Two years ago, the troop made its maiden voyage up to Hyde Park to visit the estate & Presidential Library of FDR and camp in the beautiful Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park.  That trip was memorable due to the fact that it was approximately one month before President Barack Obama was elected (historically significant), the designated campground was stunningly secluded but exhibited uniquely fun features, and the scouts got to explore the cliffs and cleanup the marina area securing an hour of community service.  So it was with great anticipation, that the troop returned in 2010.  In addition to being blessed with fabulous weather, the boys provided ample entertainment at night with a variety of skits.  This year’s main campsite attraction was not the giant dirt bowl of two years ago, but instead an amazingly large grapevine hanging from high atop the tall trees allowing the boys to swing like Tarzan!  The weekend was topped off with a respectful US flag retirement ceremony, led by Assistant Scoutmaster Mike Occhicone.  Our scouts truly love this outing, as these pictures will attest!

Every year Troop 353 tries to explore some new territory given that so many varied terrains are within a short 2-hour drive. A visit to North South Lake turned our small group of explorers into huge believers that this is one park that should be revisited frequently!  North South Lake is not a New York State property, but instead a park in the Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) domain.  We had read about the attractiveness of the park through various online sources, but nothing could prepare us for the incredible beauty we discovered.  The list of scenic and historic points along the scenic Escarpment Trail are numerous:  Badman’s Cave, Sunset & Lookout Rock, Artist Rock, Boulder Rock, Inspration Point, Catskill Mountain House & Kaaterskill Hotel.  There were numerous croppings that allowed for small grade rock climbing and bouldering.  At the picturesque North South Lake & public campground, a boat rental provided opportunities for canoeing, kayaking, rowing, and paddleboats.  Fishing is also available for those looking to hook a chain pickerel, brown bullhead, pumpkinseed, black crappie or largemouth bass (no license required for those 16 & under).  We encountered many outdoor enthusiasts that day: hikers, geocachers, nature groups, wedding parties and numerous other families.  Finally, a short distance away are the famous Kaaterskill Falls–a two tiered waterfall system of 175 feet and 85 feet, that are believed to be the highest in NY state. Unquestionably, this park has something for everyone!  Check out the incredible pictures here!

Troop 353 has been exceptionally fortunate in that we typically average one Eagle Scout per year and 2010 was no different!  The official guidance in the BSA’s Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook clearly states that a leadership service project does NOT need to be original but this year a scout (David Quigley) came forth with a very unique idea that our troop leaders had never seen before.   The concept was to assist community officials and other volunteer groups in a major project to assess the economic impact of the urban canopy in the village of Tuckahoe.  This type of appraisal includes a measurement and inventory of all trees that belong to the village.  To correctly assess, one has to go through training and submit evaluations on the condition of the tree & whether there is any overhead wire interference or uprooted sidewalks, possibly signaling potential economic problems during future storms.  Such ultra-green practices are cutting edge urban management strategies being deployed on a growing list of rapidly expanding cities worldwide, including 21 different cities in CA; Portland, OR; Jacksonville, FL;and more recently including Washington, DC; Rockville, MD, Shoreview, MN; Nashville, TN; Seattle, WA and several others.  More info about David’s project can be seen on the Eagles Nest page of this website.

David’s accomplishments are numerous and impressive.  He held a variety of key youth leadership roles:  Troop Guide, Patrol Leader, Assistant SPL and SPL.  Not only did he manage to take on the demanding role of Sr Patrol Leader during 11th grade, but he also managed to complete a few more merit badges, complete his Eagle Scout Leadership Project while taking all honors courses in his senior year and while playing on varsity soccer and crewing for Fordham Prep.  David has a wonderful talent for successfully executing many troop activities with limited time constraints in such a way that one would believe the event had been planned for months!  I have personally known David since Cub Scouts and he has grown to be an extremely caring, capable young man and should represent all Eagle Scouts well.

Like nearly all of the Eagle Scouts from Troop 353, David’s parents were very active in our troop and Mr. Steve Quigley was the Advancement Chair for many years.  Mrs Quigley was very active in girl scouts and both of David’s sisters, Eileen & Laura completed their Gold Award.

