CurlyShavings

The Order of the Arrow (OA) is Scouting's National Honor Society. It exists to recognize campers who exemplify the Scout Oath and Law every day, to promote camping and to provide service to others. There are three basic honors one can receive and in October I went through the third, the Vigil. (While it is a secretive society, it is by no means a secret society. Some Sections, geographic groupings of Lodges, provide a Vigil "preview" for parents, allowing them to see what takes place during a Vigil. It is my understanding that all ceremonies are open for observation, just ask your Lodge.)

My Ordeal took place in the early `80s, in Karankawa Lodge on the Texas Gulf Coast. I don't remember much. My Brotherhood took place in April 2005/4, in Cuyahoga Lodge in North East Ohio. It was the most meaningful of the three. My Vigil took Place in late September 2007.

We arrived, hung out and talked for a while, did introductions of new and old Vigils, went over names and generally had a good time of it until well after dark, around 10pm. At that point, we gathered our things and one-by-one walked with a guide to a remote part of camp where our Lodge Chief waited. He spoke to me, gave me certain things to think about during my time alone and asked me not to speak to others during this time.

I was then led to a still-further remote part of camp where I was to spend my night. My guide (my dear friend who was my Staff Adviser during my very first Program Director position at Webelos Resident Camp) helped me clear some ground and get a fire going (one match, lots of dry cedar shingles). Then she left and the darkness swallowed her.

The Lodge Chief had given me a packet of letters, each to be opened at specific times throughout the night. In addition, between these letters, I was to receive a visit from out of the darkness to remind me of certain things, to make certain I didn't need anything and, I suppose, to make certain I was still awake. The first letter said nothing I didn't already know. In fact, all the letters provided were reminders of things that had been said and learned in years past. They were mile-markers through the night, though, and that was useful.

I soon settled into a bit of a routine. I gathered firewood, sawed some logs (literally, not figuratively), set up my camp chair, opened my snacks, got my journal and my Bible and set down to enjoy the night.

It was a cool, clear night with a nearly full moon. I was able to stay in my Scout shorts the entire night as long as I kept the fire going.

By 2330, I had my first "deep" thought: The fire burns only when fed and such also is the fire within us -- without constant feeding, it soon dies out.

At 0030, the fire was beginning to burn low, with many coals. The fire won't let you rest, it must be kept or it doesn't burn at all. Throughout the night I found that the fire changed shapes, not the flames, but its footprint and its character. Some of what determined that shape was what I fed it, logs, sticks, twigs, they all gave it different characteristics. Soon, that which was consumed to coals was consuming other fuel: newly-laid sticks and logs.

In the silence of the woods, the trees breathed around me, insects were singing. The owls called to each other, the fire crackling. The mist, which didn't stay long, crept past on its way to somewhere else. The moon soon joined my vigil, striving to peek between the leaves to see what it is I was doing.

How slowly moves the moon! Silver slivers that dance between the trees, the stumps, the hills in the distance.

A clean-burning life needs to be poked, prodded. Things need to be removed, added. Strategies change with the changing direction and strength of the wind.

Puddles of silver-light on the unkempt leaves and twigs of the forest floor.

By 0200, two of the envelopes had been read, filling my mind and lighting the blackness of the night. I was beginning to wonder how this fire would be put out. Moving further from my circle to find fuel, I found a stump, four inches in diameter of weathered trunk, about four feet high. I knocked it over and, while sawing it into two-foot sections, found the rusted barbed wire. Oh, well. It burned cleanly and long. The ants who had taken up residence were not appreciative.

I picked up my Bible and began reading. "Do not work for food that spoils."

By 0250, the wind began shifting to the east (had been south-southeast), blowing the heat and the smoke into my face. Time to move my camp chair and by 0300, it was decidedly from the north. "Work for food that endures to eternal life."

The moon is puddling over my shoulder, the selena light of silver on rotting leaves behind me. By 0350, it was overhead and then behind me, casting my shadow on the fire before me.

The visits had been quick and timely, their words appropriate for the stage of the night. So too, with the letters, their contents a welcome reminder of Ordeals and Brotherhoods past. And so it was at 0600 (or rather 0555, since I couldn't wait any longer!) that I ripped open my last letter, hungry for additional words, additional thoughts to add to those I'd already read and thought and searched for. Only to find: "Extinguish your fire and wait for your guide". Oh, the disappointment!

I pulled apart the fire and allowed things to grow cool. I had just enough water left to dribble over the coals and hot sticks that now gave me a smoky steam-bath. Stirring the mud and ashes, even the ground became cool. And so I waited for my guide.

