Hi All,
First off I want to thank Brendan LaFrance and his team, Connor, TJ, and Jonathan for putting together a great camping trip this weekend.  We had fifteen scouts and five adults in attendance.  Included in this group were three WebelosII, Chris D'Amico, Alex Vinke and William Vinke.  And two Webelos II dads, Jim D'Amico and Nick Vinke.

The Atlantic Oaks campground was a great setting.  We camped under the oak trees in a large open area.  Since no one else was there we had the whole area to pitch our tents.  The campground had even set up tables and chairs in the game room in case the weather got bad.

The ride down was uneventful and we found the campground easily.  Brendan and Brad coordinated tent dispersal and everyone got their tents set up in no time.
 
On Saturday morning with the urging of Brad Levy we tried using the "Patrol Method" for cooking a pancake breakfast.   Brendan and Brad broke everyone up into three patrols.  The older scouts were in one.  Connor B was leader of the second patrol, which included Jeff W and the Webelos.   Ross G was appointed leader of the third patrol. Each patrol was responsible for cooking and cleaning only for their group and for feeding selected adults.  Luckily we had enough stoves and griddles to do this.  I think it went off very efficiently and the bacon and pancakes were delicious.

After breakfast Patrick Mangan arrived with his dad from a trip to Connecticut.  Then we headed out to Truro where we were led on a hike by Matt Waldman, Christian Hobbs and Tim Zoides.  We started south of Pilgrim lake and hiked east out to the beach.  Then we hiked north along the top of the dunes following a jeep track. The dunes were quite high and during one of our rest stops we were able to see seals below us in the water.  Also Lots birds were working the water indicating good fishing. The majority of this hike was in the large sandy dunes of this area, but we also hiked through some scrub pine and low bushes.  We even hiked by some bogs where wild cranberries were ripe for picking.

 

Later in the afternoon we reached our destination, a forty-foot deep blow out.   The "Thunder Bowl" was christened by Joe Williams and Liam Bergschneider.  Many of us could not resist the temptation to roll down the walls at great speed.  Jeff W was spinning so fast the sand was being thrown off him like water off a tire.  Unfortunately he neglected to tuck in his shirt.  He was later heard complaining about sand in places we didn't want to know.  Jumping off the high walls was a treat for those who had the energy left.  I even saw Justin Kelly using Matt Waldman's snowboard to surf down the dune.

 

Of course we had to have a football game which quickly went from a friendly game of two-hand touch to full tackle.  Fortunately, the sand created a soft landing for us old guys.  But it also was the great leveler, everyone ran the same speed in that soft sand.  Even trying to jump for a pass was impossible.  The difficult thing was the goal was halfway up the wall of the blow-out.  Needless to say it was a low scoring game.

During the game Liam lost a medal from a chain around his neck.  Obviously a lost cause to find.  However, we formed a police line on hands and knees and in a matter of minutes Connor had found the quarter-sized relic.  Amazing!

 

As the sun started to set we hiked back to the cars and headed to the campsite.  For dinner we started three campfires and cooked hamburgers.  Ross Gillander used a lightweight stove to cook hot dogs as well.

 

After clean up everyone headed for bed except Matt W.  He decided to make a temporary shelter where he slept for the night.

 

Early Sunday Morning we had a downpour, but by sunrise, the weather was overcast but clear.  After a hearty breakfast of bagels and Poptarts we broke camp.  On our way home we stopped at the Fort Hill area in Eastham.   There we took a short hike where we found a huge boulder called an erratic.  We also harvested some tall weeds called phragmites.  Back at the cars we said our good byes.

 

Much thanks to adults Karl Waldman, Nick Vinke, Jim D'Amico and Tim Mangan for their support and for providing transportation this weekend.

 

See you Sunday.

Mr. L.