pace.  We slowed down a little so everybody could keep up.  About an hour and a half later, we took a break at the junction about halfway up the mountain.  Here there is usually a few Canadian Jays that eat trail mix out of your hands, but they weren't there at this point.  A few people chose to turn back at this point, whether it be from exhaustion or injury.  The group that continued up saw soon that the sky was clearing up and we might be able to summit.  We decided to go a little bit faster because we wanted to get to the top of the mountain before the cloud cover returned.  A while later, we reached the Alpine Zone, the point that the trees were gone and the only vegetation was small shrubs. From this point on, we were completely exposed to the wind.  After layering up, we went on, following an already worn path toward the summit. When we finally reached the summit, the view was spectacular, you could see for miles in every direction. For a short while, we could even see the top of Mount Washington! This was one of the few days every year that was this clear on top of these mountains.  Once we took a bunch of pictures and a few people attempted to make snow angels (Mr. Ott), we decided it was time to return to the bottom of the mountain.  We left the Alpine Zone quickly, the wind was blowing pretty hard.  Once back under the cover of trees, we stopped for a short time to layer down and grab a quick snack. We even took off our snow shoes.  Going down was much easier than going up, we could slide or run if we chose to.  Once to the junction again, we stopped for a snack and there were Canadian Jays this time! After refueling, we continued down the mountain, Morgan and Ben attempting to sled on pieces of cardboard. About a half hour later we were back at the parking lot.  We got situated in the cars and headed to the hyland center across the street for a little while.  We used this time to use the nice bathrooms and talk to other people there that climb and hike a lot.  A short time later, we were back in the car on the way back to camp.  There, we changed, gathered more firewood, and packed our bags leaving only what we were going to wear that night and the next day inside our tents. Everything else was packed and carried up to the building at the top of the hill.  Dinner that night was pasta with meat sauce. It tasted so good after a day of hiking.  After a while by the fire, we went to bed, our last night here this year.  Bright and early, we changed and packed up the tents.  Shortly after, we were in the cars again, this time on the way to the Littleton Diner.  We were overjoyed to eat at a place so nice and heated. After we gobbled down breakfast, we got to walk around the street, going in and out of different stores.  The most famous to our troop, Chutters candy shop.  It is the world's longest candy counter.  They have everything!! Even three foot long gummy snakes!  Everybody spent the majority of their time here, and then met back at the cars.  After using the bathroom one more time at Dunkin Donuts, we started our long car ride home.  Four hours later, we were home, most likely sleeping, unpacking, or eating. This trip was a lot of fun and I am definitely going on it next year.  I think it was better this year with more people, so the more people that come, the better.
-Eric Weidman

Merit Badge College 2011

Merit Badge College 2011  This year, we met at the Bell Amici parking lot at 8:00 in the morning on 4 Saturdays. We carpooled up to Lyman hall to take our classes. Four classes later, we either completed our three merit badges, or received partials. Merit Badge college is a good place to get up to three merit badges. YIS,Eric Weidman