Troop 12’s 2012 Three Mile Island Canoe trip began on Saturday May 12 in the church parking lot. Scouts arrived between five thirty and quarter of six, with the departure time planned for six o’clock sharp. After everyone arrived, the Scouts were divided into vehicles and the trip was underway.
Roughly two hours later, the troop arrived at the marina on Lake Winnipesaukee and promptly unloaded their gear. After a short wait for Mr. Blue to fetch the canoe trailer, paddles and life vests were distributed to the troop. The Senior Patrol Leader, Tim, did a fantastic job of organizing the logistics of gear and fitting everyone into the canoes. About half an hour later, the troop took off towards Three Mile Island.
Upon arriving at the island, the troop gathered on the small beach while the other canoes landed. It took about an hour to get all of the gear out of the canoes and assign cabins to everyone, but soon enough, everyone had a place to stay for the night. The troop had a quick lunch of cold cut wraps, and Mr. Blue explained the use of the buddy system and other rules for the day. After that the scouts were turned loose to do their own thing for the day.
The troop had a blast. Many of the younger scouts went fishing to great success, and several unfortunate fishes were cleaned and cooked up for second breakfast. The older scouts canoed over to the smaller island across from the boat dock, and discovered a sort of fort that had been built by previous campers. They set about improving and extending its walls for an hour or so, until they grew bored of the work. Back in their canoes, they then devised an ingenious “triple canoe”. Three canoes would line up side by side, and the two men in the middle canoe would hold the contraption together. By means of commands shouted in their best pirate imitations, such as “full on the right!” or “half speed all, quiet”, the giant vessel could be maneuvered with some maneuverability. Later, they also found that they could aim the whole boat at a target and launch the middle canoe at great speed like some sort of missile.
After a day on the water, the scouts returned to the campsites and cooked dinner. Marcus’s patrol had meatball subs with pudding pie for dessert, and Johnny’s had Philly cheese steaks and Hostess rolls for their supper. A campfire with skits and performances by the scouts and Mr. Blue himself followed, which was a huge success. As the campfire continued, Dan relived his entire Scouting career for the amusement of the troop, as it was the last official trip that he and Cam would attend. Eventually, even Dan got tired of telling his best stories, so the scouts retired to their cabins for the night around ten thirty.
The next morning, the older scouts arose to their dismay to find that the younger scouts had been up since five, and had used all of the peanut butter for the breakfast bagels. Following a thin breakfast, the troop packed up and brought their gear down to the beach. The troop was able to use the canoes and go fishing for another hour before they had to leave. With all of the gear already on the beach, it was an easy matter to load the canoes and be off on the way.
Once the troop arrived back at the marina, the gear was quickly loaded into the cars and the canoes put up on the trailer. On the drive back, the troop got pizza from local restaurant for lunch, and ate on the bank of the lake. After another two hours of driving the troop arrived back in the church parking lot at about four o’clock, tired but happy.
Thanks to Mr. Blue, Mr. Demallie, and Mr. Weber for running the trip, as well as all of the drivers who gave up their weekend to shuttle the scouts to the island.