And waited. And waited. Had they forgotten me? Without my fire to guide them, would they be able to find me? And so the coldest part of the night began and soon ended as we were collected and walked back to the center of camp where a large and hot breakfast awaited us.

I got another ten seconds of fame recently (out of my 15 minutes). Check out page seven of our Greater Cleveland Council's newsletter, The TrailMarker. Without my knowing it, someone apparently saw the plates somewhere and snapped a picture of it.

Fame, while fleeting, does occasionally strike twice and you'll see me mentioned on the bottom of page sixteen (of the same issue of The TrailMarker).

(While the plate's snapshot is somewhat anonymous, I've already received one email about the second item!)

We had a district roundtable tonight (Glacier Ridge District, Greater Cleveland Council) and the first item on the agenda was to recognize two fellow scouters for finishing their Woodbadge Tickets. Very exciting indeed and congratulations to the recipients, C.J. Campbell and Jeff Day!

Here's a really cool Cub Scout podcast for all those "hip" Pack Leaders, Den Leader and Cubmaster types who have an iPod and use iTunes. These "Cubcasts" are short, informative and entertaining audio presentations for Pack leaders on having a great program for your cubs. The topics generally go along with your Program Helps.

Inside iTunes, choose "Advanced", then "Subscribe to Podcast..." and then paste this URL into the dialog box:

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/podcast/

You'll soon be Cubcasting!

(If you don't use iTunes and/or an iPod, you can still find it here and listen to them on your computer.)

As readers will remember, I was honored by my Order of the Arrow lodge earlier this year. It was a very fun experience and one whose impact will not likely go forgotten over the years.

It used to be that the Vigil honor was accompanied by a pin, a little triangle device with three arrows pointing along the perimeter. My Dad has one; very cool. I want one, too. So off to eBay we go. Sure enough, there are two. One with the arrows pointing clockwise and one pointing counter-clockwise. Can't seem to find any information on which is correct, so I bid on and lose both. The clockwise one has come back as a second bid option. Since then, there have been two others, also clockwise.

I hope to end up with one or the other, but I'll forever be curious; what's up with counter-clockwise?

Readers, (if there are any), do you know anything about this?

[11/19/2007 Update: Check out this research page for more on this issue. Clockwise is correct; counter-clockwise is incorrect.]

Grace, as in the prayer offered before a meal. Cub Scout Promise, as in

I promise to do my best
To do my duty to God and my country,
To help other people, and
To obey the Law of the Pack.

Grant, O God, that this food help us to do our best,
May our understanding of your goodness help us to do our duty to you and our country,
May the inspiration of our friends spur us to help other people,
And may the desire to do Your will help us to obey the law of the pack.

[7/22/2009 Author's note: This posting has been unpublished since this time last year. I just completed 2009's first session of camp and am now resting up and preparing for the second. I wasn't going to publish this post but have relented since this year's experiences seem to match last year's so closely.]

Today is the opening day of Greater Cleveland Council's 2008 Webelos Resident Camp. I'm supposed to be the "Program Director". It is sort of an interesting job (volunteer position). This year we have downsized from two, 4-day camps to one 3-day camp. And upsized from 130-ish total campers to 180 total campers and 107 adult leaders. So camp's infrastructure is being stressed, from the swimming pool to the dining hall to the roads at camp.

It's mostly a fun position. Not always. I get asked to plan months in advance and then everyone seems too busy to hear until the week before camp. And even then, I'm still waiting to deliver the craft materials to the craft area that starts tomorrow morning at 8:45. So I am encouraged to plan as far in advance as possible and end up discouraged when no one wants to think past the next half hour!

Right now I'm waiting in a program area that has wi-fi, waiting for a group that is now 17 minutes late. Some one in the group has parked a car where they shouldn't and I was going to take a load off my feet, find some shade and pass along the message before moving on to head off the next crisis.

Crises are OK at camp, as long as the boys don't figure it out. A long line at the pool swim-check? Get more adults to take their tests early so we can get increase our spotters and achieve the maximum through-put of six simultaneous test-takers. No string at a program area? I've got string and can walk it around to the others.

I find that's largely my job. Walking around and putting out fires before they get too big. This morning it was peanut allergies. Solution? Well, we do have separate dining rooms.

Well, it doesn't look like they're coming. I think I'll get the keys to the craft area and go deliver 180 blank 1x4x9" boards for pondsailer sailboats. And then figure out where everyone is.

