Troop 5 – Bronxville, NY

Crew 715F Philmont Experience

Day 1: Thursday, 7/14/11
• Uneventful flight to Dallas
• Good views of the desert on flight to Santa Fe
• Small airport in Santa Fe
• Santa Fe – cool adobe architecture
• Checked into Garretts Desert Inn
• Lunch at San Francisco Street Cafe
• Visited New Mexico Museum
• Georgia O’Keefe Museum
• Popcorn at popcorn stand
• Went to oldest church in the USA but didn’t go in because they charged a dollar
• Went swimming at the hotel pool; made a human bridge and carried Will Stoeffhaas across the pool
• Dinner at Mexican Restaurant
• Haagen-Dazs

Day 2: Friday, 7/15/11
• Woke up early – ate breakfast at hotel and took a long time
• Drove 2 ½ hours to Philmont
• Met our ranger – Kristen, an Air Force Academy cadet
• Ate lunch of fish sticks at base camp cafeteria
• Met another ranger named Derek who we saw and kidded with repeatedly over the next few days
• Mark, Mr. Carley, and Mr. Landy got all of the info for our itinerary at logistics
• Had our medical forms checked at health lodge
• Ate dinner at base camp
• Attended religious services – Catholic Mass said by Bishop of Santa Fe; Many of the crew attended Mormon Service
• Rained at opening campfire, so it was cut short
• Saw SOS signal up near Tooth of Time and reported it

Day 3: Saturday, 7/16/11
• Woke up early
• 6:30 breakfast of eggs and greasy bacon
• Weighed our packs – ranged from Mr. Carley’s pack at 31 lbs. to Steven Ircha’s pack at 52lbs (i.e. without food and water).
• Bussed into backcountry
• Rangers told us tall tales about ranger zip lines and underground golf course
• Hiked a couple of miles to Ponil – practiced lassoing and went to Cantina (Trading post)
• Set up camp – took forever to put up bear bag
• A couple crew members went to show at Ponil – saw cool card tricks and funny skits. Show ended Philmont Hymn

Day 4: Sunday, 7/17/11
• Went to pick up our burro – took a long time because another crew came late
• 2 hour orientation for burros
• Named our Burro Derek after Derek Redfern
• Took turns guiding him on the trail; he slowed us down a bit
• Pueblano camp-funny porch talk and intro to sparpoling (i.e. basically telephone pole climbing with spiked boots and a leather climbing strap)
• Assigned to furthest campsite even though we arrived first
• Most crew members participated in sparpoling. The staff was hilarious.
• Nature walk with Kristen-received Wilderness Pledge Cards
• Amazing show – great musicians and comedy

Day 5: Monday, 7/18/11
• Kristen left us early in the morning
• Faster taking down camp
• Hiked to Miranda
• Dropped off Derek – Savino ended up being dragged behind the burro
• Long hike up an enormous meadow to Miranda
• Joked around in porch talk; staff pretended they were from the 1800’s
• Black powder rifles and Tomahawk throwing
• Hiked to Baldytown and arrived in time for a thunderstorm
• Comfy chair, hot chocolate and awesome snack box on porch while we waited for the storm to pass
• Got to campsite – sang Philmont Hymn again – did “Thorn, Rose, and Bud” for first time

Day 6: Tuesday, 7/19/11
• Climbed Mt. Baldy – tiring hike – slept on the “temper-pedic” rocks
• Waited for bear to leave path before hike
• Bear trap failed and bear got away 5 times
• Took break on meadow after hike; sang Philmont Hymn with Mt. Baldy as backdrop
• Long stroll down the mountain
• Two mile hike to Conservation Project – built a trail and cut down trees
• TOOK HOT SHOWERS!!!!
• Chased bear out of our campsite several times; came back to neighbor’s site at 5:30 am

Day 7: Wednesday, 7/20/11
• Challenge course at Head of Dean – Steven pulled Chris C. singlehandedly over wall
• Other challenges included balancing platform, rope swing, and square that we all had to stand on
• Went through burnt down forest from Ponil Fire
• Saw wild turkeys walking into Santa Claus camp
• Sat down for a while and made Wookie noises
• Pumped water – no spigot
• Problem with neighbor and bear bags

Day 8: Thursday, 7/21
• Lots of deer in the morning
• Long hike – 11 miles
• Nice campsite at Devil’s Washbasin
• Dry camp – open field– more deer
• Great view of mountains in open air latrine

