Conway Scouts Blog

Trip Notice March 6-8, 2009

Great Glen Trails is a popular cross-country ski and snowshoe center at the base of Mount Washington at the Mount Washington Auto Road in Pinkham Notch. The trail system is open to the paying public daily from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. And includes miles of groomed and backcountry trails for cross country skiing and snowshoeing. We are very fortunate to be able to use this fabulous location at the base of Mt. Washington for our March trip. Our campsite is about ½ mile by groomed trail from the GG Trails Lodge. The site is beside the Cadiddlehopper Cabin at the westerly edge of the large meadow which is at the center of the Great Glen Trails system.

Site Accommodations

·      Cadiddlehopper Cabin: may be used at the leadership’s discretion. Clean it out during operating hours for GG Trails regular customer use.

·      waste disposal: porta john on-site, no peeing in the snow, food waste: packed out by troop,

·      access: scouts pull their sleds loaded with personal and troop gear to the campsite from the employee parking lot on the west side of rte. 16. no snowcat this year.

·      shelter: all scouts must sleep outside in tents pitched on snow or in snow shelters. The cabin will be used only at the leadership’s discretion. It is heated to 45°, and without power.

·      water: every scouts bring 2 liters. We will fill troop containers at JFS and sled them in.

·      cooking: troop back-country stoves and individual freezer bag meals. We may use Cadiddlehopper cabin for cooking at the leadership’s discretion

·      campfires: scouts will dig out existing fire pit to avoid fire scars. Pack out wood ash and debris.  The troop will supply and transport firewood from home. No firewood will be collected on site.

·      Overnite parking: in the employee lot, west side of rte 16, 750’ beyond the lodge entrance

·      equipment rentals: reserve a week prior to arrival and pick-up by 4:30, Friday.

·      Campers may keep rented equipment at the camp site overnight, return by 10 AM Sunday.

·      Trail use:  GGT pass required 

fee paid by scouts: $10 per scout: covers food. All other expenses will be covered with troop funds. Please let Mr. Getchell ASAP know if you are renting ski equipment from Great Glen. Lessons and rentals will be covered by troop funds

ASP (the Grand Fromage du Tour): Torin

menu: Ethan H.

adult overnight leadership: Mr. Getchell, Mr Chalmers, Mr Jeremy

additional adult leadership: Mr. Obrien, Mr Laliberte

Mr. Getchell - 447-3064; during the campout - 986-3635

While some scouts were at Flat Mountain Pond, Silas, Kyle, and JP went on a day hike with Mr LaLiberte and Mr. O’Brien. We parked at Smith Plumbing and Heating and hiked west toward the Moat mountains. We passed a logging operation, bear tracks in the snow, a beaver bog, while we were on national forest logging roads. We followed a brook to a gigantic freezing waterfall that is secluded off the beaten path. You can’t get there from here. We made a fire in an established fire pit to warm Kyle’s feet. On the way back to civilization we picked up some gear that Silas stashed on the way out. We did a service project at an old troop 150 campsite, and made it back to the West Side Road by three o’clock.

Trip Notice: Flat Mt Pond, Sandwich Range Wilderness, WMNF

Saturday - Sunday

December 6, 2008 – December 7

Trip idea: Mr. Getchell recalled a trip he made into Flat Mt. Pond as a high school kid and Mr. Obrien said FMP was one of his first trips as a scouter with troop 150 so after a little research, we decided this would be a good December outing for the more experienced scouts of troop 150.

Trip criteria: (as laid out by Scoutmaster Chalmers) overnight, backcountry, a loop hike or open ended route to a spotted car, about 5 miles in to Saturday’s campsite and another 5 miles out on Sunday, easy to moderate terrain, close to home. We were looking for something comparable to the Sawyer Pond backpack trip the troop has enjoyed many times.

Trip recon: two weeks before the trip Mr. Getchell made a Sunday hike to Flat Mt. Pond  with his favorite trail buddy, Acadia. Loose leaves and a dusting of snow, blustery north winds and bright, mid day sun. Lunch time Temp at the pond, 2,300’ elev., 17°. 

