It was cold.
How cold was it?
It was so cold that when we made scrambled eggs, the eggs froze in the bowl before we could scramble them. We had to put the bowl in a pan of warm water to keep them liquid until we could cook them.
That said, the eggs and the sausage were delicious. You just had to eat really, really fast before they got cold.
We shortened the trip and came home on Saturday. But that was after sleeping out on Friday night with a low temperature of 6 degrees Fahrenheit. Everyone managed to stay reasonably warm and was pretty well prepared. But it’s always a challenge when your water freezes before you can use it.
Greg, Kaz, Satoshi, Ken, Calvin, Michael, Landen, Jared, Colin, Ben, and Will all showed they could deal with some pretty harsh conditions, and that is what it is all about. They all stretched themselves and succeeded. They all demonstrated the Scout Motto – Be Prepared! I suspect that not many young men of 12 to 17 would be nearly as successful given the same conditions. In fact, probably not many modern adults would be as successful either.
And I guess we can be thankful that we are not living in 17th or 18th century New England where Friday night and Saturday morning would have been just that – a “normal” Friday and Saturday. Instead we got to get back into our warm cars, drive home and take hot showers. You never appreciate modern technology as much as when you come home from a winter camping trip.
Our Scouts rated the trip pretty high despite the cold (although all were in support of the decision to cut it shorter than planned) and all indicated a desire to learn more about winter camping and winter hiking.
A big thank you to Kevin Conway, Tim Howe, Tim Wig, and Ted Newman for braving the elements with our Scouts and driving.
-Mr. George Brenckle
PS — It was fun watching the outside temperature go from the single digits up to 27 degrees as we drove south back into balmy Massachusetts!
