Issac Peacock, a First Class Scout, was presented with the Troop 175 Fishing Trophy for is 12" small mouth bass caught on a troop trip in June. Issac's name has been engraved on the trophy which goes to the scout who catches the largest fish at a scout event. Presenting the trophy is Assistant Scout Master Peter Adamovich.
We have a
pretty good leadership group built up this year and are ready to get things
going. For patrol leaders we’ve got Rob Burke, Nick Carabillo, Nick Summa, Eric
Barch, Tom Adamowicz, Keegan Rice and Rob Asensio. Our new scribe for this year
is Carter Hill, the Quartermaster is Zach Zikovich, Our troop Guides are Steve
Banulski, Isaac Peacock, and Jake Van Loon, and finally, Andrew Fletcher has
been appointed troop historian.
We’ll kick things off this Thursday by
organizing the new patrols and then creating patrol flags. We also have a great
trip program built up for this year that should be really fun. We are of course
keeping the Tuckerman’s ravine trip and the Bromley ski trip, but we also plan
to go to places like the Algonquin national park in Canada.
Once again welcome back and I hope to see you guys on Thursday.
Our Final Trip of the year will be to the Algonquin National Park in Ontario Canada. This will be a four-day canoe trip to one of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the world.
Simsbury Boy Scout Troop 175 would like to thank the Wellfleet Shellfishing Department and in particular Assistant Shellfish Constable John Mankevetch, for a wonderful opportunity for scouts to learn more about shellfishing and it's importance to the community. During a September trip to Wellfleet, The scouts and several parents were able to see how clams are raised and even had the opportunity to dig a few clams of their own.
On July 18 , twelve
members of Simsbury Troop 175 left for Peru as part of an expedition to explore
deep into the Amazon jungle. The Team flew to Lima Peru and then on
to Iquitos ,Peru, the largest city in the world(600,000) that cannot be reached
by road. It is the western most city on the Amazon. There the group boarded
motorized aluminum boats and traveled 50 miles up the Amazon
to Tahuayo River and then an additional 40 miles to a
rustic lodge built on stilts with no electricity where the Team met their
guides and porters , all members of the local villages.
The next three days were
spent training to travel into the jungle with instruction in jungle movement,
machete use, poisonous snake identification,fishing for Piranha, and camp
building in the rain forest. The Team and their guides ( all hired by Dr.
Paul Beaver , famed Amazon Jungle explorer),would be exploring a part of the
jungle that had never been visited by human beings searching for and cataloging
monkey species.
The Team then traveled by dug out canoe to the outmost
research station, La Cia operated by the Tahuaya River Amazon Research
Center (TRARC) where they were briefed by Dr. Michael Pereira the noted
primatologist. He instructed the Scouts in the various monkey species that
were being tracked and that the Team had been
given permission for the group to enter an unexplored region . The
Scouts , all members of the elite Immortals group in Troop 175 came with
their machetes (Standard issue when members are inducted) and once the porters
and guides were loaded up they headed off into the jungle. The guides hacked out
the main trail and the group followed in line ,often up to their knees in mud
and subjected to frequent downpours of rain. According to Scoutmaster Brad Mead,
the organizer of the expedition," Some of the Scouts on this trip
were with us on the Kilimanjaro climb last summer. This was a very different
kind of hike.We found the going hard in the rain forest. The mud slowed us down,
we were wet all of the time and there was the constant need to keep watch
for snakes, poison dart frogs, tarantulas and vegetations that was ready to
scratch and infect the skin. We came upon just about everything you find in the
jungle including a Fer-de-Lance, the most poisonous snake in the world and
sitting coiled on a log to the side of our trail. We gave it wide berth.
At one point the guides asked us to stop and they started chattering amongst
themselves. The we heard the sound of stampeding and the guides told us to
quickly stand behind trees. A minute later group of about 100 wild boars , each
about 200 lbs, came running through our camp"
After two
days the group reached a boundary river where they set up camp, hacking away the
jungle to put up tents. According to Lee Adamowicz, Troop 175 lead
Scout, "The jungle skills of the Indians were truly amazing. We
learned allot just watching them make camp sites, using palm fronds for bedding,
stripping bark and making rope on the spot.These guys were exceptional
outdoorsmen". As camp was being set up the group was observing the different monkey species in the trees. At one point the Scouts spotted a group of Red
Uakari , a species so rare it has not been seen in the northern Amazon
for 26 years . The guides who identified the species were ecstatic.
The
groups Expedition doctor, Dr. Mike Ring, formerly of Simsbury and now Head
cardiologist in Spokane Hospital kept watch over the groups health as a number
of adults and Scouts became ill from the constant wet, cuts that didn't heal and
bad stomachs from the local food. All recovered on the trail .
According
to Mead, "We collected allot of information for TRARC and eventually made our
way back to the Tahuayo Lodge where we finally got to dry out and get a cold
shower of river water. Our guides asked us to play their village in a game
of soccer and we agreed and got beaten solidly by the locals. They toured us
through their thatched hut village and we got to see a very different way of
life."