Recon narrative: Got a late start and knew I would not have time to recon all the possibilities. I reasoned only a strong group of scouts and leaders could handle the entire loop, even under the best of conditions. Most likely the trip would be a simple in and out on the same trail with an overnight at the pond so that would be my recon hike. I decided not to “close the loop” and left out that part of the Flat Mt Pond Tr. from the pond to the trailhead at Whiteface Intervale. (5.3 miles of trail, then about 2.5 miles of street hiking back to the car for me). The AMC guidebook and map gave a good account of that section: logging roads, outlooks, some abrupt terrain and three stream crossings that “may be difficult in high water”. I had read a mountain biker account that described the route as mostly hike-a-bike, rocky and rough, with no mention of stream crossings. FYI, Federal Wilderness areas are supposedly off limits to mountain bikes.

Seeing the campsite was a priority. I hiked what I thought would be the most likely way in and out for the scouts. Parked at the Bennett St. trailhead and set out on Flat Mt Pond Trail.  Quickly made a right on the Bennett St. Trail. Chose this as a shortcut with moderate grades. It’s the scenic route following Pond Brook. Remember the waterfall and pool – world class swimming hole on a hot summer day. Finished up steeply at the old Bebe River Railroad grade and rejoined the FMP trail to the pond and shelter. Return trip same except stayed on the FMP trail all the way back to the Bennett St. parking lot.  It follows the gentle rr and logging road grades and was a little dull for me. Try skis next time given 18” of snow.

A little more snow at FMP – could be a windy place. Shelter in excellent shape beautifully sited, sleeps 8, room for add’l tents. Stone fireplace fronting shelter, pond already iced over open water at the outlet, composting toilet, no wireless signal at FMP, Reportedly a good trout pond, in season only.

Enough recon and narrative. Looking forward to the actual trip!

Thanks to everyone who helped out in this one. I think it went very well. Especially Michael and Ray who went up Fri to help get us into camp but could not stay the entire weekend. Ski lesson was excellent. Most of the boys did some community service after the lesson - blowing up the balloons for an upcoming GGT kiddie event and a little trail brushing on Hairball Passage. Had an hour of yo-yoing up and down the tubing hill learning wedge turns and tele turns. Scouts were having a blast! By default, ,against the instructor’s advice, with one less layer of liability, the Saturday afternoon backcountry tour included everybody. We did about  1 hr. breaking trail up on the mountain behind camp. It was a Mt bike singletrack trail called The Outback. Plenty of challenge for most of the kids and leaders, with the climb and the final drop through a steep glade of powder snow. Mr. getchell will attest it was way easier on skis than on a bike. The scouts all had skis on their feet most of the way, so you might say they skied it. As for awarding the mb - some guys certainly qualified on every point. Most scouts showed a level of preparedness necessary  to keep an outing like this safe and fun. Some scouts showed that a lack of preparedness can affects everyone. A scout is respectful. Anyway, let’s hear it for teamwork, patience, and perseverance. If we hold a quick waxing clinic we can wrap this mb up by the end of March. I will do a sit-down with JP some Thurs. nite on the indoor stuff he missed if he’s still interested in the merit badge.

 Afternoon free time was a good time to dig out tents and the fire pit, go snow tube, a few of the boys did some skiing. After dinner everyone enjoyed an easy 45 min snowshoe on ungroomed trails and thru the Great Dipper Swamp. The boys all did well, dropping into only a few fir traps and only one or two lost shoes. The dog teams came by several times in the early evening. Swift and silent. Very impressive. After the night hike, on to a crackerbarrell campfire, plenty of sweets, and another tale from Nick Howe’s book, Not Without Peril (Derek Tinkham freezing to death on Mt Jefferson) Was still snowing lightly when the scouts turned in. In all over a foot. Stars out by 10 PM. We did miss our tentmate Ray Saturday night. Michael and Nick ended up in their own tent, JP and Mackenzie I’m sure enjoyed another night in the cabin.