Due to David’s very demanding schedule, even after graduation, it was a challenge to schedule his Eagle Court of Honor!  July 25th turned out to be the best available date for the Quigley family and one of the more meaningful participants was David’s grandfather, himself an Eagle Scout.  Former Eagle Scouts and several current scouts gathered during that hot day in the beautiful Generoso Pope Foundation building in Tuckahoe to celebrate David’s special day of celebration.  In attendance were the faithful group of public officials:  Nita Lowey & Amy Paulin (NY State Congresswomen), Vito Pinto & Sheila Marcotte (Westchester County Legislators), John Fitzpatrick (Tuckahoe Village Mayor), Clare Goreman and Steve Ecklond (Tuckahoe Village Trusteees), Robert Forster (VFW), and Frank Morganthaler (American Legion).

David, like all of the scouts in our troop, has accomplished much during his youth scouting career and we are equally excited to see where his college studies at Holy Cross take him professionally.  Though less than 4% of all scouts ever attain the rank of Eagle, it is clearly not the ONLY yardstick of success in our troop.  Importantly, what the adult leaders of troop 353 are striving to create is a rich and varied program that provides ample opportunities for ALL scouts to learn about the world around them, how to lead others, how to make strong moral and ethical decisions, to serve their community and fellow scouts cheerfully and to lead a healthy life style.  Advancement per se is not a goal of the Scouting program.  It is along the unique scouting trail, tham many, many experiences of a lifetime are created for our boys and I am very sure that David would vouch for the truthfulness of this statement as he reflects back on the richness of his special experience in Scouting!  Hats off to Mr. David Quigley, Eagle Scout!  More pictures of David’s uniquely “Green” Eagle Project and Eagle Court of Honor can be found here!

For the second consecutive summer, Troop 353 offered a high adventure trip option to its older scouts.  The August 2010 trip was to Pamlico Sea Base in the East Carolina Scout District.  The trip entailed a week of beach camping and kayaking along Cape Lookout National Seashore, culminating in the earning of the BSA 50-Miler Award.

The trip started with a flight to Raleigh, NC and a couple of hour van ride to reach the remote Pamlico Sea Base location on the east coast of North Carolina.  On the way, the scouts sampled genuine East Carolina BBQ at Parker’s Restaurant, a local favorite for decades.  Little did we know that this was to be the last quality meal the group would have for 6 days.

Our group was met at base camp by swarms of mosquitoes, along with the wonderful Pamlico Sea Base staff and our incredible trek guides Tony (hard to miss with his 12+ years of dreadlock growth and his unique ear décor) and Steve (who would come to be known as “the guide who doesn’t lie”).  

The next morning, after gathering equipment and provisions, including a weeks worth of no-fuss foods (including Cliff bars, canned tuna, trail mix, granola bars, easy prep canned/boxed dinners and the ever popular summer sausage) the group was off on their adventure to the barrier islands that make up the lower part of the Outer Banks.

Day 1 proved to be easy, departing Harkers Island for the quick paddle over to the beautifully remote beach of the Shackleford Banks and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.  Scouts enjoyed swimming in crystal clear waters (with the only inhabitants of the island – wild horses), hunting for conch shells and one of many beautiful sunsets.

Day 2 is when the group found out that sea kayaking differs from being pushed down a river.  Nine hours of paddling against rolling currents was enough to exhaust everyone.

Though a few hours of playing in the surf rejuvenated everyone a bit, dinner at Great Island that night was relatively quiet (and not very tasty).  One or two adult leaders consumed (more) Advil for dinner.

During the rest of the week, our group of toughened paddlers hugged the coastline, and followed dozens of duck blinds through the shallow waters of the Pamlico Sound.

Everyone got very much acquainted with their kayaks and mastered setting up tents in the wind and sand.  Each night we camped at a new destination beach, with each being more scenic than the last.  

All got accustomed to the diet of trail mix, cliff bars, oatmeal to go and, of course, summer sausage.

