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Troop 189 has been awarded BSA Quality Unit Status in and the |
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On February 16 a group of 11 hardy Voyageurs from the 189 Venture Patrol left Wantagh to participate in Onteora Blue Nose 2008! It was a challenging trip but everyone had fun. Blue Nose at OSR has become a very big deal, with Troops and Venture Crews coming from all over to compete in the Klondike Derby, not just from our own TRC Council. There may not have been much snow on Long Island this winter, but the boys were surprised to discover well over a foot of snow on the ground at Onteora! The first challenge was selecting a campsite and getting all of our gear up to it. For those of you who know OSR, the boys chose to set up in Dull Knife, which is about 2/3 of the way from the Otter Shelter (where Dan Beard is in the summer) to the Long House. We couldn’t get all of the gear up the hill on the big sled, so it took lots of trips with small sleds up and down the hill. We got set up and SM Steve cooked Beef Stew in the dutch oven for dinner. He tried baking a bread also, but that didn’t work out as well (but everyone really liked the stew and the rice). After dinner there were skits, an interfaith service, and a cracker barrel at the Long House. When we walked back it was one of those great OSR nights with lots of stars. It got very cold Saturday night, well down into the single digits, but the boys all did OK. We took lots of cold weather training before we left. When we woke up on Sunday it was too cold for the propane stove to work well, but Steve showed some of the boys how to use his gas backpacking stove and we had hot water for breakfast in minutes. Unfortunately the weather did not hold. With a major storm predicted for Sunday, the camp was shut down in the interest of safety and we had to leave early and before we could compete in the Klondike Derby. In the 16 years of Blue Nose, this was the third time that weather forced an early cancelation. It was the right thing to do... safety always has to come first! Also unfortunately we don’t have much in the way of pictures. The shutter froze mostly shut on Steve’s camera, and after we got it working the batteries died from the cold. Here are the pictures that we got, and more should be posted soon on the Council Web Site at: http://www.trcbsa.org/Onteora/Program/Bluenose.htm The members of the Venture Patrol who went were: Alex (Crew Chief for the Klondike Sled) Special thanks to our hardy staff of SM Steve, ASM Mark, and Committee Member Artie. |
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