Day 9: Friday, 7/22
• Mr. Carley’s Birthday
• Hiked fast – picked up food at Ute Gulch Commissary
• At trading post we won Goldbond and cookies for answering Greek and Roman trivia
• No shower’s at Clark’s Fork – very disappointed
• Rained a lot
• Mountain lion spotted in camp next to ours; tough to sleep
• Chuck-wagon dinner; ate beef stew and pound cake with peaches for dessert
• Won roping contest versus other crew – “We Been Lashing” – won donuts
• Campfire wasn’t great

Day 10: Saturday, 7/23
• Hiked quickly up to Cypher’s Mine
• Slept in a Lean-to; had to cram all 12 of us into one
• Ice cold showers
• Tour of Contention Mine – team building exercise to simulate a cave-in and exit mine in complete darkness
• Blacksmithing – made J and S hooks
• Strong man competition – Will Tarry and Savino represented Crew 715F – German girl won
• Attended “Stomp” -best campfire of all
• Staff played “real” music for a few hours after

Day 11: Sunday, 7/24
• Hard beginning of hike – tried shortcut up near vertical road
• Hiked up Mount Comanche
• Hiked up Mount Phillips in approaching thunderstorm
• Rained a lot
• Froze in Red Hills Camp; temperatures dropped into 30’s
• Took hours to untangle bear bag rope

Day 12: Monday, 7/25
• Woke up early to get to Black Mountain Camp
• Ate lunch and filled up water at the camp
• Couldn’t climb Black Mountain because there was lightning on top of the mountain, so we did an easier but longer hike to Shaefer’s Pass
• Bear was in another campsite and we scared it off with the help of our sister crew
• Went to bed early to wake up at 2 am to watch Sunrise from Tooth of Time

Day 13: Tuesday, 7/26
• Woke up at 1:45 am
• Stars were incredible
• Night hiked to the Tooth; difficult trail in the dark
• Bear sighting in Tooth Ridge Camp
• Scrambled up The Tooth with full packs – turned out to be a foolish decision
• Saw completely orange sunrise and ate breakfast
• Long hike to base camp via 14 switchbacks
• Ate junk food
• Attended religious services
• Cool closing campfire featuring “Home Bound” song and mini-bear attack skit
• Crew awards ceremony

Day 14: Wednesday, 7/27
• Some crew members visited Waite Phillips’ house in the morning; some had gone the day before
• Took shuttle for Santa Fe at 10:00 am
• Stopped at Subway and Dairy Queen
• Flew to Dallas Airport
• Many of us ate at McDonald’s and a few others went to TGI Fridays
• Flight back to New York was delayed 2 ½ hours
• Arrived at JFK at 2:30 am

From June 24-27th, 22 scouts and 9 adults went camping in the Adirondack Mountains with a goal of dayhiking up some of the highest peaks in New York. It was wet, rainy and somewhat muddy. The troop drove up to the campsite on Friday afternoon and got there on Friday night in time to set up the tents and the campsites. Most of the boys slept in big 3-4 person tents, but the older boys slept in small two person tents to train for Philmont (a long ten-day hike in Arizona).

The next day everyone went on a 1-mile hike up Mount Jo. After that they went on a nature hike with the Park Ranger and saw some great signs of wildlife including many tree stumps courtesy of some hungry beavers. Even though it was raining very hard several scouts went swimming in the lake! Just before dinner on Saturday evening the weather cleared up and some of the boys found a field and played a game of football while four others (Savino Brusco, Michael Landy, Chris Miller and Owen Hayes) decided to sprint to the top of Mt. Jo and back in under 45 minutes. After dinner everyone came around the campfire and each patrol acted out a skit. When the skits were over, we roasted marshmallows and listened to lots of jokes and riddles (Jokemeister Charlie Brusco kept us in stitches as did Rootin Tootin Roy — aka Justin Hoak). We all made sure we got a good sleep that night because the next morning we would hike up Mt. Marcy or Mt. Phelps; two very challenging mountains to climb.

On Sunday it started out as a very nice warm day; good for hiking. There were three groups on Sunday 1) those who were going on Philmont and would hike Mt. Marcy, 2) other scouts who were hiking Mt. Marcy (ie the highest peak in New York), and 3) those who were hiking Mt. Phelps. The other scouts had a choice between Mt. Marcy and Mt. Phelps. The boys who were going on Philmont had to leave at 7 a.m. so they woke up early. This fearless crew started out but apparently got lost in the parking lot for 10 minutes before finding the trailhead to Mt. Marcy. The other guys that were doing Mt. Marcy had to leave at 7:30 a.m. so they also had to wake up early. They boys who were doing Mt. Phelps were leaving at 8:30 a.m. so they did not have to wake up as early as the other boys. One interesting item of note is that the Philmont crew lived in fear of the younger scouts catching them on the hike up to Mt. Marcy so they tried to keep a fast pace. While they made a few excuses (ie getting lost and something about bloody noses), it only took the younger guys about 3.5 miles to catch the Philmont crew.

