November Activities

Hi folks,
Below are the outings/events planned for November. I’m going to start consolidating emails into larger emails about our upcoming dates. It is important that you read all the info otherwise you may miss a outing you were planning on attending.

We’ve also moved to the standard BSA permission slip to make things easier on the planning. It’s one or two less documents to create. Please print out the form, fill it out and send it in as usual. For each outing below there is also a online Sign Up Sheet. If you are a scout and attending, please put your name on the list. If you are an adult, please put you name on the list and also let us know if you are able to drive and, if so, how many scouts you can transport. If a scout is planning on attending and doesn’t put his name on the sign up sheet, he runs the risk of not being able to go if there aren’t enough drivers. If you get your permission slip in, I’ll add you to the sign up sheet.

The outings in this email are: Fall Backpacking, West Hills Camping and Annual Meter Wrapping and Church Leaf Rake. We have regular meetings scheduled on November 8, 15 and 29. Danny Friese Eagle Court of Honor is November 1.

Fall Backpacking – November 11 – 12
We will be heading up in to the Catskills again, this time to tackle the Blackhead Mountain Loop. This trail we’ll be able to get two 3500+ Catskills peaks, and there is another a short distance away if time permits. Blackdome is 3980ft, Blackhead is 3940ft and, time permitting, Thomas Cole is 3940ft. The number 3 and 4 peaks in height in the Catskills. Only Slide and Hunter are taller.

All scouts are invited to attend this Troop backpacking trip, however, it will be a moderately difficult hike. If there are first year scouts that would like to attend, we request that they be accompanied by a parent to lighten their load a bit.

This trip will be stress the fundamentals of lightweight backpacking and Leave No Trace camping. This trip is also weather dependent. We’ll make final decision for reschedule Thursday or Friday before trip.

Please return permission slip along with cash or check made out to BSA Troop 410 for $20 per scout for transportation expenses.

Scouts and parents who wish to attend must let us know by Wednesday 11/1.

We’ve put together a backpacking item list that you may find useful. It is on our website.
https://northport410.org/troop-documents/

Sign Up Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iRi6NgrpG26WVKWVh6Un9iA1vJEHFzOiVor9K_W74x0/edit?usp=sharing
Permission slip: https://northport410.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/19-673.pdf

West Hills Camping – November 17 – 19
We have our annual West Hills Camping trip . We’ll meet at the St. Paul’s Friday, November 17 at 6pm to load our gear and head out to the camp ground. There is no cost for this camping trip, however, we’ll be asking each scout to bring a food item for the dinner on Saturday evening.

On Saturday some boys will do their 5 mile hike. It is a requirement for Second Class and is a good time for the younger scouts to complete the task.

The highlight of the weekend is the Turkey Dinner on Saturday evening. All families are invited to come and have dinner. The scouts will work in the afternoon making the meals for all to eat.

Mr. DeSimone is working on the Saturday dinner list, and we’ll have it shortly for the boys. We ask that if you are unable to attend, that you please still send in your food item for Saturday night. We usually have a large turnout and there will be lots of hungry mouths to feed that evening. We’ll need all the items Mr. DeSimone asks for.

Permission slip and sign up sheet is linked and is due Wednesday 11/15. The camp planning for this trip will also be 11/15. During planning, the boys will figure out their food for other meals with their patrols. Please have scout eat dinner Friday evening and bring a snack for later on. They will plan and cook Saturday breakfast, lunch and Sunday breakfast. The patrols will figure out what each scout is going to bring and will distribute a shopping list among themselves.

Lastly, if you plan on attending dinner and taking your scout on Saturday evening, I ask that you please let me know beforehand. When I’m doing my counts for scouts and I’m consistently short of the number we left with, I start to worry. Also, I want to make sure that we have enough coverage for Sunday cleanup. I may ask if there are many scouts leaving Saturday evening, that some come back to pitch in and clean up Sunday.

Sign Up Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y6VHNRS_WV6n_fJX-wh9q_klHx7lgtzaC8o64-avbJ0/edit?usp=sharing
Permission slip: https://northport410.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/19-673.pdf

Meter Wrapping / Leaf Rake – November 24
We have one of our annual community service events Friday morning November 24 starting at 9:00AM. We gather at the Church to clean their leaves.

Additionally, we will be wrapping the village parking meters for the holiday. For any scout interested in getting service hours, this is a great time to do that. We also want to help out our Charter organization, St. Paul’s, with their fall clean up. Please come down (bring a rake and gloves) ready to be outside doing some work.

While we are wrapping meters we will also be asking local businesses to hang our Polar Bear Challenge posters. For meter wrapping, please bring your Class A uniform.

For this event we NEED parents to come down and help out. We need adults to supervise and help rake, to go with the boys meter wrapping (and raking afterwards) and to help organize and cook the breakfast we provide for everyone. This event should run at no more than three hours with everyone helping out. It will only run longer with less people. Nobody want to spend all day Friday after Thanksgiving raking leaves. There is some good football on TV to watch. We are a community with a common interest of helping our boys succeed and advance in scouting. To help do this, we volunteer our time. Leaders give up a tremendous amount of time to make sure the troop runs as smoothly as possible. We’re asking for others to volunteer their time as well. I hope you can make it.

Thank you.