Meet at parish center. Pls be on time.

At parish center.

January Winter Camping Trip will be Saturday January 21, 2011 through Sunday January 22. We will be camping in the town of Upton’s Peppercorn Forest, site of past Troop 4 Eagle Service Projects, campouts and Troop hikes. Peppercorn Forest is a large town forest with lots of trails. A troop scouting team recently discovered a secluded camping spot that is perfect for winter camping. The main campout spot is a large site, perfect for the Pedro Patrol (adults) and younger patrols. Older patrols may fan out to claim one of three small hilltop campsites overlooking the main site. The cluster of sites is near good sledding, a scenic cascade, and a small shallow pond, perfect for a troop boot hockey game.

Planned activities include sledding, hiking, animal tracking, hockey, snowshoeing, and perhaps some night-time model rocket launches. At this winter camping trip we will be doing some aluminum foil cooking (no pots and pans to clean) and Dutch oven cooking. The winter is a great time to do this type of cooking because you need good warm fires to cook – and to stay warm with, too!

We will be using the regular troop tents to sleep in Saturday night. However, depending on the snow cover, some scouts may choose to build and sleep in snow caves. Several scouts made these shelters last year and actually slept much warmer than the rest of us in our tents (see the photos on the troop website from last January). The Troop 4 Website has a list of gear needed for a one night winter campout. Most scouts already have most of the gear and anything else is usually around in the scouts homes.

We will be patrol cooking for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday (no soda). A plastic sled comes in very handy on this trip, for both sledding and for hauling in your gear. If you have one, please bring it. Please take the time to securely tie your gear to your sled and/or backpack before arriving at the parish center. The hike in to the campsite is approximately 1 mile.

We will meet at St. Mary’s parish center at 9:00 AM on Saturday January 21. Patrols will have an opportunity to assemble their ingredients into tin-foil cooking packets using the parish center kitchen before we depart. We will need a few parents to drive to/from the site. We will return for pick up on Sunday, January 22 by 11:30AM.

We will be planning the trip at the January 12 troop meeting. If your son is planning to attend, please return the attached permission slip by the January 12 troop meeting. If your son can’t make the January 12 troop meeting but wants to attend, please call or email Phil Bedard before that date so we can include him in planning for the event.

Winter camping is fun and a great outdoor experience – and not that difficult. The adult leaders and troop have many years of winter camping experience and all of our trips have been a great time. Hope for lots of snow cover! There is no fee for this campout.