Canoe & Camping Trip - 2007
(scroll down for more pictures)

The 2007 Canoe & Camping trip at Devil's Foot Island, took place on the weekend of May 5th, a month later than we normally do.  Daytime weather was warmer, of course, but Saturday night was still rather cool.  Skies were partly cloudy all weekend.

We then assembled at the Esco Tool parking lot and carpooled to the Stop River bridge at Noon Hill Road.  Mr Costello was there waiting for us.  Canoes were loaded up with gear and launched.   Although not reflected in these pictures, we had over two dozen canoes and kayaks head to the island this year.

The river level was not quite as low as last year, but shortcuts were not possible and we still had to navigate all the twists and turns of the Stop River.   We landed our canoes on the usually landing area on the island and moved all our gear  up the steep slope to the camping areas.  Each patrol set up their own camp sites and pitched their tents.  Cooking fires were established.

Mr Costello ran the next session of his canoeing class for those scouts and adults who are attending the Northern Tier High Adventure wilderness canoeing trip in August.  After discussion, they headed out to practice paddling techniques and maneuvering the canoes in tight areas.  After a lunch break, some of the scouts demonstrated their skill in doing pushups on the gunnels of their canoes!

Meanwhile... back on the island, our new (and not-so-new) scouts, for whom this was their first trip with Troop 10, participated in several activities, led by the older scouts and adults who had remained on the island.  Along with cooking their own lunches, some of the activities covered were knife & axe handling, compass work, and proper setup and use of camp stoves.  (Hopefully someone will get me pictures of these activities to add to this page.)

This year, we had each patrol be responsible for the planning, purchasing and cooking of their own food.  (This is more in line with the true "patrol method" of how a patrol should operate.)  And, of course, afterwards, we cleaned out cooking gear carefully. 

In the evening, we had our troop campfire.  There were many skits this year, both "old standards" and a few new ones.  Plus, Mr Powers lead us in singing "Mountain Dew",  and Mr Wheeler finally told us the creepy story that he'd been told on his first campout as a new scout.

We awoke Sunday , restarted our campfires and prepared breakfast.  Afterwards, the tents were dropped, gear was packed and trundled down the hill to the canoes. 

We made our way downstream along the Stop River, to Causeway Street.  The water level had dropped just enough overnight, so that we did not have to portage.  With guidance from Mr Dickinson and his crewmates, we were all able to squeeze our canoes carefully under the bridge.

We then followed the Stop for a short distance, to where it joined the Charles River and continued along the Charles, under the Rte 109 bridge.  Due to construction by the new owners of the former Charles River Restaurant, we could not land in the back of their parking lot, as we have done in the past.  We proceeded down the Charles until we reached the West Street bridge, were we landed.