We had a great weekend at camp! More than 170 Webelos and more than 100 adult leaders descended on Beaumont Scout Reservation near Rock Creek, Ohio this past weekend (7/25-27) to build fires, whittle wood, shoot bb's, arrows (with bows) and dog food (with slingshots). We ascended the climbing tower, rowed boats, swam in the pool, played frisbee, hiked (what felt like dozens of) miles every day, made crafts, used a compass and from what I remember, just about everyone had a pretty good time.

(Yes, we had some stressful moments and yes, things didn't always go as planned and yes, we ended up with more than our share of sick campers, but overall, folks seem very excited and happy about camp.)

As program director, I certainly had a great time and I have all the Webelos Scouts and adult leaders to thank for it. Yes, I love being at Beaumont and I love doing camp—but it is the Webelos, the leaders, the camp staff and council staff that all come together to make a great camp and give me the greatest fun. Many thanks to all who participated!

I'm already thinking about Webelos Resident Camp for 2009 and ways to take the feedback we received and make next year's camp even better. I expect to have some of that information in a letter I send out early next month (August) along with the patches that didn't arrive. For all of you second-year Webelos, we'll include some information about next year's Scout Camps at Beaumont for your Troop. Don't forget—Scouting doesn't stop here! I hope you all find a Troop to cross-over into during this next year.

Again, many, many thanks! Enjoy the rest of the summer and keep on the Scouting trail!

While out at Beaumont, our Scout camp this weekend, I bumped into a naturalist who was taking some specie inventories and had just stumbled upon something that wasn't supposed to be there. I which I had taken better notes. He said it was a Calla Lily Dogwood and quite unusual for Ohio. I believe it was on the threatened list.

I figured if it was that rare, it wouldn't be hard to find given those three words. But I can't seem to find any reference to it anywhere.

Oh, well. He showed it to me. I saw it.

He said that based on his observations, he was going to recommend taking it from threatened to something else. I'm not being much help here, am I?

This past weekend (August 23-24), I was out at Greater Cleveland Council's Camp Beaumont for Cuyahoga Lodge 17's Vigil weekend.

We had a great weekend both in terms of the Vigil ceremony and the weather. It would have been nice to have had more folks there and perhaps next year we will.

The main events took place Saturday evening and I had called a Trail Crew event for the morning and afternoon. Here's what I reported at the August 25^th Lodge Meeting:

The Saturday of the Vigil weekend, the Trail Crew worked on the trail leading to the Ceremony Site as well as placing a guidepost on the Beech Tree Trail, a total of seven hours.

The Ceremony Site Trail has six muddy spots, the worst of which is 40 feet from the beginning of the trail. This is due in part to shallow soil over clay, dense tree canopy and poor drainage features. During the weekend, this portion of the trail was partially graded, attempting to direct the water to the southern (lower) edge of the trail. As this technique will take some time to improve the trail, twenty feet of raised walkway was constructed and added (a "puncheon bridge") to take some of the stress off this portion of trail. When the trail begins to dry and it becomes clear that the grading is working, this "bridge" can be moved to another location.

Before

After

Additionally, the stump of the innermost left-hand post on the Ceremony Site Trail bridge was removed. Plans are being made to replace this 8"x8" post and its concrete footer during the October Fellowship weekend.

The hemlock blocking the left-hand totem pole was trimmed and the hanging maple branch on the northern end of the site was removed.

The oldest needed a five mile hike to complete his Second Class requirements for Monday's court of honor (9/22/2008). So he proposed this (supposed) 4.8 mile hike on the Buckeye Trail. He pulled it out of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area Trail Guide Handbook (a long title for such a little book) which I believe has now been superseded by a newer volume.

I believe that in the newer volume the trail has been moved from all the roads we walked but since the blue blazes are still there, if you're comfortable walking on the burm of the road, go take a hike!

We left cars at both the Everett Covered Bridge parking lot and Botzum Station and got started under cover of the bridge at about 10:15. The route we took takes you south on Oak Hill Road, past Hale Farm & Village and some school. Before you get to the school though, there's a cemetery at the intersection with Ira Road where the road takes on the Ira name. When Martin Road runs into Ira Road, keep a sharp lookout for the entrance of the trail into the woods.

This is the part that we really enjoyed. The trail follows the natural contours of the earth under the canopy of the trees. Oh, the trees! There were species of many kinds in much diverse collections than what we see in our neighborhood or even at Beaumont. Since our main goal was to conquer the miles, we didn't bring any plant or animal guides. Bad decision, that was.

We broke for lunch before 1pm before the meadow. Saw a toad, some neat aphids and some downed trees.

We ended up splitting up at one point, letting the Tenderfoot get his miles. Some of the others took the shortcut (in pink on the map).