It rained on a few nights, and we had an especially treacherous crossing of the Sound on Day 4 as we departed the beach at Long Point for Cedar Island just after a night of thunderstorms came to an end.   In order not to tip in the high swells, we paddled our kayaks non-stop for one and a half hours.      

The trip across the Sound was well worth it as we were greeted by a rainbow and a group of dolphins (Did someone yell “Sharks!”?) on the far side.

We finished up our adventure with a 4-hour ferry ride and a well deserved night on Ocracoke Island, a popular tourist destination where Blackbeard the Pirate was reportedly killed in 1718.

Although Teeter’s campground was not 5-Star, it had showers and provided a great base camp for exploring the island and its great restaurants.  We got to sit down on chairs and relax.

It was a challenging, beautiful, awesome and memorable trip.  All participants were challenged both physically and mentally, and came away with a great sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.  We can’t wait for the next high adventure trip.

Tony, how much further?!!

For more great photos, click here!

National Park Service Cape Lookout National Seashores map

The annual Frank McCluskey Friendship outing is perhaps the favorite monthly outing of the year! In addition to spending considerable time splashing in the warm waters of the beautiful Delaware River, the scouts are encouraged to invite a friend to the canoe trip. This very special initiative was taken to commemorate the friendly nature of former ASM Frank McCluskey, whom passed away unexpectedly in 2008. The scouts and their families have really embraced this outing. It is amazing how every year there are about 50 people on this trip and about 20% of the participants are not scouts. On the relatively calm +10 mile stretch of river we paddle, our +20 canoes and dozen or so kayakers (must have canoeing merit badge) look something like the Spanish armada, spread out for quite a distance. The scenery along the Delaware River is spectacular with frequent sitings of Eagles, fish, and the occassional deer or black bear. Often, other scout troops are paddling as well, so there is very much a family-feel along the river that day.

At night, the patrols camp & cook via the patrol method and then gather for a yearend campfire where numerous spoof awards are handed out to scouts and adults alike. As everyone slowly drifts off to sleep after 11pm to the sound of crickets and giggling children, there is a considerable feeling and respect for all that is good in the scouting program — even among our many non-scouting guests. The next morning, our group of sore and stiff river rats slowly awaken to a beautiful campsite setting, feast on huge breakfast, pack up, participate in a short Interfaith Prayer Service and then head back home with new customized t-shirts, heralding the end of another  simply awesome canoe trip !

One of the admittedly cooler scouting events of the year is the bi-annual Beach Jam event at Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ.  This hugely popular event has been running for 16 years and attracts both boy and girl scouts from several states in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.  Indeed, it tends to be a popular family event with hundreds of scouting families present.  This year a few adventurous girl scouts from Canada, that had traveled over 12 hours by bus, ventured into our campsite to visit as well as swap patches.  The boys seemed impressed with the girl’s willingness to endure a 12 hour bus ride given that the drive from Westchester was only about 4 hours and they got some nifty Canadian girl scout polar bear patches too. 

The afternoon and night are filled with a lot of unstructured free time, which can be a valued learning experience (believe it or not!).  It gives the scouts time to be curious and creative and to explore their world, including the all the amusement park rides.  This protocol also actually rigorously tests the buddy-system.  As proof, one of the newer scouts ended up missing around the 10pm Saturday night curfew, because he and his buddy got separated and the errant scout independently decided to spend some extra time in the Arcade on the board walk.  Until the boy was found, there was a bit of angst on the part of the scout buddies (and parents) and this proved to be a terrific lesson to learn how serious it is to stay together with your buddy at all times. 

After our first trip to Wildwood a few years ago, the troop decided to skip the offered merit badges as the standards of learning were not as high as the adult leaders would like to see.  As you can imagine, this strategic decision to skip merit badge class did not bother the scouts at all as it meant they had more time to play on the beach or ride the amusement rides, as these these pictures can attest!