Mt. Marcy is a 15-mile hike and Mt. Phelps is a 9-mile hike. Mt. Marcy is the tallest mountain in the state of New York being 5,344 ft. in elevation. Mt Phelps is 4,160 ft. high in elevation, and it was named after the man who cut the first trail up Mt. Marcy. His name was Orson Schofield Phelps. Both mountains were extremely steep at points and very muddy. Along the trail we were greeted with periods of rain and frequent drizzle. Needless to say both hikes were very strenuous: We had to climb deliberately over big steep rocks that were wet which made the hikes harder then they already were. There was also a large stream to ford with a cool dam that was built out of wood. When everyone got back, some took showers and some relaxed before sitting down for a delicious beef stew for dinner.

On Monday morning everyone packed up their stuff and their tents and headed home. It was also some of the boys in the Super Eagle Patrol’s first camping trip as boy scouts. Congrats to patrol leader Kenny Taylor, Tommy Meade, Liam White-Krawiec, Jack McCarron and Clay Layton! I think they will be coming on a lot more of our hikes and campouts.

Anthony Crinieri

Troop 5 staged a Grand Court of Honor on Sunday, June 12. Approximately 125 scouts, parents and friends joined the troop in celebrating various awards and achievements and welcoming Troop 5’s newest Eagle Scouts, Shane O’Neil and Luke Dutton, to the group of Troop 5 Eagle alumni .

Cameron Smith served as the master of ceremonies for the regular court of honor. Dr. Kenneth Ruge, pastor of The Reformed Church, gave the invocation. He was followed by various awards of new rank to 18 scouts — 10 were honored as new scouts in the troop with the presentation of the Scout Rank, and there were 6 new First Class scouts and 2 new Star Scouts. Also, 30 merit badges were awarded to the scouts, many of which were earned at Merit Badge Saturday in Scarsdale in April. Also of note, Michael Landy was mentioned as one of the first 12 scouts in the country to earn the new Robotics merit badge in Boston in May.

After the rank and merit badge awards, leadership positions were announced for the 2011/2012 scout year. Special recognition was also given to scouts who participated in the Great Saunter, a 32 mile trek around Manhattan, scouts who completed their CPR certification, scouts who completed their instruction course for the scuba diving merit badge and scouts who participated in last month’s Camporee at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Finally, Will Rabsey, Michael Landy, Jason Cushman, Jack O’Neill and Tommy Meade were all given special awards for their exemplary attendance this last year at the various meetings and activities.

The regular Court of Honor was followed by an Eagle Court of Honor that Michael Landy hosted as Master of Ceremonies. After a delicious meal served by the Duttons and O’Neils, an invocation was given by Mr. Steve Magneson of Christ Church. The special guest speaker was the president of the Westchester-Putnam Council, Mr. David Walsh, who gave a memorable speech that reflected on his 50 years in scouting. Mr. Bender reviewed what it means to be an Eagle Scout and reflections were given by both Mr. Carley and Mr. Landy. Perhaps the most memorable part of the evening was a special candlelight presentation of the scout law that the scouts gave as a gift to Shane and Luke. A flame was passed from Mr. Ranieri (their first scoutmaster) to Mr. Carley and to Mr. Landy to Luke and Shane and then to 12 scouts who each repeated a law and what it meant to them. After that, Shane and Luke received their Eagle Badges and pinned special pins on their mothers and fathers.

It was a fun and memorable evening for all. We are thrilled for Shane and Luke and look forward to following in their footsteps one day!

We actually didn’t know what we were in store for when we agreed to attend the West Point Camporee this year.  All we knew was that it was difficult top get into and therefore it must be fun!  We expected to see a lot of cadets, a lot of other scouts and some military-related events.  What we actually experienced was so much more:  A veritable non-stop series of challenges from the moment we arrived.

The weekend started out with a caravan of 5 dads driving 26 scouts to West Point, New York.  When we first arrived, things were going fairly smoothly until we learned we could either hike or drive to the actual camping area.  The scouts preparing for Philmont (Chris Landy, Steve Ircha and Will Stoeffhaas) hiked something called Bull Hill with Mr. Brusco which was basically 4 miles over very steep and rugged terrain.  The rest of us drove and were dropped off with all of the gear and were left waiting…..waiting…..and waiting…..for some adults to show up so we could figure out where our camp was.