What a day and what a hike! The youngest boy has visions of hiking the entire thing in sections over the years. That would be fun: Ohio River to Lake Erie!

Pack 4 has been meeting for three months now and last night was our Court of Honor. We minted six new Bobcats, awarded twelve Winter Fun badges, four 2008 YardCharge awards and narrowly missed awarding the coveted Golden Fork (for extreme cooking on a campout). We also made candy cane and clothespin reindeer!

It's hard to have fun at these events unless you're a Cub or parent. Let me rephrase that: I believe the Cubs and their parents had fun. The Cubmaster was too busy being a Cubmaster and Den Leader and Master of Ceremonies to really have fun. But we're working on that. Adding a couple more parents to the Pack Committee will help immensely: how about a Membership Chair and an Advancement Chair?

Oh, and better add a Cubmaster to the list, too. My youngest boy is a Tiger Scout next year and I won't miss this chance to be his Den Leader for anything!

The Cub Scouts in Pack 4 went sledding at Forest Hill Park. The park is huge at about 235 acres and is just full of trees and ravines and all sorts of wild places.

The location we chose for the sledding day is the site of an old Rockefeller home with a view to Lake Erie. It was built in the late 1870's as a sanitarium and converted in 1881 to Rockefeller summer home. More information can be found here. The story goes that it accidentally burned in the early 1900's and today it is difficult to find much evidence that it was there.

The slope on the western side of the homestead drops about 60' in this short run, making for a great sledding experience. You can see the three park benches on the right (east) of the map (below) at the top of the hill. The run goes west (to the left) and could go all the way to the parking lot (way off the map) if you have enough speed. Typically, one stops at about where the map's field ends.

Update (20090128): xkcd has a posting today on some of the physics of sledding including a discussion on using a GPS to determine sled speed!

The Webelos den from Pack 11 needed a wood project recently for their Craftsman Badge (actually a pin) and I had a few projects left over from a different Webelos event many years ago.

This was a treasure chest of sorts and it included fastening the sides together with screws and fashioning a lid out of a board, some nails and some fabric straps.

It's a neat project and they seemed to have fun with it. One of the challenging issues is that The Guide To Safe Scouting indicates that Cub Scouts aren't permitted to use power tools.

This is easily resolved by using old-time brace and bit technology. Chuck up a modern Phillips #2 driver bit in your antique brace and you've got a very powerful screw driver with lots of torque.

I received an original White Box Alcohol Stove for Christmas 2008. This model is approximately 2¼" tall and 2¼" in diameter. It holds approximately 3 ounces of fuel (either denatured alcohol or methyl alcohol) and can boil quite a bit of water with just those three ounces.

My initial experience with this stove was rather disappointing, since I hadn't fully read the excellent instructions that came with the stove. I didn't realize that "the fuel needs time to super heat itself and vaporize to work correctly." In hindsight, that should have been obvious since my other stoves (a WhisperLite Internationale and a two-burner Coleman) do much the same thing. In any event, I was unsuccessful and decided to head home to try another time.

After reading the instructions again, it became clear that I wasn't patient enough and that a second attempt was in order. This past weekend I got my chance.

With the stove on a flat, level, stable surface, I filled it with approximately 3 ounces of denatured alcohol from the local hardware store. Lighting it was easy and I could see why the instructions recommend dipping a twig into the fuel, lighting the twig and then using that to light the stove. It wouldn't be too hard to singe a finger or hand.

If I'd been following the instructions more closely, I would have used the small aluminum square that came with the stove to put under it, protecting the pressure-treated four-by-four. Or found a rock or packed dirt instead of the four-by-four. And technically, there should be no combustibles within a ten-foot radius of the stove.

But I was living dangerously and since I was the only one in camp at the time, I turned away for a few moments and turned back to find that the flame had settled down dramatically and was ready for my pot. (If I had to guess, I would guess that it was about a minute from the time I lit the stove to when it was ready. Next time, I'll time it.)

I have a 28 ounce Snow Peak pot which I only use for boiling water. I find that cleanup goes much faster if there's only a spork and a mug to wash.

The 28 ounces boiled rather quickly (again, I'll time it for you, next time) and I was soon brewing a morning mug of tea.

While the pot is a perfect size for my water boiling needs and it just so happens that I can pack the stove, windscreen, heat shield, 4 ounces of fuel and a couple of tea bags inside it, the pot's diameter is just short of ideal for the stove's 21 jets. It looks as though the flames are headed up the sides and not directly heating the bottom. I wonder if the White Box "SOLO" Stove (1.6" tall and perhaps a smaller diameter?) would heat only the bottom.

