Historian Blog

During a cold week in January, the event known as the Winterfest in Treasure Valley was scheduled for the weekend. Due to complications regarding the weather, the main event was cancelled. However, this didn’t stop our troop from camping out that night, some in tents, some in the Probus building at our site.

Certain areas of the event were still open, including a small field of ice at lower Boonesville plains. Sliding across the field was a blast, considering we were all bundled up in many layers of cold weather gear. Full allotments of winter coats, wool socks, and snow pants covered the body of every scout in our troop, and slamming ourselves onto the ice didn’t hurt at all; although one scout managed to make the discovery that broken ice can have the same slicing capabilities as broken glass, only his index finger received a cut.

Nightfall came fast, and with all of our tents pitched and prepared for the night, it was dinner time, and card game time! Crazy whatevers, pepsi, and war were the draws of the deck, along with a western spoof of 7-Up which brought along with it many laughs.

It was then time for the moment most scouts had attended for: the tent sleepover. It only takes one night to satisfy the coldweather camping requirement for the Camping merit badge, and all who attempted this challenge emerged victorious except one, which overall is quite successful.

The Winterfest event this year embodied what Troop 123 is all about: making the most of an outing even when things don’t go as planned. Unlike the previous trip, another followed the Winterfest just two weeks later by the name of the Klondike, another article-worthy event!

The weekend of Columbus Day saw the first big campout of this scouting year for Troop 123. We spent the weekend from Friday to Monday at Pawtuckaway in New Hampshire.

We left around four o’clock on Friday. After settling in our campsite, we faced the first of many trials on the campout: pitching our tents in the pitch-black nighttime. With a little help here and there, we conquered this trial and obtained the spoils of our victory: tasty pizza and a well-deserved night’s sleep.

Saturday allowed us to become situated in our temporary tent homes and go off on mini-adventures. Some went fishing, some gathered firewood, and I’ll bet some played daytime manhunt as well. The day ended with a delicious batch of Dutch oven brownies, baked by troop historian Joe DeGaetano.

Sunday was the main event: our orienteering scavenger hunt. Rain or shine was our motto for the event, but that didn’t stop the rain from being absolutely brutal. Still, each group pushed through and did their best to punch in each Braille symbol into their cards, and find all ten riddles. Midway through the event, it was called on account of how heavy it was raining and the lack of and end in sight to the downpour. We ended up staying at the pavilion building until the day’s end, passing the time with card games and books.

Monday was the journey home, which sounds uneventful enough, but we decided to stop at the Kittery Trading Post in Maine before starting our ride. The shop mainly specialized in guns and knives. Arrival back in Leicester was at approximately 3:35 PM, and the campout had ended.

This campout provided a great time for requirements to be signed off. New scout Nathan managed to get quite close to Scout and Tenderfoot rank, memorizing the Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan; Joe and Adam fulfilled a handful of Cooking requirements; and Plague Knights patrol leader Jacob Stolberg earned his Family Life merit badge, which is arguably one of the most difficult merit badges to obtain on a scout’s road to Eagle.
The next big events for Troop 123 reside in January, with the Winterfest and Klondike Derby up next. Until then, this is Historian Joe signing off!