Scouts from Troop 7227 on St. Croix, USVI organized a bike outing to assist members who are working on rank and merit badge requirements. They started at the Howard Wall camp and stopped for refreshments at the Southgate Coastal Reserve. Beautiful views of the Caribbean Sea and cooling breezes welcomed the Scouts.
An adventurous crew of nine scouts and three adults from Troop 58 in Ashburn, VA spent a year eagerly anticipating a spring break Sea Base sailing adventure in the Bahamas. Due to the uncertainties surrounding international travel because of the ongoing pandemic, the crew changed course in January and chose a St. Thomas sailing adventure in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In April, the crew donned their matching Hawaiian shirts, met Captain Matias at Sapphire Beach Marina and boarded the deck of the 50 ft. yacht, Antillean, and set sail.
The first night sleeping on deck was quite an adventure with gusting high winds, torrential downpours, flapping side panels, squealing pulleys, squawking seagulls, and even crowing roosters! The weather improved and the crew enjoyed navigating from the shaded cockpit and at times relaxing in the on-deck hammock. Some of the highlights of the week included snorkeling, night fishing at Honeymoon Beach, hiking to Fort Segarra, and a beach BBQ. Late in the week, the crew swam ashore in their bathing suits to Water Island for a well-deserved hamburger dinner at a local waterfront restaurant.
During the course of the five-day adventure the crew completed the requirements to earn the Snorkeling BSA patch and the Duty to God award. Several scouts also earned their Fishing, Citizenship in Society, and Communications merit badges. Captain Matias kept a close eye on the crew throughout the week to evaluate their success on the water in the areas of snorkeling, sailing & crewing, fishing, cooking, cleaning, personal care, and behavior and awarded them with the Captains Club patch.
Troop 58’s next high adventure will be dog-sledding, snowshoeing, ice-fishing and more at Okpik Cold Weather Camping at Northern Tier in January 2023!
Last weekend, our group of 8 Cub Scouts, including 3 Cub and STEM Scouts, completed the “Cub Scout portion” of the DC STEM Trek. We hiked all 14 stops from the Smithsonian Metro to the Boy Scout Memorial.
Our Scouts had a great time! They came prepared, answered every Cub Scout and On-site question, learned a lot about how STEM helped in the creation of Washington DC and enjoyed the time spent together.
While we are local Cub Scout pack from Ashburn, VA, we did have one STEM Scout from our Lab, fly from Florida to DC just to join our hike!
Editor’s note: The DC STEM Trek was designed by GTroop 1853 to encourage families to explore the Nation’s capital from a STEM perspective! To see the Trek Guide, visit www.ncacbsa.org/stem
During the recent Christmas break, Venturers of St. Paul’s LCMS Venturing Crew 1785 teamed up with Scouts of Mt. Zion UMC’s Scouts BSA Troop 1785, both of Mechanicsville, to head out to t
he Boy Scouts of America’s Northern Tier High Adventure Base in Ely, MN for a week of winter fun.
Originally planned for 2020 but rescheduled for 2021 due to the Maryland Governor’s COVID-19 travel restrictions, the crew of youth and adult advisors finally got to experience a variety of winter sports and activities out on the snow-covered forests and lakes of the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area, a mere six miles from the Canadian border. Scouts enjoyed snowshoeing, dog sledding, cross-country skiing, building and sleeping in quinzees (a kind of snow shelter), ice fishing, downhill sledding and broom ball iduring BSA’s Okpik Holiday Stay program. ‘Okpik’ is an Inuit word for snowy owl.
Temperatures bottomed out at -32F overnight one night and there were two continuous days where they remained below zero. Participants all brought basic cold weather clothing and gear and were outfitted with additional excellent heavy-weight cold weather clothing, gear and high energy food by the staff at Northern Tier to enable us to “Be Prepared” for the conditions.
After nearly two years of planning and fundraising, everyone was excited to finally realize the fruits of their labor and see in the new year on an adventure. “Cold but very fun. We didn’t feel cold because of what we did,” said Scout Brice M.. Scout John O. enthused “It was awesome to be out in such extreme weather. I want to go back next winter and work there.”