Snow Peak's 5" diameter pot has about the same volume and appears to be a little bit wider.

I have a few more things to try before I'm ready to head out again. I'd like to experiment with burn times per ounce of fuel along with how many ounces of water can be boiled. I'd like to see if a different diameter pot would speed up the already fast time-to-boil rates. And I'd like to find some methyl alcohol to see if there are any differences from the denatured alcohol.

Conclusion

It may be too early for me to give a raving review of this product. However, in my limited experience (I'll be sure to link any future experiences back to this page!), it lives up to the manufacturer's claims. It's fairly light, it burns denatured alcohol, it puts out a great quantity of heat and boils water quickly.

Hey, it's even made in the USA!

Trek Preparation

I'd been asked to plan and lead a backpacking trip for my son's Troop. Oil Creek was initially proposed and when I asked around for backpackers experienced with this area, Tracy Ridge was suggested as an alternative. This was soon dismissed since campsite reservations aren't available and the focus returned to Oil Creek.

Insufficient Adirondack reservations at either of the two Oil Creek campsites quickly scrapped that idea again.

Back to Tracey Ridge, then. A camping permit allows Leave-No-Trace tenting 1500 feet from the treeline of the reservoir and I was assured by two sources that there were plenty of tenting opportunities. As we announced this at the troop meeting, I was taken aside and it was suggested that due to weather (it was supposed to snow), distance to the park (easily a three-hour, one-way drive), the difficulty of the terrain, the lengths of the segments (I was told to plan 10-12 miles Saturday and 4-5 on Sunday), the age of the scouts (most were newer scouts) and the availability of adult leaders (three, two of which were first-timers), we should consider something closer and shorter.

There are hiking trails at GCC's Beaumont, GWRC's Stigwandish, Chagrin Reservation, Hinkley, etc., and all within an hour of home.

Through my OA trail work at Beaumont, I'd been made aware of a long loop in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that passed through GTC's Butler and Manatoc camps. A plan began to form that started us at Boston Store, took us on the Buckeye Trail to Pine Lane Trailhead, over Route 303 to Camp Butler, past Manatoc to the Pine Grove Trail and a part of the Ledges Trail back to camp at Manatoc for the first (Saturday) night. This would be approximately 9.5 miles, a little less than the 10-12 miles I was told to plan for. At 2 miles an hour, we could do 9.5 miles in five hours and have plenty of time for fun (and resting) at the campsite.

The next day would see us hike a different trail out of Manatoc to the Pine Lane Trailhead on the Buckeye Trail and into Peninsula where we'd break to head home.

Saturday Morning: getting started

Saturday morning dawned dark, cold and drippy. We decided to take advantage of the early hour and short drive to have a thorough shakedown. This was valuable but as events would show, was still insufficient.

Cars were in position (one at Peninsula and two more at Boston Store) by 10:00 am when the ranger station at Boston Store opened. We checked in with CVNP Dispatch (they want to know when you're leaving cars overnight), checked out the exhibits and got a recent trail report from Ranger Brady. (Ranger Brady has done a number of Junior Ranger programs for my children over the years and knows me only as "Jamie's Dad".) By 10:30 am we were off on the Towpath Trail headed south and then, following the Blue Blazes, onto the Buckeye Trail.

The Buckeye Trail: Boston Store to Pine Lane Trailhead

The trail leaves the Towpath just south of I271 and heads east into the hills. Soon, except for the distant road noise of I271 and then I80, it was easy to just hike along and enjoy the trail.

The trail is heavenly this time of year (and probably others, as well). The fall foliage left the trail in filtered light of pale greens, bright yellows, crackling browns, fiery reds, shocking pinks and peaches and scores of variations and combinations. The terrain is of medium difficulty with plenty of ups, downs and gentle slopes.

The trail remains nearly parallel to Boston Mills Road, crosses it once and uses it to go over I80. There's a grove of white pines (five needles) at this point and we stopped there for a break, a snack and to adjust packs.

Some packs were poorly sized while others were poorly packed. Almost all were overpacked. Overall, footwear, clothing and raingear were good.

These pines were reportedly planted by Girl Scouts many years ago and the trail stays among this "pine lane" for a while before turning off into the forest. At one point the trail crosses the Valley Trail (a bridle trail) and while one is aware of not being in the wilderness, the outside world wasn't too obtrusive.

Being a fast walker, I placed myself at the tail to keep from leaving everyone behind.

The trail continues to wind its way mostly south to the Pine Lane Trailhead. From Boston Store to here on the Buckeye Trail is approximately 4.2 miles.