Troop 353 is constantly looking for new and better “best practices”. One of the better ideas the troop has adopted in recent years is for Life Scout candidates to create, market, organize and lead a 6-hour community service project as a preparation “warmup” for a scout’s Eagle Leadership Project. One of the quickest projects our scouts can do is lead a major “spring cleanup” of the extensive grounds of the Immaculate Conception Church where our troop stores its troop gear for free. This exercise led to an accumulation of far more garbage than imagined as well as a surprise finding of a large old marble sign. The troop leaders look forward to an array of additional Life Scout Service Projects in coming years. For a few great pictures from a sunny but cool day in April, click here!

For the past few years, the troop has made a pilgrimage up to the Graymoor Monastery in Garrison, NY for the annual Good Turn Outing.   A few years ago, Brother Ted Novak started our work in the 9-11 prayer garden, also known as St. Jude’s Pond & Prayer Garden.  Every year it seems like this area, frequented by thousands of reverent folks from all over the world, is in need of a major “spring cleaning” and so this is what our scouts have learned to do.   Historically, we have tied the need to accumulate troop-related service hours to attend some of our more fun events, ie white water rafting, and the Graymoor outing represents the singlest biggest opportunity (typically) to earn such community service hours.   For some scouts, it is there only opportunity to do a little yard work and these boys embrace the day enthusiastically.  At the other extreme are others that are not quite as productive.  Amazingly, the boys and the dads all work fairly steadily for the full 6 hours (excluding a lunch break) and the gardens look like new again! 

To add a little spice to the weekend, we have also had a Iron Chef breakfast cookoff competition with a required ingredient for the Sunday morning cookoff.  The required ingredient of lemon this past year made for some delightful presentations, and the Mustang Patrol was the hands-down winner!  The night before, the Scoutmaster prepared a lemon cake in 2 dutch ovens, which was quickly consumed by all as we all nestled around the bonfire to enjoy a varieyty of skits.  Brother Ted is always gracious (brave?) enough to be the tasting judge on Sunday morning, and then lead our group in a beautiful interfaith prayer service.   As always, we end the outing with the traditional “Rose, Bud, Thorn” discussion & sharing by all.  For more great pictures of this productive but fun weekend, click here click here !

My parents always told me that “you could never have enough friends.”  Well, I am grateful for the many friendships I have developed in Scouting and one of the most special is that of the many wonderful adult leaders at Troop 240 Riverdale, especially former Scoutmaster Joe Acquafredda.  Because of the strong ties between our two units, our troop continues to be invited to T-240′s annual Wintoree merit badge seminar at Camp Durland.  In 2010, the two troops made an extra effort to celebrate the brotherhood of scouting and reflected on the Centennial celebration with a recounting of the history of merit badges and a display of scouting paraphernalia from the 1960s.   In addition, Scoutmaster Joe Acquafredda led yet another impressive Wood Badge beading ceremony for one of his several adult leaders on Saturday night.
 
As everyone knows, Scoutmaster Joe passed away suddenly this past April from cancer.   His legacy, which is something that is talked about a lot in Scoutmaster training, is enormous!    He positively impacted hundreds of scouts and scout leaders during his many years in Scouting including the last 12 as Scoutmaster!  He helped our troop immeasurably with his constant offering of encouragement and creative ideas.  Joe’s unbridled Scouting spirit was simply big enough for everyone.  And I am so grateful that our troop got to be exposed to this rare breed of leader!   He, and his wonderful wife Edna, have been true friends.
 
Watching the scouts of the two troops inter-mingle during the weekend was particularly gratifying.   It was a Norman Rockwell scene of all that is good in Scouting.  As I told the combined group of +50 scouts on that picturesque Saturday morning:  “you will have many circles of friends throughout life.  Not all of these circles will intersect.  That is ok.  One thing is quite certain, however, your circle of Scouting friends will likely end up being true friends, ones that truly care for you and will do so for all of your life.” 

More reflections & a Memorial on former Scoutmaster Joe Acquafredda can be found at the Troop 240 Riverdale website  http://www.troop240ny.org

Oh yes, our troop completed over a dozen merit badges and another dozen merit badges were partially completed that weekend.  For pictures of this memorable friendship weekend, please click here.