After a long while and just as the last glimmer of light left us, we all found one another, trudged through the mud with our gear and settled near a parachute hanger.  Wouldn’t you know, our allotted campsite was occupied by another troop!  We straightened things out with the site after awhile but it took us some time to straighten our tents up into a nice tight formation.  We succeeded, hit the sack and were roused early to breakfast and calisthenics with one of the cadets.  Following an opening ceremony, we participated in a contest of 16 events and a number of orienteering challenges.  We practiced first aid, wilderness shelter construction, tossing hand grenades (No bangs so they must have been duds!), teamwork challenges, pistol shooting, marching drills, firebuilding and all kinds of calisthenics.  Patrick Bisconti led a group in pushups and situps in what was to be one of the highest posted scores of the day (Patrick did 65 pushups in one minute!).  We were perfect with our knot tying and crushed a couple of competitors in a rowing race around a lake.  Perhaps the most fun was a tactical game we played where we ran through the mud with some mock rifles and had to radio some information in before sprinting to the finish line.  Overall, we thought we did pretty well but some other wimpy troops must have debased themselves and begged for extra points a little more than we did.

There were a lot of other activities, as well.  A three star general arrived in a very cool helicopter and the cadets put on a show of attacking under enemy fire using yellow and purple flares.  Finally, the night ended with a concert hosted by the cadets and the largest bonfire any of us have ever seen.  The closing ceremony was something to remember with all of the troops lined up in their Class A’s (There were 5,000 scouts there) and marching before a review unit while the cadet drummers and buglers played.

The logistics leaving were no better than the ones arriving.  One of the scouts was lost for a little while but eventually found us and we hit the road.  While we now understand what they mean by the saying in the Army, “Hurry up and wait”, many of us thought this was the best weekend trip we’ve ever taken with the troop.

On May 7, 5 scouts and 4 adults took part in the 2011 Great Saunter.  This is a LONG trek that follows the shorelines all of the way around the hilly terrain of Manhattan with a group called the Shorewalkers who has been doing this for 30 years.  It may not sound like much, but this “walk in the parks” is over 31 miles long.

There is a lot to see and learn about New York City on this trip.  We learned what was used as landfill for old parts of the city that use to be swamps like Battery Park (Do you know?);  We saw where the trains boarded ferries across the Hudson in New Jersey to bring their goods to New York City;  We took pictures by the little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge, the Intrepid, and a memorial to the Irish Potato Famine.  Probably the most interesting part was when we stood at the site where Peter Minuit bought Manhattan from the Indians (For less than the price of taxi ride from downtown to uptown).  A Tulip tree stood on that same spot in Inwood Park at the northern tip of Manhattan for 280 years and was the biggest tree in all of Manhattan.  All of these factoids were courtesy of our guide, Michael Ostrewa, who has been walking the streets of New York for over 50 years.

The scouts who completed their 20 mile hike requirements for the Hiking Merit Badge included James Tubridy, Martin Wilkins and Tommy Meade.  Mr. Tubridy, Mr. Chrystal and Mrs. Roeder also completed that part of the hike.  That group said goodbye to us (Chris Landy, Clark Gordon and Mr. Landy) somewhere around St. Nicholas Park in Harlem.  Our trio finished the 31 mile hike in just under 12 hours.  Truth be told, none of us could walk very far or fast on our tender feet after this “walk in the park” was completed.  I guess once a tenderfoot, always a tenderfoot 🙂  Smiles came back to our famished bodies when we sunk our teeth into the best cheeseburger ever made at The Heartland Brewery which awaited us at the finish line.  We had a great time and convinced ourselves that Philmont will be child’s play compared to the Great Saunter.

On a frigid January 24 evening, 45 scouts, 4 webelos and a bunch of adults went on a geocaching adventure. Geocaching is a game for treasure hunters who like to hike. There are hundreds of thousands of geocaches around the world that are maintained by individuals or groups of various kinds. The idea is to find the geocache with a GPS after having been given only latitude and longitude coordinates. Often there are obscure clues that give hints as to where to find a cache — it can be quite a challenge. However, in order to allow us to find several geocaches quickly, the ones we sought were set up for our troop by Mr. Cushman and other scout volunteers, and are not listed on the official geocaching website. When everybody arrived at the church, Mr. Cushman, a geocaching expert might I add, gave us a crash course on how to work a handheld GPS and gave us our coordinates. Then…. We were off. The geocaches were hidden at the library, the scout field, Sagamore Park and in front of Saint Joseph School. Scouts were able to exchange trinkets that they brought for things in the geocache container. After the hunt/hike we returned to the church and had hot cocoa and cookies that were prepared by Troop 5’s favorite Mom’s (Thanks Mom!). There is actually a geocaching merit badge and some scouts expressed interest in earning it. A fun night was had by all and we’re certain to put this on our list of Troop 5’s regular scout activities.

Tim Weir