Boy Scout Troop 135 December Campout

I am at parking lot at 4:50 p.m. and am ready to go camping. This is one of the most popular campouts of the year. We are going up to the Hartford Gun Club with two other scout troops.

A role call is done by our Senior Patrol Leader to make sure everyone is present and then we get in the cars to depart. When we get to the campsite we immediately start setting up our patrol boxes, tables and stoves. Since it is already dark out we only had the light from our headlamps. Jake isn't feeling good at all so he packs back up and his parents come and pick him up. So now it is Chris and I in one tent and Michael and Troy in the other tent.

I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and can't seem to go back to sleep so I just stay warm and wait until about 5:15 a.m. when I start getting changed and wake Chris up to get changed. I am soon out of bed around 5:45 a.m. and start cooking breakfast (eggs and cheese on a bagel) with Chris until the other two wake up. Once we are all done eating everyone pitches in on the clean up. We are done early so we hang out for about an hour and a half until we get ready to go to the Hartford Gun Club.

When we get to the Hartford Gun Club the people there do a quick review on gun safety and then we get started with our shooting of shotguns. Everyone gets three tickets and each time you go up to take a turn it is one ticket. When you go up, you go up with the same group (there are five people in a group) every time; when you are shooting you take turns shooting. If you are shooting trap you are in a half circle and each pedal shoots five shots and then you switch positions and shoot five shots again (one person shoots one shot then the next person shoots one shot and so on). If you are shooting skeet then you are in a line and there is one gun and you take turns going up to shoot the clay pigeon that flies out in the same direction every time. When you are shooting trap it can go left right or center.

I go up once with my group and then eat my grilled cheese sandwich, which was made by the leaders, and have some hot chocolate and then I shoot two more times before my tickets are up. I then hang around and talk a bit before we have to start taking down the rain fly and putting all of the gear away in our trailer. The three other troops that we are camping with also went shotgun shooting, too and helped put away the gear.

We arrive back at camp around 3:30 and have some time to rest before we start cooking our dinner, which will be spaghetti and meatballs with sauce. I then help do the clean up and wait for the campfire to begin. After the campfire and some skits I go on a night hike with Mac, Chris, Tim and a few other scouts and scout leaders from the other troops.

It is Sunday morning and I first wake up at 4:30 a.m. and decide it is a bit too early, so I lay back down and when I look at my watch again it is 6:26 a.m. I immediately wake up Chris and begin to start packing up.

I am soon packed up and out of the tent when I go down to start making the pancakes. The pancakes are made by the time Troy gets out of his tent so we eat and start cleaning up. Michael finally wakes up and is out of the tent but by that time we are half way done cleaning up and the pancakes are too cold to eat.

Nick V. helps me take down my tent because Chris was cleaning. I get the tent rolled up and then give it to Chris who is taking it home to dry out. Michael and Troy get their tent down and rolled up in about a half hour after me. We are soon done cleaning up and we start putting away the patrol gear. Once we are done with that, we sweep the area our patrol was in and then go to the playground where we were having a meeting. After the meeting my troop goes up to where our tents were, sweep the area for garbage and then go and get in our cars that are taking us home.

I call home and tell my parents I will be back early and then I am soon asleep and taking a nap in the car. I get back to Prince of Peace early. When my dad comes I put the food cooler in my car (since I bought the food this month) along with my gear and back pack and then go home to a nice warm house. Where I wait till morning to hear that the Giants won!

For more info. about scouting in Brookfield please contact the following people: Cubscouts — Rob Libbey Pack 5 at 203-7445-2412, Rob Janofsky Pack 135 @203-775-9578; Boyscouts — Kirk Lauri Troop 135 @ 203-470-9050, Jonathan Gibney Troop 8, Tom Tyrell, Troop 5 @ 203-775-4448.

Written by,

Nicholas Palmer

Troop 135, Patrol Leader