The Scouting America youth of Great Neck completed an exceptional camping trip in March to the Camp Somers facility of the Mount Allamuchy Scout Reservation in Stanhope, New Jersey.
Among the 33 youth and six adults in attendance from Dwight “Doc” Rosenstein’s Troop 10, six young men known as Den Chiefs led and mentored ten 5th-grader Arrow of Light cubs from Great Neck’s Pack 178.
The Troop 10 Den Chiefs worked hand-in-hand with some amazing young ladies from the Troop 8 Den Chief cadre to help indoctrinate the seven boys and three girls in their capstone outing before they graduated from Cub Scouts and joined their troops.
In total, 47 youth, 16 adults and one midshipman from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy camped during the partly cloudy, occasionally rainy, relatively cold weekend.
Almost two dozen of them chose to depart Great Neck on Friday right after school to get a head start as a vanguard to the main body, which arrived Saturday bright and early. As has always been the case, Doc led his cadre of volunteers to enable each and every one of these scouts and scouters to have a great time, not just in spite of the weather challenges but also because of them.
After establishing a huge base camp across three adjacent campsites, the scouts struck out from camp and the 4+ miles of the ground’s historical trail. Navigation across the range was, as always, led by eager youth looking to hone their orienteering skills for eventual leadership in the troop.
For the veteran scouts, the hike was a rediscovery of the beauty and history of the area they had come to know well from this annual pilgrimage. The hike was a physical reawakening from their long dormant winter for many younger scouts. For the youngest scouts from Pack 178, it was a closeout of their experience as Cub Scouts before crossing over to their future units of Great Neck’s Troop 10 for the boys and East Williston’s Troop 8 for the girls.
The formation of hikers took a lunch break along the dammed body of water known locally as Chemical Lake before continuing along the likewise disparagingly named Acid Brook. The 570-acre former industrial venue once used by DuPont for nearly a century is currently experiencing broad reclamation efforts to address the historical contamination the land experienced as a by-product of the Chemours Pompton Lake Works site. It is a living diorama of the ongoing recoveries being made to the local environment.
Despite the early spring season, signs of wildlife were observed and discussed with younger scouts. Back at the campsite, using lashing skills and six-foot staves, three patrols of youth constructed ballistae and had a friendly competition of siege warfare using tennis balls as ammunition.
Several scouts demonstrated competence with the use of knife, saw and hatchet, and other scouts demonstrated competence in fire building and fire safety.
The youth cooked their dinner by patrols and cleaned up before engaging in a memorable campfire program.
The Arrow of Light Webelos of Pack 178 joined Troop 10 for the campfire which included skits, songs and Troop 10’s inspirational ceremony of retiring old and frayed American flags collected by the American Legion from the Great Neck community.
Scouts awoke to freezing temperatures but managed to cook breakfast, cleanup, and continue pursuing further rank advancement activities before taking a break to surprise one of the adult leaders with an in-the-field birthday celebration.
The scouts then concluded their campout with arguably the most important event: a deliberate self-reflection by each youth, whereupon they commented on their experience, including what they did well and what could be improved.
After policing the area, troop and patrol gear were packed up and distributed among the youth backpacks, leaving the site cleaner than we found it.
Exhausted from the weekend’s activities, scouts slept soundly on the way home.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Mount Allamuchy Scout Reservation Historical Trail or joining the Great Neck Scouting America program, please go to beascout.org and search by zip code. Cub Scouts are for grades K-5, and Scouts BSA are for ages 10-17.
Troop 10 meets at the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department, Company #3 at 25 Prospect St. on Mondays from 7:45-9 p.m. on school days. If you are interested in joining, please come to a meeting or contact Dwight Rosenstein at djrosenstein@gmail.com
