New Blog

I am helping with Troop 934 trek to Philmont in 2010 and so I started another blog for high adventure trips. T934 High Adventure. If you would like you can follow our adventure as we prepare for "a trip of a lifetime".

Summer Camp 09

Check on the link to see a few pictures from Raven Knob.

Raven Knob 09

Carver's Gap Treks

We had a huge backpacking trip at the end of May with over 60 Scouts and Scouters and 6 Treks. After leaving Winston-Salem we spent the night at Roan Mountain State Park and the boys did a great job of setting up camp in the dark. The next day we broke camp and started to put the Treks at their trail heads. I drove the Pfun Trek to their starting point at Iron Mountain--you can check out their pictures in the post below this one. Big Brown got a little ornery at Carvers Gap but we did get her restarted so she could pick up the rest of the crews so they could start their journeys up from the Gap to the Balds (oh the jokes I could make about some of the leaders here). The Ravens were hiking to the Stan Murray Shelter Area. It was 3 Treks of 22 first-time backpackers and 9 leaders to guide them. Another Trek of slightly older scouts went to the Overmountain Shelter. Both of these groups backtracked on Sunday and exited the trail at Carvers Gap. The older Scouts went from Carvers Gap to 19E and that is a classic hike. On the way we meet a "through" hiker with the trail name Route 66. He has a blog on the Trail Journal. I was told by one Scout that our efforts to start Big Brown were captured on video by a hiker and they might appear on You Tube.

Being involved in the logistics of getting everybody on the trail I was a little late getting started on my hike and I had to rush to catch up with my trek but I did get some great pictures of the Balds on my way up. Most of my early pictures are of the scenery, which is wonderful. I caught up with my crew and was able to take lunch at Grassy Ridge at an elevation of 6165 Feet. The Ravens did a great job on the hike and we had a super camp site at the Stan Murray Shelter. On Sunday we took a group of Ravens that were ready to travel fast so I could pick up the Pfun Frolic Tour at Hughes Gap. We made great time and I took them back to the central meeting place back in the Roan Mountain Camp Grounds at a beautiful creek side shelter were my crew began to prepare lunch for the guys and gal coming off the trail. We got everybody off the trails and gave them a hot lunch and packed up to come back home. It was so cool to give so many boys their first chance to backpack and to have the older boys get a chance to push father then they had ever been before. I'd like to thank the boys and the leaders for making this a great experience for me. Click below to enjoy the show.

Roan Mt 09

Mr. Pfun's Pfrolic

This was the only Trek from our May backpacking trip that did not start at Carver's Gap. It was led by our own Mr. Pfun and he was followed by his merry band of backpackers. This was my favorite group because it had all the elements of a great learning experience for the four first-time backpackers in the Trek. Two very experienced Boy Scouts were on the trip plus two very senior scout leaders. We also added in a new leader who could learn the ropes from the Scouters who have been around for a long time. The new backpackers had not been able to hike when they were Ravens so this was their first hike. They hiked from Iron Mountain to Hughes Gap (over eight miles on the AT). Mr.Pfun provided most of the pictures with a few taken by me when I dropped them off at the trail head. Click on the picture below and enjoy.

Mr. Pfun's Pfrolic

Mr. Fun's Frolic

Roan mountain 09 Flyer

BSA Troop 934
Backpacking at Roan Mountain TN – May 29-31, 2009
Spend a nice weekend in May hiking the Appalachian Trial near beautiful Roan Mtn on the NC-Tennessee line. We’ll spend Friday night in Roan Mtn St Park in Tennessee and then depart for a 2 days of hiking above 5,000 ft on the AT.

Space is limited and is first come first served. Sign ups begin tonight, May 11th and end next week.
Getting there – When & where (current plans are to hike rain or shine!)
Trip cost is $15.00 per person
Bring dinner in a bag (from home or fast food place) to eat on the bus trip up. Bring money for snacks at Friday rest stop.
Each scout needs to provide their own meals for Sat Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner and Sunday breakfast.
Sunday lunch provided by the Troop.

Friday
4:45 pm Arrive at Mt.Tabor UMC parking lot
5:30 pm Bus / vans departure
7:30 pm Scheduled restroom /snack stop
8:30 pm Arrive at Roan Mountain TN State Park Group Campground

Saturday
7:00 am All Patrols will awake, eat breakfast, break down tents, pack gear.
8 -10:00 am Patrols depart for individual treks.
3- 4:00 pm Arrive at group campsites and set up camp.


Sunday
7:00 am Patrols will awake, eat breakfast, break down tents, pack gear.
8:00 am Patrols will resume treks to rendezvous points
1:00 pm All Patrols will have a target return time to the rendezvous point by 1:00 pm. Lunch will be provided at that point
2:30 pm All gear will be loaded in the trailer and all vehicles depart for home.
5:30 pm Expected arrival time back at Mt.Tabor UMC

Also, we are kindly asking all scouts to please leave your personal electronic gear at home.

Yours in Scouting,

Jay Cavenaugh

Assistant Scoutmaster
Trip Coordinator
336-409-7467 (C)
336-519-3363 (W)
336-722-3150 (H)

Hiking Safety

We went over hiking safety in our last meeting but it is good to go over safety issue again. Check out this Boy Scout video. Let's be ready for our Roan Mountain backpacking trip.

Tenderfoot Requirement #5: Explain the rules of safe hiking, both on the highway and cross-country, during the day and at night. Explain what to do if you are lost.

Bike Trip 2009

Another cool trip that gave many Scouts their first chance at a loooong bike ride (over 25 miles). One of the things I love about the Boy Scouts is the opportunity for many kids to have a unique experience. I know my son has ridden more miles on his two Scout bike trips than he has in his entire life with the added benefit of gorgeous views with his buddies beside him on the trail. My bet would be that over 75 percent of our kids did 20 more miles in one day than they have ever done in any other day of their life. It is quite fulfilling to me as a leader to see these Scouts discover that their abilities are greater than they know.

Mr. Brown found a wonderful campsite for us that was right on the New River. One of the great added benefits of this riverside camp was that the burbling gurgling rumbling sounds of the river drowned out the sounds of talkative scouts and snoring leaders as we slept at night. Saturday morning we had breakfast and loaded up and headed for our start point just north of Galax. As we unloaded the bikes we them bikes to check that they were trail-ready. This pre-hike inspection ensured that all the bikes made it through the long ride. We had Mr. Brown and Mr. Guthrie drive with the van to provide repair service, hydration support, and best of all, to meet us halfway with lunch. They missed the beautiful vistas, the railroad trestles and tunnels that we rode through on our ride. We had the opportunity to ride right into our camp at the end of the ride and it was a great feeling to get off that hard bike seat. Of the 38 of those who started the 25 mile plus trip - WE ALL MADE IT!!!

That night one Patrol made something they called Tornado Lasagna. It seems that instead of layered lasagna it is all put together and mixed as if in a blender but they said it tasted great. Another Patrol made Ziploc ice cream and some the vultures started to hovering around and begging for a taste. The Leaders made enough spahetti to feed the Troop but we had to eat it ourselves because the Patrols made their own suppers. We didn’t want to deprive them of the thrill of eating their own cooking!

I don't know about the boys but I'd love to do this trip again.

Click on the picture below to see the trip photo album.

Bike Trip 09-