The annual winter outing to Ten Mile River is never short of fun activities!  The new twist this past year was the attempt to go snowshoeing–something most scouts have never done.  Unfortunately a warm front in the week leading up to the event resulted in most of the area snow melting.  By Saturday morning, it was well below freezing again and our snowshoeing guides ended up taking the boys on a brisk 5-mile hike, where scouts found both interesting ice formations as well as spectacular views of the Delaware River valley.  The afternoon was reserved for the traditional ice fishing adventure, courtesy of long-time troop friend Ray Lewis.  Mr. Lewis brought the gear, the bait, the augur and the cheerful encouragement!  Though the fish were not biting, the boys entertained themselves on the thick slippery ice by sliding around in chairs from the cabin.  The traditional Thanksgiving-style meal and a good night’s sleep capped off another fun winter playland weekend for the scouts.  Check out the photos here.

Each year during the year-end holidays, Troop 353 attempts to gather its available Eagle scouts. These fine young men are often home from college and enjoy the reunion of old friends, notwithstanding any conflicting work schedules. As well, it is a terrific venue for introducing younger scouts to older scouts and to learn why it is important to strive for the rank of Eagle Scout. This year, the hike was to the scenic Storm King Mountain and its sweeping panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskills. It was a crisp, bright day in January, but the exercise certainly re-emphasized the importance of layered clothing!

Storm King has a very interesting recent history. In 1999, under drought conditions, a forest fire spread throughout the state park. In the course of extinguishing the fire, exploding ordnance were unexpectedly discovered. “The ordnance had apparently been fired well over a century ago to test cannons manufactured at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, across the river and it exploded due to the heat generated by the fire. Subsequently, it was determined that artillery shells fired from the West Point Military Reservation may also have landed in the park.” It took the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over 4 years to clean up the park before it was reopened to the public.

There are actually two adjacent mountain peaks that our troop hiked and the vertical rise is a manageable 500 feet (or less) and we probably hiked only 2.0–2.5 miles in total. From the top of Butter Hill, only 45 minutes from the parking lot, one can view the Shawangunk Ridge to the west (and several major Catskill wilderness areas), Mount Misery to the South, West Point and Cold Spring to the Southeast and the easterly ledges of Storm King. Then a short walk north to northeast over to the Storm King mountain along the upper Yellow trail, gives hikers unparalleled views of the Hudson River to the north and the east. Directly across the Hudson River to the east is the equally scenic Breakneck Ridge trail, towering above Cold Spring, NY, which the troop hiked in April 2007.

There are no fewer than 7 different scenic view points on the trail map. At one of these points, the boys picked a perfect place to stop for a late lunch and a brief 30-minute rest. In the distance, one can easily view Bannerman’s Island and the remnants of the Scottish-style castle he built in the late 1880s to house his arsenal of second-hand military supplies which he sold abroad. Afterwards it was a comparatively quick jaunt for the scouts down the White / Bypass trail. This was a comparatively easy hike with varied geographic conditions and stunning views which scouts greatly appreciated as seen in these pictures. click for more scenic views

For 18 consecutive years Eastchester Troop 353 has participated in a community-wide food drive to restock the local pantry shelves of the Eastchester Community Action Program (ECAP). The troop’s food drive efforts are inspired by such local heros (and former Boy Scout) Dave Stevenson, the Golf Pro at Lake Isle, that annually raises money for and delivers service time to Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi. Delivering community service is one of the central tenets of the Boy Scouting program.

Troop 353 is particularly proud of its 18 year tradition of contributing directly to its local community. Our troop’s efforts to collect well over 200 grocery bags throughout our neighborhood, along with other corporate donors, has a truly long-lasting impact, as ECAP is one of the few 16 local WestCOP offices to supply both its local and surrounding communities with a well-stocked food bank. The food contributed during the Thanksgiving food drive, according to Charlene Lambrecht, the ECAP program director, was enough to last through the yearend holidays.

Look to see how a scout is Helpful here.