Troop 27 takes on the White Mountains 2014!

[disney4dan 68]

After the breakfast of eggs and sausage with a side of toast (anyone get the Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner reference?), we made our way out to go swimming in the Pemigewassett River near the entrance to Loon Mountain ski area.  The daytime temperature had rocketed to a balmy 70 degrees which is just what you need as an incentive to wade into water that is probably somewhere south of 60 degrees.  Not an item on my bucket list, but these guys love to swim no matter how cold the water is.

 

 

For me, I decided to try my hand at panning for gold.  The very first year that my son was in Boy Scouts, Hurricane Irene came up the east coast and hit New England hard with some very heavy rainfall.  Roads and bridges were washed out, highways were temporarily closed, lots of water damage.  All one week before our first Labor Day camping event.  Luckily, New Hampshire doesn't mess around with repairs during events like this.  One week later and many roads were open again and we saw large excavators sitting in river beds moving boulders and gravel back into position at roadsides and as fill for temporary bridges.  No need for lengthy wetland permit filings or red tape.  Just do it.

 

So, why do I bring that up?  Large storm events like that can turn up and redistribute a lot of material in a river and can cause things like gold to become uncovered.  While I didn't expect to see much, there were some recently displaced large rocks containing quartz and what looked like gold flecks on the side. So I brought up my pan and began to look!

 

 

OK, without testing I can't be sure that fleck in the middle of the pan is gold and not iron pyrite, but a man can dream can't he?  You never know, my fortunes could be found under a rock in a creek in the White Mountains!  But I think I will keep my day job just in case.

 

Now that I found the motherload of gold specks, we all decided it must be time to celebrate.  Not wanting to waste all of my fortune in one location, we decided to head north to the Lancaster Fair.  This is a good sized town, small city located about 45 minutes northeast of Franconia Notch.  In the land where AT&T still uses the vintage EDGE network.  Ah, the good old days.  When you can have 5 solid bars of service on your phone and still can't send a text.  Or update Facebook. But we made it work anyway.  In the rain.....

 

 

First stop - fattening fried food....

 

 

And antique/collectible cars:

 

 

And soon to be released toys for big boys

 

 

The boys hit the Tilt A Whirl:

 

 

While the rest of us adults tried to find a place out of the rain ;-(

 

 

You can always count on the 4H fairs having displays and the Historical Society having a building as well.

 

How about a 37 star flag?  This flag came out the year that Nebraska was added to the Union.

 

[disney4dan 68]

Ugh, I had a second part to this update written and mistakenly clicked on the "x" on the tab instead of selecting the tab for this forum.  I hate it when that happens switching back and forth between Photobucket an the posts.  Oh well, I'll start over.

 

The historical society also had some older farm implements, including these.  I have one of those tools in the garage.  It is the curved blade thing in the center next to the broad axe.  It works great and never runs out of gas!

 

 

And a handy portable scale known as a Stilyerd

 

 

I followed up the historical society building by getting a healthy snack!  Hey, there are vegetables in this.  Right next to the grease.

 

 

After that, we saw some of the draft horses and oxen, but I don't have any photos to post.  Fantastic animals, and it was fun to watch them interact with the kids.  From there, we headed back to the camp for a final dinner of chicken, rice and broccoli.  Cooked by the kids and they did the clean up.  I managed to grab a shot of a group enjoying their dinner at the table without any cell phones, no games, just good conversation.  Well, conversation anyways, maybe the topic wasn't that lofty, but they were all getting along and enjoying the camp fire. Thanks for coming along on the trip report - I'll post more adventures when we have them!

 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Looks like a lot of fun! You mentioned me being around the campfire with him. We do that as a lot of family, but do moms go on these trips? I always figured it would be something he and Jason would do together. Although coming along every now and then might be fun. 

[disney4dan 68]

Looks like a lot of fun! You mentioned me being around the campfire with him. We do that as a lot of family, but do moms go on these trips? I always figured it would be something he and Jason would do together. Although coming along every now and then might be fun. 

We have mothers who participate a lot in Nashua Valley Council, and probably lots of councils do. we

One of the moms in our troop camps out almost every time with our troop (and her husband comes along too)

They are on the advancement committee and get to know the kids as they earn their badged

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[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Thanks Dan, what a fun and full trip. 

Gold in them thar mountains !!

