Whirley Ball

Crew Meeting at Appalachian Outfitters

Backpacking - Laurel Highlands Trail - July 2014

Click here for a higher quality slideshow of Laurel Highlands Video on YouTube

Leave No Trace training

Mr. Don Nash conducted Leave No Trace training for Crew 2309. Leave No Trace teaches people how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly, and is based on seven core principals. Mr. Nash presented these principals in a fun and educational way, involving everyone present in the training. Crew members look forward to using the knowledge gained on the upcoming events.

The Seven Principles are as follows:

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare

2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. 
Dispose of Waste Properly

4. Leave What You Find
5. 
Minimize Campfire Impacts

6. Respect Wildlife
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

The principals and logo are copyright https://lnt.org/.

Cleveland Cultural Gardens tour

Crew 2309 visited the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. Our guide for the tour, Mr. Paul Burik, is the curator of the Czech garden and is responsible for the Cultural Gardens newsletter. Mr. Burik has been active in Sea Scouts for 12 years and conducted the tour wearing his class A shirt. He was a wealth of knowledge and we were grateful to have him as our guide.

The website for the Cleveland Cultural Gardens is located at http://www.clevelandculturalgardens.org/.

Prep Hike at Tar Hollow

We went to Tar Hollow State Park in Laurellville, Ohio with 15 people, arriving at the base camp late Friday evening. We set up camp and ate. Once the sun rose, we set off with gear on our backs onto a hike much longer than expected. The reports said 8-10 miles, while unofficial reports say 12.4 and 12.6 miles, and the latter proved to be true. We broke for lunch early, after a debate longer than the lunch itself. Many people learned how to use the lightweight stoves and how to cook on the trail.

Source: http://backpackohio.com/tarhollow.html

The trail quickly turned back into woods as opposed to fields, and we went on for several miles before one of the youth was mildly injured. We stopped for some time before we continued hiking, opting to press onward until the next parking lot we could drop them off. We never found one and he went on for another 6.5 miles on a strained ankle. At the end, for his valiant efforts, we awarded him the trail name of "Juggernaut", with the affectionate shortening of "Juggs". Another trail name that was awarded was "Trooper", to the youth that was hurting from the start and soldiered through every step of the hike.

On the way home, we stopped at the general store, and for our diligent efforts, Crew Advisor John Z bought all the youth ice cream.

Source: see above

Philmont Open House

Our sponsor, Appalachian Outfitters, held a Philmont open house where they discussed the Philmont Scout Ranch and demonstrated much of the gear that is necessary to successfully complete a trek. Our crew will be going to Philmont in 2015.

Applebee's Dine to Donate fundraiser

Thank you Applebee's, and all of those that attended, Dined to Donate, and supported our crew. Thanks to your generous support, we'll be able to purchase crew uniforms to provide to all members along with gear for our numerous activities. Additional sponsors from the community included Starbucks, GameStop, Subway, Cinemark, Office Max, Dodd Camera, Highland Dental, and others.

Ski days are here again!

We're once again going to Brandywine Ski Resort. We went February 2013 and decided it was so fun we would come back again this year for Great Trail Council's Scout Ski Days.