Sunday AM was white-out conditions in the meadow, sunny with a strong northwest wind. We had all we could do to get to the stages on time - 7:30. A 2nd driver and coach had been reserved on Saturday to accommodate all 13 of us. Starting out Sunday, some of the boys had wet clothing, inadequate footwear and mittens, and the usual, lame-brained cotton underlayers. That eliminated any plan of being outside higher on the mountain for any length of time, so we scuttled the orienteering/bushwhack portion of the morning. We might have left two adults behind with the unprepared boys and sent 2 leaders with 6 prepared scouts, but how could we make that call on Saturday? Only two deep leadership in the backcountry is risky anyway. A $200, round-trip, luxury snowcoach ride on the mountain is not a model scout activity in my book and I am frustrated by how this played out.  That said, the ride up and down was fabulous. Lots of drifting. Had to follow the snowcat blading through the drifts ahead of the coaches. Views were good - clear up to about 5,000 feet. Be sure to check out the photos in the web album link on the troop web page By the time we got down in the coach, the boys had little interest in anything but heading home. It was all many of them could do to walk into the wind and blowing snow the last 1500′ back to camp. Impact on the boys? Every kid will remember one or two personal conquests and a couple hopefully learned it takes all of your resources to plan for and spend a weekend out in some real winter weather. Torin and Ethan C. mastered the tele turn in powder and were relentless looking for powder chutes everywhere they went. Sean and Sam had the tele turn down on the groomed hill by lunchtime, Nick Laravee seems to be a natural skier. For a young, 6 month scout, he had himself quite a weekend. Mr. Ethan Hill is skiing well, and has come a long way to handle a trip like this. Dmitry on his skinny racing skis in the powder….well, only Dmitry could pull that off. best crash of the day - Mr. Dewar’s face plant. Thinking about it, the mountain really didn’t throw its worse at us. It was a good starter dose of winter, mountain weather. Thankfully I never had to break out the down parka, goggles, expedition mitts, or put my pile pants on under my snow pants. And that cabin…saved the trip didn’t it?  Torin  joined Sam, Ethan, Dmitry and Mr. Dewar in making the extra trips to the parking lot and rental with sleds to return all the extra troop gear. We should mention Scott’s midlife crisis. He went nordic for the first time at how old? Is it true blonds have more fun Scott? Mr. Chalmers, the ex nordic racer, modestly displayed his norpine finesse on the tele training hill and urged the rest of us sissies on to greater things in The Outback. (and he didn’t mean steakhouse) JP, in his own inimitable way, got through his first day ever on skis, linking his first wedge turns on the tubing hill and surviving the back-country slog. As disabled as he claimed to be by his skateboard and snowboard expertise, he was able to pull the rabbit out of his hat and and get to the skinny of nordic skiing. Mackenzie skied well, but stayed pretty much under my radar. If he didn’t get it on the snow, I am certain he found enlightenment with the cabin broom keeping our floor snow free for the entire weekend. No doubt the sweep came in handy when he had to get his stuff together to go home.

Yes I know it is over … but I had a great time even though we had a number of leaky tents Saturday night.  It was a great way to kick off the year, and an easy refresher on camping skills.  I think from now on the scouts will remember to keep the ground cloth under the tent and to tighten the fly!

Andy Chalmers, the Scoutmaster, has been keeping a blog since he became involved with Pack 150 all the way up to today.  I hope to get him to start using this one soon for all Troop 150 info, but for reference to past messages from him you can still get to it at:

http://conwayscouts.blogspot.com/

Andy Chalmers, the Scoutmaster, has been keeping an online calendar for sometime now.  For reference to past events you can still get to it at:

http://calendar.yahoo.com/conwayscout

A good 1st pass of the website is up and running & has been for a while, and now with committee approval I’ll begin to really advertise it.

The calendar is quite good and includes the entire known list of activities for the current year.  I also put in this entire last summer’s events.

The blog software is installed and I am now testing it … and if you are reading this then it is working just fine.

I met with the Troop Committee tonight, and was given the go ahead to begin adding ”useful” information to this relatively new website.

Soon we’ll have other leaders blogging about current Troop activities.

I hope to get some of the scouts involved soon, especially the Troop Historian and Scribe, and maybe the patrol scribes too.