Here we followed the Pine Lane road east to Route 303, noting the OA trail markers on occasion. It appears that if we'd crossed Route 303 sooner, we would have discovered a trail on the south side of 303 leading to the northwest corner of Camp Butler. At it was, we crossed at the camp boundary and found a trailhead with the OA symbols and markers for their yellow and orange trails.

Camp Butler and Camp Manatoc

At this point, we were behind our time and some scouts were beginning to show signs of tiring. It was decided to skip the hike through camp to the Pine Grove Trail and beyond to the Ledges Trail and back to our campsite and instead, find a quick trail to Camp Manatoc and our campsite. The Yellow trail south from this corner of Butler seemed to be the fastest despite the two ravines.

These two ravines could really benefit from some switchbacks and it was here that we experienced our first point of confusion about the route to take: short with two ravines or much longer on paved paths. As we were halfway down our first ravine, we opted to continue and hiked our way through some stunning maples to Camp Manatoc.

Camp Manatoc

Although we had reservations, we didn't know which campsite and upon checking in, we found ourselves assigned to Valley Forge. It was described as "ideal" and "idyllic" but when we arrived, we discovered it was bordered by a full parking lot and had no level surfaces. No matter: when one is tired enough, one simply makes do. And by 9:00 pm, we were all out.

Sunday Morning: Manatoc to Peninsula

From Valley Forge, we followed the White trail southeast to Truxell Road where we crossed and joined the Salt Run Trail (going counterclockwise). This transition (from Boy Scout camp trail to National Park trail) could be made easier. And it was surprising to talk to the campmasters the previous night and hear that they had no knowledge of what was to the south of them.

By the time we reached as far west as we could go on this loop, a spur left the path and connected with the Akron-Peninsula Road. We crossed here headed west and joined the Valley Trail (bridle path) north to Peninsula.

Here we shuttled cars, loaded scouts and headed home.

Closing

Overall it was a successful trip. The scouts indicated that they would do it again and there were no injuries. The ability for the plan to be adapted and drastically shortened cannot be understated. Although the original instructions were for a much longer trip, it became very clear that the ability and preparedness levels varied so wildly that a longer trip might well have ended in disaster.

In hindsight, asking a new leader to plan and lead this event was probably the wrong thing to do. I was not acquainted with the ability levels and experience of the scouts. I received conflicting guidance from the scoutmaster and the assistants. My expectations were tempered by another leader present and brought more in line with the experience levels of those attending and it was the modification of the original instructions that led to a successful event.

So many thanks to John for making this trip successful!

The Buckeye Trail heads south from Boston Store using the Towpath Trail (map here and other hiking descriptions here). Just south of the I271 bridge it heads east (left) up the valley and into the woods. This ascent may be the steepest of the trail to Peninsula. Once on the top of the ridge, the trail stays there, angling toward Boston Mills road and eventually crossing it, only to rejoin it further on as a way to get over I80.

This portion of the trail is quite beautiful but never without the auditory reminder that one is so close to two major highways. From time to time there are quarried stones along the trail, similar to the blocks used in the canal locks a few hundred feet down and some miles away. (No doubt they are different but they do seem out of place on the trail.)

South of I80 the trail returns to the west side of Boston Mills road and enters a pine grove of parallel pines. This is the second of these white pine groves and not the last!

Here also is where the bridle trail crosses the Buckeye Trail and heads separately (and more directly) to Pine Lane Trailhead.

The trail leaves the pine grove for more deciduous limbs of oak, beech, maple, sassafras, tulip and the occasional cottonwood. Crossing a now-abandoned portion of the Akron-Peninsula Road, one is reminded of just how close civilization is before entering the woods again. The trail then begins a staircase descent into a valley where it follows a creek for a short bit. This stepping-stone water crossing is quite simple (although not without risk of damp socks) and on the other side of the creek is another rise back up to nearly the same elevation as before.

View Boston Store to Pine Lane Trailhead in a larger map

The trail then takes a fairly straight beeline south and passes through another pine grove before emerging at the Pine Lane Trailhead.

From Boston Store to Pine Lane Trailhead I measured 3.8 miles by GPS. It's listed as 4.2 in some books. I've hiked this portion once with a full backpack and a patrol of Boy Scouts and again as a family hike with children ranging from 3 to 13. (The three year-old got a back-ride for approximately half the trip.) It's pretty easy to average 1.6 mph under either of these conditions.

There's a small parking lot at Pine Lane Trailhead, making it easy to leave a car here and one at Boston Store.

From Pine Lane Trailhead, one can stay on the Buckeye Trail and head west on an abandoned road for approximately .7 miles to Peninsula. In Peninsula there is more parking, restaurants and access to the Towpath Trail (approximately 2 miles north to Boston Store for a loop) and further south on the Buckeye Trail.