 

Yep TCD is right,  still hot here and humid, have been down to high 70s in the very early mornings.  Have hopes of cooler weather by November.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I did LOTS of Scout camping with my boys. I was the BSA Lifeguard, Safe Swim Defense, and Safety Afloat trained adult for the troop. (Which reminds me Dan, where were the marked off zones, and buddy board for the troop swim :) )

 

Also served on the Committee and Committee Chair for a few years. Went to the 2005 National Jamboree on the Boating Staff and went to many summer camps, and was chosen to serve in Order of the Arrow. So YES, in most troops and councils, moms are welcome. I did not, however go on overnight carry everything on your back backpacking trips.(my choice) Also, I brought my shower tent and portapotty with me when there were no facilities. 

[dvccamper 32]

Great trip report! We love the White Mountains but haven't been there in about ten years when the kids were real little. We used to work it in with the annual trip to Storyland.

Love the picture of the boys at the picnic table with no electronics. A rare thing indeed!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Looks like everyone had a great time!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

As said before yes mom's go on camping trips also, my wife was the one that did the scouting thing with the boy's as I worked nights and into the weekends so it was hard for me to make the camping trips, she also served on many committees and FUND raising for the troop.

  Carol my wife might have been at the same Jamboree you were, was that the year that the troop form Alaska had the terrible accident in the lightning storm?

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

As said before yes mom's go on camping trips also, my wife was the one that did the scouting thing with the boy's as I worked nights and into the weekends so it was hard for me to make the camping trips, she also served on many committees and FUND raising for the troop.

  Carol my wife might have been at the same Jamboree you were, was that the year that the troop form Alaska had the terrible accident in the lightning storm?

Yes it was, but it wasn't a lightning storm, they were setting up a large circus tent and connected with an electrical line overhead Huge tragedy.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Yes it was, but it wasn't a lightning storm, they were setting up a large circus tent and connected with an electrical line overhead Huge tragedy.

 

That's right, I was on the road that night when the scoutmaster's wife called me and said everyone with our troop was ok, she just wanted me to know the worst thing was I at that time did not even know anything happened. Yes it was a terrible accident. If you met a little blonde women that TALKED a lot at the jamboree that was her. :rofl2:  :rofl2:  :rofl2:

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

That's right, I was on the road that night when the scoutmaster's wife called me and said everyone with our troop was ok, she just wanted me to know the worst thing was I at that time did not even know anything happened. Yes it was a terrible accident. If you met a little blonde women that TALKED a lot at the jamboree that was her. :rofl2:  :rofl2:  :rofl2:

Despite the tragedy, that was the best and most challenging 2 weeks as a Scout Leader I've had. We had 110 heat index lots of days, and I lost 15 pounds!!!!, but I met and worked with 1000s of Scouts teaching them how to use a rowboat. We also had a couple of true racing skids, and there were a few high school boys that were on their rowing team. As we met them over the 2 weeks, towards the end we invited all the "racers" back to the waterfront for some private time on the water. It was so cool to see those boys flat out make those skids run without all the other "stuff" on the water. Also the big assembly with 70,000 scouts/leaders in one field was just an awesome site to see. My youngest son (who was 17 at the time) came with me and worked in the ropes course area. He had a great time too. My oldest son went with a Council troop in 2001, and I think my younger son had the better experience being on staff. (A whole lot cheaper too)

[disney4dan 68]

Lightning safety is such a big thing in scouts now, with many parents asking about it. There was a death at Treasure Valley Camp in Paxton, MA a few years back and that section of camp is seldom used now.

I like your comment on the water safety for that river - there were lots of adults in the water and the biggest thing they were pushing was soap to get rid of the funky smell! But there were adults standing on rocks watching as well. I was going for gold!

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[h2odivers...Ray 952]

What are great trip.

I love that fact that the kids and adults were forced to communicate with their mouths and not their thumbs.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Lightning safety is such a big thing in scouts now, with many parents asking about it. There was a death at Treasure Valley Camp in Paxton, MA a few years back and that section of camp is seldom used now.

I like your comment on the water safety for that river - there were lots of adults in the water and the biggest thing they were pushing was soap to get rid of the funky smell! But there were adults standing on rocks watching as well. I was going for gold!

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I was just teasing, I did see the adult watching, and there are situations where some of the "rules" are (in my opinion) meant to be adapted to the situation, which we did often. I mean who brings "really" brings rope and milk jugs to mark off swim areas and brings clothes pins for the buddy board on a regular camping trip :)