Troop 10 of Great Neck New York recently returned from a beautiful September weekend camping trip at the Alpine Scout Camp in New Jersey across the highway from the Palisades Interstate Park.
Thirty-six scouts and eight adults camped overnight with perfect weather for a change.
The scouts are divided into groups of six to eight scouts each (called patrols) with an elected Patrol Leader.
The scouts took a very challenging hike down steep and narrow switchbacks to the Hudson River level then traveled north. Eventually, they encountered a boulder field, which was challenging and difficult to traverse.
For half a mile, the white trail took them over the ostensibly least treacherous path to more even ground.
They continued north but the trail was interrupted by a newly downed tree and its hornets’ nest and the swarm of angry hornets. Several hikers on the trail (not Troop 10) were stung, some more than once. A rescue boat on the Hudson River had come to retrieve one potentially very sick man and took him and his family.
The scouts doubled back.
Some of the scouts did not heed the admonitions to bring adequate water. All survived.
Back at the campsite, it was soon time to cook. The patrols at previous meetings, had developed their menu for what to cook for dinner and breakfast and corresponding shopping list.
Some of the scouts in each patrol shopped with an adult. The patrols cooked on camp stoves.
After dinner, they cleaned up.
They enjoyed a campfire full of skits with varying degrees of cleverness and humor.
In the morning, they cooked breakfast and cleaned up.
Some patrols got up earlier and some patrols were quicker than others. It took us a little longer to get out of the site, but we did make sure that everything was clean and there was no trash left behind.
Before we left, though, each scout had the opportunity to briefly reflect on his experiences.
Troop 10 meets at the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department on 25 Prospect St. on Mondays from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on school days.
If you are interested in joining Troop 10, please contact Dwight Rosenstein at djrosenstein@gmail.com.
Submitted by Dwight J. Rosenstein, Scoutmaster
