Cedarlands - 2004

Location: Where else? Cedarlands, at Long Lake, NY.

Dates: August 1-7, 2004

Who: Adults: Cliff Rose, John Koslosky, Jim Derrane, John Ivory, Mike Fitzsimmons, Bob Decker
Scouts: Nick D., Brian F. (the elder), Brian F. (the younger), Patrick D., Matt I., Jeremy R., Josh T., Dustin T., Chris D.

Notes: We had probably one of the best collection of scouts and adults ever, and during one of the few non-rainy weeks of the summer.

At camp, there's a certain amount of time spent just hanging around. This year, we decided to take that literally and get some exercise. We had to do something to wear off all the good cooking, especially the late night dutch oven creations from Mr. Derrane. Some were excellent. Others were more akin to being works of art.
Each morning after breakfast, the scouts went to handle any of a variety of merit badges, while the adults stayed back to get the camp organized. This left the afternoons to be ourselves.

And of course, there was the Polar Bear Swim. We had the highest participation level in recent memory, and every one of the guys got the certification.

For those who don't know, this requires getting up early and swimming in the lake at 7:00 each morning before breakfast.

There was only one other scout troop at camp the week we were there, so we pretty much had the full run of the place with no competition for resources.


	One of the days we canoed over to Windy Beach and made camp. After lots of input from the scouts, they settled on the design you see here for the sleeping arrangements. All the boys worked well together, and the lean-to held up just fine. It was nice being able to wake up to the grand view of the lake in front of us. After making camp, a number of the boys decided to go swimming, while others hiked, relaxed, or went fishing. Some day we will need to just go back and stay here for a few days on our own. You could hear the loons and owls at night, and there were reports of hearing coyotes as well.

Leeches not withstanding, we spent a wonderful afternoon over at Buttermilk Falls. The water was running fast and furious, and it felt great. Even the most modest of swimmers had a great time splashing around.

This is a "must-do" event for any other troops that ends up spending time at Cedarlands.

And of course, we did some rock climbing and rappelling. Since Cedarlands lost access to Watch Rock, they've found a new site for doing this. In order to get there, we had to x-country bike around the lake and take a short hike.

And below here is just a dumping ground for photos that I couldn't find a better spot for. One of the more interesting ones though is of the side of the van at the bottom. If you click on it to get the larger view, you can clearly see bear footprints on the side. On our last night at camp, we put some of the food in the van instead of up in a bear bag. I'm just luck they didn't decide to rip off the windows to get at the goods.

AND... a few more, courtesy of Mr. Fitzsimmons...