Henry Hill Video and Overview by Tim

Metrowest Adventure

                                                                 (video at end of story)

         The Metrowest Adventure Trip began at four p.m. on Friday November 11. The scouts had driven to Henry Hill in Sudbury. About a hundred yards into the woods on the hill, the scouts made their camp between two areas of forest. On the opposite side of the eastern woods, down the hill, a wide field opened up before the woods. The weather was warm for so late in the year, but the sun was setting fast. The scouts had about an hour to set up their tents before the sun went down.

            The next morning the scouts awoke to a nice hot breakfast. The meal was required to be a hot breakfast, and be a little more in depth than the usual quick meal. This was due to the service project scheduled for that morning.  Kevin’s patrol had scrambled eggs, and Marcus’s patrol ate breakfast sandwiches.

            The service project involved tearing down invasive vines that had smothered several trees in a field down the street from the site. The scouts were given all manner of loppers and saws in order to clear the vines. It didn’t sound too hard, until the scouts had to sort through which branches were part of the tree and which ones were vines. The vines had also grown very thickly together, and were heavily tangled with the tree branches. The vines first had to be cut at ground level, then pulled out of the tree and piled around the tree for collection.

            The project lasted close to three hours, and the scouts were tired, but proud of what they had accomplished. The troop headed back up to the site for lunch at around one. They also had their spam cook off. Kevin’s patrol made spam and noodle soup, while Marcus and his patrol improvised a stir fried meal with various fruits and veggies and, of course, spam. Both meals were delicious and the scouts were ready for their next activity.

            The scouts next had to construct a track as part of the challenge. They had to build a track to run a water balloon down. The scouts were scored based on the length of the track, the number of turns in the track, and how far the water balloon survived without popping. Kevin and his patrol utilized sections of dead tree bark to form a gutter-like track with a slight curve. Marcus’s scouts used a hollowed out log and two lengths of rope to form their track, with three abrupt turns in the design.

            The water balloon survived longest on Kevin’s bark track. Their design worked just as well with both the balloon and the softball. The design of Marcus’s track was finely tuned to the softball, but the water balloon was entirely different. The rope portion of the track was much too wide to hold the water balloon, so the scouts were forced to do away with the first half of their track.

            The scouts then had an advancement session, where the older scouts educated the younger scouts on how to safely handle knives, axes and other tools for their Totenchit’ badges, which are required for scouts to carry any such tools. They also worked on rank advancements, with the older boys helping the younger scouts.

            Next, the scouts went about making dinner for the evening. Marcus and his patrol had meatball subs, crackers with cheese, and pudding pie for dessert. Kevin’s patrol ate cheese and crackers for their appetizer, a main course of rice and beef, and a dessert of peach cobbler. The scouts then played manhunt for a few more hours, and went to bed.

            The next morning, the scouts quickly packed up, for they still had more work ahead of them. The troop next went on a hike and service project; they had to clear a few miles of trail of debris from recent storms. The scouts hiked along the nearby trail for an hour and a half, clearing fallen trees with their saws. They stopped at Ford’s folly for a lunch that they had put together with leftovers from the trip. The scouts then hiked over Nobscot Hill all the way to the Nobscot scout reservation parking lot, where they played a game of football while waiting for their rides.  

            Also, a special thanks to Mr. Shupe for organizing the adventure, to Scoutmaster Clarke for providing his portable latrine, and to the other adult volunteers for their assistance on the trip.