For more details on the trails south of Route 303 shown on this map, refer to this posting of our Scout hike continuing on through Camp Butler and Camp Manatoc.

Note: I'm a Tiger Leader with Cleveland Heights' Pack 4 and occasionally blog on their site. This is a cross post from their latest adventure in Bedford Reservation.

My son's Scout Troop has planned a backpacker at Oil Creek Pennsylvania for this coming weekend. It's really just an overnighter, heading out early Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening, but it involves packing everything in for 5 miles and then packing everything out for 8 miles.

I'm planning on bringing my White Box alcohol stove to see how it functions in low temperatures. I'll also bring my WhisperLite Internationale since I know it will work.

This will be a bit of a different trip in at least one sense: my dad is coming! Yes, I convinced Dad that he'd enjoy this and so he and Mom are making the trip to Ohio only for him to turn around and go hiking in the snow in PA for 36 hours.

It should be a good trip and I'm looking forward to it.

Expect to hear more when I come back.

This week was the Glacier Ridge District Dinner and my wife and I attended, partly to get out of the house but also to introduce her to some of the Scouters I hang with when I'm out of the house.

Pack 4 continues to meet, go on outings and thrive. We could do with a little more advancement, but that will come in time. (All the Tigers are expected to earn their Tiger badge before the end of the month!)

I had also completed my two years as a Cub Scouter and was eligible for the Cub Scouter Award, but for some reason, it didn't come through in time.

So that was exciting to receive this year!

Before my loyal readers dismiss these as meaningless "bling", I'd like to point out that by working on the knots, performing the required activities and training, etc., a leader can't help but provide a good program for the boys. It's just not (knot?) possible. So yes, many leaders do it for the "bling", but in reality, we're doing it for the boys. They get a better program when all these things come together.

I had questioned my eligibility but my Unit Commissioner insisted that I had met the goals. It had been a rough year as I wore multiple hats (the work of building and maturing Pack 4 continues). We need a strong Bears leader and I will be taking them into Webelos on June 1st.

(Yikes! That's just a few weeks away!!)

I was particularly proud because he's a Cub Scouter: all too often we're (perceived as) minor members of Scouting. And Rob Fischer is a worthy recipient for all he has done with District Day Camp over the years. I was proud to add my applause to the resounding thunder.

What surprised me was the second award. At first, it sounded like it might have been another leader at one of the units I serve (Packs 2, 4 and 11), but it soon became clear that they were listing some of my accomplishments (committee chair, den leader, WRC director, trails coordinator, unit commissioner, district trainer, round-table guy, unit organizer, etc.). Fun, embarrassing and rewarding, all at the same time.

Well, I lived through it and now have to decide how/if to sew them on. I have four already (Eagle, Den Leader, Webelos Leader and Boyce) and getting another three jumps me to a third row. I might leave one off for a while.

I'd better get out the needle.

I've had three Mountain Hardware tents over the years: an Airjet 3, a Pacific Coast Trail 1 (PCT1) and now a Sojourn 2.

I have to say, I loved the Airjet 3. Lightweight, single-walled tent with room for three plus a huge vestibule for gear. Some of the seams had been put together with an adhesive of some sort and they failed. At first I used my sailmaking skills to sew the seams back together but as the others failed, I decided to send it back for warranty work.

While I was waiting for that to get resolved and while I occasionally used my daughter's Eureka! Tetragon 5, I heard about a PCT1 in the neighborhood that had been used once. The price was right and since I generally camp solo, I bought it.

About the only thing I don't like about the PCT1 is that it's just a tad too short to sit up in and get dressed. Other than that, it's lightweight, got plenty of vestibule space and is pretty snazzy, too.

The quick brown fox jumped over the backyard tent. The quick brown fox jumped over the backyard tent. The quick brown fox jumped over the backyard tent. The quick brown fox jumped over the backyard tent.

After what seemed like a long time, Mountain Hardwear's customer support group gave me a call and told me the whole thing was covered and I'd get a credit for what a new Airjet 3 would have cost. Wow, that sounded pretty good.

Unfortunately, one can't touch a 3-man tent for that price anymore, so I ended up getting a 2-man Sojourn2 instead.

The Mountain Hardware folks were easy to get along with, didn't give me the third-degree questioning and simply said that they stand by their equipment, mine had failed and I'd get a new one. That speaks volumes with me and I'll be buying more from them in the future. (See my Tweet.)

Since Mountain Hardware doesn't seem to be selling these anymore, here's a link to Google where you can still (as of this writing) find some at REI, etc.

