Senior Patrol Leader Isaac Feldberg wrote an article in the local paper for it:

SUDBURY — Recently, members of all three Sudbury Boy Scout troops (Troops 60, 61 and 63) and Sudbury Venture Crew 1776 drove up to Glen, N.H. in hopes of trying out the extreme sport of ice-climbing. This is the second time that Troop 63 has done the trip, but the first time that it has been open to the other Scouting units in Sudbury.

Ice-climbing involves a climber, wielding ice axes and wearing traction devices called crampons on their feet, ascending a frozen waterfall or other similar ice structure with a person belaying them on a rope from the ground. Helping the group to learn the basics was Mark Synnott, an experienced AMGA Rock and Alpine certified guide, and a long time member of The North Face Climbing Team, who has climbed mountains around the world.

Read the whole thing here.

SUDBURY — Each year, Sudbury Troop 63’s program includes an exciting Summer Boy Scouts of America (BSA) High Adventure trip. The Troop selects one of three possible trips: a unique aquatic quest at the Florida Sea Base; a wilderness canoeing trek camping challenge at the Northern Tier (MN/Canada) or a wild west backpacking expedition at the Philmont Scout Ranch.

This summer, Troop 63 sent a crew to the Northern Tier High Adventure base at Ely, MN for a 125-mile canoe trek on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area between the U.S. and Canada. The crew of adventurous Scouters departed on 8/6 for MN, toured the International Wolf Center & North American Bear Center at Ely and was paddling from Aug. 8 – 16.

Read the whole thing here here.

People in our troop took the merit badges of Swimming, Archery, Archeology, Rifle Shooting, Pottery, Canoeing, Art, Fire Safety, Leatherwork, Woodcarving, Emergency Preparedness, Wilderness Survival, Environmental Science, Fly Fishing, Kayaking, Camping, Shotgun Shooting, Cooking, and Indian Lore. After our three merit badge classes, we would have delicious lunches (one day it was chicken fajitas) then go back to our campsite for a siesta.

After our rest, older scouts would go to an afternoon merit badge class while the younger scouts would work on pathfinder skills for the Boy Scout ranks of First and Second Class. From then on we would have free time to enjoy the fried dough and slushees of the trading post or to swim in the lake at the camp. Lake Resolute had a variety of swimming platforms. Finally at the dining hall we would get dinner and dessert, both excellent, and then go back to our campsite for a final time. Lights out was at 10:00 pm.

On the first and last night, we had the opportunity to attend a campfire where the counselors would perform various skits and ceremonies. Also, on other nights we performed sporting events. There was the aquatics meet, where we competed in several water related events, and the Apache Relay, a race around camp by swimming, running, canoeing, kayaking, and wading. Our troop came in third. There was also a triathlon that some scouts participated in.

Over all, camp was a fun experience, and it gave us scouts plenty of fun free time, as well as earning valuable merit badges.

Here are some troop pictures from the closing ceremony. You can click on any of the pictures to see them bigger.

The purpose of the bike trip was for us to bike to various towns on Martha’s Vineyard from a campsite. First, everybody congregated at the church on Saturday morning, where we then drove for a while to reach the ferry that would be taking us to Martha’s Vineyard. The ferry was more than three stories high, and had a variety of good foods at the snack bar. After the short trip, we arrived at the town of Vineyard Haven, where we rented bikes and then took a short but scenic route to our campsite, which was near an enormous construction site. Once there, we quickly set up our tents and other gear, then had lunch. After lunch, we decided upon a visit to the highlight of the trip, which was the fudge and candy shops in the nearby town of Edgartown. After a surprisingly long and scenic bike ride involving bad map reading, we reached Edgartown. Now that we were there, we indulged in the scenic views and food present. We then took a much shorter return journey to our campsite, where, after having a delicious dinner of steak tips, we went to sleep. The next morning, we quickly packed everything up, and took a shorter bike ride to the town of Oak Bluffs. Once again, we enjoyed refreshments and then biked back to Vineyard Haven, where we gave up our bikes grudgingly, before getting on the ferry. It was then just a short ferry ride and long car ride back to home. Overall we had ridden 27 miles.

So we walked the trail for about and hour and a half, going the wrong way no more than once or twice. After about two and a half hours, we got to the halfway point (we were back at the beginning) and we stopped to rest and have lunch. From then on, we walked along the shore side of a lake for a while, and then, as is inevitable when we are almost at the destination, we got completely lost. Finally, after some help from passing hikers, we blundered onto the campsite. Once there, we had some more food, all the scouts were assigned to their campsites, and the different groups began to build their shelters, using tarps and ropes. Soon the scoutmasters came around for scoring the quality of the shelters. After that, all the groups had dinner at their campsites, with a delicious variety of food being served. The scoutmasters again came around for scoring; although this time they could use their sense of taste. Later that night, everyone came to the group campfire, including the new scouts, and watched skits, jokes, and songs organized wonderfully by the master of ceremonies. Finally, everyone went back to base camp or to their self made shelters, and fell asleep. It was a cold night, but overall pleasant.

The next morning, everybody got up and packed up their personal gear as well as their shelters. Once that work was done, the entire group went to the main campfire, where we would be watched as we cooked breakfast. The breakfasts were just as good as the dinners, and were also scored for quality. Once our mess kits had been cleaned up, the winner of the competition was announced. Everybody did a camp wide clean up, and then we brought all the gear down to the cars. So ended our survival weekend trip.

After lunch, we walked down to the shooting range. There, we got instructions on the safety of using a shotgun, and walked over to where we would be shooting. We would shoot the gun with our back to a shed, aiming out over a pond next to the range. Inside this shed was a machine that flung clay pigeons (brittle clay disks) through an opening next to us. We would shoot along the path of the clay pigeon as it traveled away from us. Shooting was loads of fun, and although the gun did have mild recoil, it was easy to hit the target.  We then went track shooting, where the clay pigeon launcher shot the projectiles in various directions. After that, everybody traveled back to the campsite and rested a bit.

We then commenced to go to the rifle range. This, unlike the shooting range, was indoors, and we were to aim at specific target boards, which would be scored. The rifles had less recoil than the shotguns, but it was still a pleasant challenge to aim them and hit the target. Afterwards we had dinner and dessert, and then performed at a campfire. Finally we went to bed. The next morning, everybody shot semiautomatic shotguns. The semiautomatic shotguns had much stronger recoil and sound. Finally we had to bid adieu to the shooting refuge and go home.