Have you ever walked in snow that squeaks or camped under the brilliance of the Milky Way? How about snowshoeing among the fresh tracks of moose and rabbit, or seeing an otter dodge across a frozen lake?
Venture Crew 1345 from Burke, Virginia, experienced all of these and more on their recent Okpik Cold Weather Camping Weekend at the Northern Tier Charles L. Summers Canoe Base in Ely, Minnesota. The young men and women (and brave adult advisors) completed the Okpik Winter Camping Weekend trek over a recent long weekend in January 2022, where the daytime high temperatures were still below zero and the windchills hit below -30 degrees F.
The moment the crew arrived, the fantastic outfitters at Northern Tier made sure the Scouts were ready for the weather. With boots rated to -100 degrees, heavy fleece mittens, and ample layers to cut the wind and cold, the toasty crew was ready to take on the northern Minnesota winter. The crew collected cross-country skis and snowshoe gear, an auger and fishing poles, heavy-duty winter sleeping bags and tarps, and food/cooking equipment for the multi-day camping event.
The focus of the Okpik Cold Weather Camping Weekend is to experience all different types of winter/snow related weather activities that Okpik has to offer – from hiking out to a wilderness lake in 12 inches of snow, towing gear in sleds (pulks), set up a campsite and spend the nights camping in quinzhees, snow shelters or a Russian Tents. Venture Crew 1345 was no exception. They hiked with gear-filled sleds, snowshoed through the forest and skied across frozen lakes topped with several inches of snow more than seven miles each day. They did jumping jacks around the outdoor snow kitchen and held impromptu running races across the frozen lake. They even got to participate in dog sledding around a frozen island.
And through all of this, they worked together as a team to make the most of the experience.
Cold weather camping – especially when the temperatures at night drops 50 degrees below freezing – is not for the unprepared. Venture Crew 1345 knew that they needed to work together to plan, prepare, and practice even long before heading to Minnesota (ah! the first principle in leave no trace). They held shakedown cold weather camping weekends, carefully reviewed health and safety protocols, and double and triple checked their gear prior to the trip.
But they also worked together as a team during the trek – doing wellness checks with their fellow Scouts and working together to make sure everyone on the crew was healthy, safe, and getting the most out of the trek.
Venture Crew 1345 is now back in warmer Northern Virginia, but the memories of this high adventure trek will stay with the Scouts and Scouters for many years to come.
And, yes, the snow does squeak when you walk on it. The moose, rabbits and otters do share the forest trails and snowy lakes with the Okpik visitors. And the Milky Way nearly pops out of the sky when it’s 30 degrees below zero.
Venture Crew 1345 is a part of the Boy Scouts of America units chartered by the Burke Centre Conservancy in Northern Virginia. The BCC supports a family-focused Cub Scout Pack 1345, boys Troop 1345, girls Troop 1345G, and co-ed Venture Crew 1345. To learn more about Burke Centre’s BSA units, go to https://bsa1345burke.org/
Calling all Scouts and Parents who want to camp and have fun in the outdoors this spring! You can sign up now for Spring Bullseye Family Camping for either April 22-24 or May 20-22, 2022 at Camp Snyder.
The EXPANDED program has A) 10 activities you can schedule by appointment, to avoid waiting in line, B) 15 shorter, un-scheduled guided activities that you can do in between your scheduled activities and C) 5 self-guided activities that you can enjoy anytime during your stay. This year we will also have an Opening Ceremony and an evening Campfire Program open to all campers. We will run the program using COVID-19 virus precautions to protect both our campers and our volunteer staff.
This program is for you ONLY if you like to shoot BBs or arrows, climb the Scouterhorn, drive robotic vehicles, create your own handicraft, race your Pinewood Derby car, take a guided nature walk, play field games, run an obstacle course, build something in the Wood Shop, fish, bicycle, find geocached items or participate in many other hands-on activities. Choose wisely, because you can’t do them all!
DON’T MISS OUT! Space is limited and many families have already signed up! You can register and find a lot more information at https://scoutingevent.com/082-BullsEyeFamily