Look, dad! It's as big as I am!

Well, not really, but it is a big fish.

At one time or another, each of my children have expressed wild fanaticism about fishing. With some of the children, it's happened multiple times.

A couple of Fridays ago we were out at Greater Cleveland Council's Beaumont Scout Reservation in Broadbent Camp's Sycamore campsite, (That's a mouthful.) painting my grandfather's Adirondack.

After the painting and before heading over to Orwell's A&W for some root beer, we stopped at Lake Klein and did some fishing.

I like to say that when you fish with children, you're lucky to get your line wet and this is largely the case. You're constantly untangling lines, clearing snags, baiting hooks or changing tackle.

I did manage to get a few mealworms onto a fly I would present to the fishes and I caught a couple of bream/sunfish that were worth eating. Some of the others caught some too, and with my favorite Repala ("borrowed" from and never returned to my dad's tackle box) I caught a small-mouth bass.

But Ben caught the big one.

The tackle box shown is right at 12", so that would put this fish at 13 inches or a little more.

Why didn't we take it home to eat? It's been a while since we tried, but back in the day, the children would insist that we bring the fish home and eat them. After doing this a few times and having the children refuse to eat them, we stopped. Haven't eaten a personally-caught Ohio fish in ten years.

Oh, and what did Ben use to catch this Behemoth? His new blue Storm Original Hot 'N Tot® #133.

Nice fishing, Ben!

We went fishing this past week in Lake Klein (map) at Greater Cleveland Council's Camp Beaumont. It's a neat little lake, one that I often hear doesn't have any fish in it.

I must argue though, that I've never walked away from Lake Klein without having hooked at least one fish, usually several and this time was no different.

First, though, we had to capture this very patient frog. He/she/it was hanging out near the Adirondack in the Sycamore Campsite that will eventually bear my grandfather's name. We painted it a few weeks ago and decided to check out how good a job we did. And while we were there, this little guy was checking us out, too. (We did put the frog back.)

We were there for Family Night, visiting our oldest Scout who is a Counselor in Training this summer for four weeks. He's learned quite a bit, worked really hard and has gathered quite a few stories to tell.

He's currently working his last week before coming home for a week and then packing up for two weeks of the 2010 Jamboree. Should be a fun July! One of the biggest things we've noticed with him gone this summer is the grocery bill has gotten smaller. The other is there's no one left who is excited about mowing the grass.

But seriously, we have missed him. And I cherish the Sunday drive out to camp with him and the time spent Saturday when I pick him up for his 22 hours at home each week.

Well, it seems that other wildlife was also curious this night. We had four or five damselflies that would land on a hat, someone's hair, the tip of a rod or the tackle box and just sit there.

If one got "shooed" away, another would take its place.

Have you ever wondered what the difference was between a dragonfly and a damselfly? Well, it's really quite simple:

the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest.

Well, the bluegill/sunfish were biting flies tipped with artificial maggots trailed about 18 inches behind a float.

Even my wife hooked a nice bluegill. So did the little one.

My oldest daughter (10, pictured) was having some trouble. We try to let our children be pretty independent in many things. In this case, that meant more fishing for Daddy.

It also meant some frustration a little further down the shore. I could sense some tears coming as she was having some difficulties, so I went over, helped her untangle her line and get the fly and the float in the right position. We've been practicing some fishing knots and this was a good opportunity to implement an Improved Clinch Knot. If I'd felt a little stronger on the blood knot, I doubt I would have had to snip, clip and re-tie everything else.

With a "fresh" maggot-like thing on the sharp little hook, she cast it out, began to reel it in and bam!!! she hooked a nice-sized one.

I think it's pretty easy to see just how proud she is.

And she should be, too.

The moon as seen from near Rock Creek Ohio on July 3rd, 2010.

At first, trading patches seemed too scary for him, maybe too foreign a concept. But after the first trade, he seemed to warm up to the idea and pretty soon, we found that he'd walk up to where they were trading, put down his bag, spread out his collection and start working out these deals.

Did I mention he collected the Iowa council strip with an image of the USS Riverside NCC-1818 on it?

Yes, this Cub likes to trade patches.

As many of you know, I'm a Den Leader in Cub Scouting and an Eagle Scout from the 1980's.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that I have a Cub Scout blue Honda Fit with some pretty Scout-y license plates.

I just reregistered my plates with Oplates.com and discovered that they have a web service that takes your license plate background, adds your license plate number to the foreground and produces a GIF.

The first one they gave me was pretty small, but I tinkered with the URL and produced a big one.

Pretty sweet!