April 15, 2006 - Orienteering Trek at Nathan Hale State Forest.

At our second crew meeting in February, we proposed a trip to Nathan Hale State Forest to do some old-fashioned oreinteering. You know, plot a course, take some readings, spot a landmark and just go. Well as luck would have it, the two veteran Scouts (and the Scout Leader) who thought this was a great idea completely overlooked the fact that we picked Easter Saturday for our event date... thus impacting the ability for said veterans to attend. So now you have the RSL, two fresh tenderfoots, and one big state forest to conquer! Not to be deterred, we met at 10am at the Hale Homestead and did a quick opening. Dave presented Jay and Erik with their neckers and suddenly we all looked like a Rover Crew. Dave reviewed the basics of map and compass, layed out a three point course, and off we went.

The trip thru the forest was great - the understory was just starting to come in, with barely a leaf on the trees. We found massive stands of the endangered princess pine and majestic tufts of moss. We did pretty well with sticking to landmarks until we got to water. According to the map, the brook we found would take us right to our first point destination. So we turned left and followed the water until we came to an old pasture. We reviewed our compass skills again and stayed the course until the thickets got a little too thick and the ground got a little too spongy underfoot. We made a beeline for dry ground and just as we thought it was time to bang another left and hit the road, Jay looked down and saw a few bones on the ground. Since Jay is a biology professor, this really grabbed his interest. He discovered a partial deer skeleton that he figured was left over from a coyote kill. After spending several minutes reviewing the site, we reassessed our time constraints and banged said left, heading back along the road to the Hale Homestead.

As we reconvened at the Hale Homestead, we paused for a group shot and an event debriefing. The new guys really enjoyed their first attempt at orienteering, sorta leapfrogging over their knots and basic Scout skills. The guys showed some great Scout Spirit out there - showing up and sticking to the task at hand, even if there were only three of us. As their RSL, I'm really proud of them. This experience will give them something great to look back on later in life when they recall their first outdoor trek as Rovers.