Twelve days after
the group arrived in the jungle they flew back to Lima and then back to
Simsbury. The group members were Scouts Lee Adamowicz, Rob Moore,
Carter Hill, Ryan Mead, Jeffrey Mead, Cortland Carter, Rob Carter.
Scout
Leaders included Brad Mead, Peter Adamowicz, Dave
Moore, Dave Carter, Mike Hill. Additional members of the group also from
Simsbury included Andy Glassman, Nathan Glassman, Sam Glassman ,Amanda Glassman,
Allison Mead, Lis Phillips.
On June 29th, our
eight-member Adventure Crew departed from Simsbury and headed to the Maine High Adventure Base in northern Maine. After a
nine-hour ride, we arrived at Matagamon Wilderness, a campground on the banks
of the East Branch of the Penobscot
River where we spent our
first night. Early the next morning,
after a great breakfast cooked for us on an open fire, we traveled a short
distance to Grand Lake Matagamon where we were met by Maine High Adventure Base
staff. We loaded our personal gear and boarded
a pontoon boat for the ride across the lake to the landing at Maine High
Adventure Base.
After a tour of the Base, the
Crew met with Base staff to discuss trip planning and options. Base staff plotted 4 different trips for the
Crew to consider. The Crew picked an exciting trip with lots of white
water on the St. Croix River on the Maine/New Brunswick border from Vanceboro, Maine to the Ocean. The Crew chose this trip because of the allure of an exploratory element
to the trip along the lower reaches of the St. Croix River and out into Passamaquoddy Bay. No Maine
High Adventure Base crew had ever before paddled down the St. Croix all the way out into the Bay. No
one, including the Base staff and our guide, was sure what we would encounter
for river/water or campsite conditions along the lower reach of the St. Croix River and open tidal water. We spent the rest of the day preparing for
the trip; packing food, gear and supplies we would need for the entire
trip. That evening, we camped along the shore of Grand Lake Matagamon where the Crew enjoyed cliff jumping into the lake.
The next morning, the Crew paddled
back across Grand Lake Matagamon, loaded the van and trailer and head out on the
three-hour ride to the St.
Croix River put-in at Vanceboro. We had the great fortune of having Jason
Cross assigned as Guide for our Crew. Jason is a Maine native, a Registered Maine Guide, and he comes from
a family with a background in professional guiding. Jason was a great source of knowledge and
experience, which he freely passed on the Crew.
Some of the highlights on the trip included learning
to maneuver a canoe around rocks and river obstacles; running class 2 and 3
rapids; getting up at 3 am to paddle in the early morning river smoke,
encountering numerous bald eagles, a family of beavers, a moose crossing the
river and an unexpected longhorn bison; loons calling through the night; bushwhacking
a campsite along the exploratory reach of the river; fishing; walking out into
the rapids in a chain-like maneuver; learning new cooking techniques and
quick-release knots; a tour inside a hydroelectric generation plant; and
interloping across the US Border into Canada. Near the town of Calais,
after a strenuous portage around a dam, we had the exciting experience of
having the dam release water with us below it. We had to move quickly to
load up, get into the water and make it through the speedily increasing rapids
before they became impassable.
Our last day on the river, we covered 21 miles which
included long reaches of slow water on the lower St. Croix, as well as waves and
head wind in the cold, salty waters of Passamaquoddy Bay, an inlet of the Bay
of Fundy. The day included 13 hours in our canoes. We arrived at Robbinston, our take-out destination,
in the early evening, toward the end of the day, a total of 72 miles downstream
from our put-in at Vanceboro. We had made the entire trip without dumping a
canoe.
The next morning, July 7th, we packed and
loaded for the three-hour ride back to Grand Lake Matagamon and our last paddle
across the lake back to the Base. After
turning in our gear, we sat down for a bean hole supper that was absolutely
delicious.
A unique aspect of this trip was that we cooked great
meals including chili (river guide style), river-itos, and moose cakes over
open fires built the Maine Guide way. We
enjoyed sunny, clear weather every day, a river breeze that kept the infamous
bugs of Maine at bay (at least while we were on the water), and Hudson Bay bread. The whole trip was a
great experience.
Along the way, the Crew learned river safety and
rescue techniques and developed teamwork and skills necessary to quickly and
efficiently make and break camp, cook and clean, accomplish difficult portages,
and to handle the physical challenges encountered on the trip.
Connecticut Light and Power is offering grants to fund small environmental initiatives.
This might be a great opportunity for the scouts of Simsbury Boy Scout Troop 175 to come up with ideas that help the community and the environment and receive funding to implement those projects.
This might also be of interest for individual scouts looking to gain funding for eagle scout projects.
The deadline is Oct 15 and April 15 of each year, so be sure to plan ahead!
Camp Mattatuck’s Director, Chris Moon, who asked me to communicate his “sincere appreciation to Troop 175 for their efforts in the construction Ben’s
Boat House”. Over the past weekend the camp had stored all of its watercraft and docks within the boathouse, “with room to spare”.
Chris said that the Boat House exceeded his expectations and “it’s awesome”.
This is just one example from many that makes this Troop so spectacular, we are very proud of you.