Troop 48 Berlin, NJ

It is with a very heavy heart that we share the passing of Dan Pike at the end of October. Dan had many adventures with Troop 48, earning his Eagle Scout in 2005.

 

For those of us fortunate enough to know Dan, he was a generous person with a quick smile and a thirst for adventure. Dan’s life took him into piloting, where he flew jet airliners. In his free time, he adventured to the far corners of the globe to see places and to do things most of us only dream of.

Even with all his globetrotting, Dan would still stop in to visit once in a while to check in on things and to tell the old war stories about when he was a Scout. He easily won the award for most miles traveled when he flew most of the way across the country to show up unannounced at our 50th Anniversary Celebration just to hang out with everyone for a few hours.

The beginning of November, Troop 48 hosted Cub Scouts at our annual Goshen Pond Campout.  Temperatures dropping down to 28 and 27 degrees didn’t stop a ton of adventure from happening.  It started off well with some Scouts deciding they wanted to sleep in a shelter the first night.

Saturday, Scouts were up bright and early attemping to make cinnamon buns in the dutch oven.

Then the Cubs arrived.  It was a day of building survival shelters, filtering water, starting fires without matches, running through an obstacle course, games, and exploring the area.

The night finished with a campfire, tin foil meals, making cookies in a cardboard box oven, and then manhunt.

Sunday morning, we broke camp and headed for home.  Good trip!

 

Sunday morning, Troop 48 and Pack 48 headed out into Berlin to drop off 1,200 bags for the annual food drive!  All food donations will go to the GIFT Food Pantry at Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Berlin.

Thanks to our Scouts and families who helped put out all those bags!

Columbus Day weekend, Troop 48 headed out to Pennsylvania. On Saturday, we biked 23 miles on the Schulkyll River Trail!

After that, we visited the Honor Grove in Valley Forge, where each state has a monument listing its members who have received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

That night, it was dinner and a campfire.

Sunday morning, we explored the National Historical Park at Valley Forge.

Good weekend!

Troop 48 spent the weekend helping out with one of the largest charity bike rides in the country – the Bike MS: City-to-Shore Ride. Each year, bikers ride from Cherry Hill to Ocean City, raising millions of dollars for Multiple Sclerosis research.

This year, 14 Scouts and 9 adults volunteered. We spent Saturday at the “Century Loop” stop at the Sweetwater Fire Company passing out food and drinks and cheering on riders attempting to go 100 miles in one day.

Afterwards, it was on to Ocean City for a fun night on the boardwalk.

After camping out again Saturday night in Mays Landing, it was back to work on Sunday morning at the Hammonton Rest Stop.

The Scouts did a great job, thank you to everyone for all the hard work!

Congrats to Magnus on biking 175 miles this weekend for the Bike MS City-to-Shore Ride! Magnus also raised well over $1000 for Multiple Sclerosis research.

Back to Scouts night last night! Very close run election for SPL, congrats to Logan! Scouts organized themselves into three patrols. All set for a great year!

Next trip – MS City-to-Shore Ride Sep 20-22! We’ll help at the rest stops Saturday and Sunday and hit the Ocean City boardwalk Saturday night! Cost is $22 per Scout, but with a $10 discount if paid by this Wed, 9/11!

Thank you to everyone for helping the church out with setting up for their yard sale this weekend!  They very much appreciate it!

First meeting of the school year in just a few days!  See everyone Wednesday!

Another fun summer trip in the books! Scouts spent a week camping at Elizabeth Furnace near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  Week’s activities included hiking Stony Man Mountain, ziplining, exploring Lurray Caverns, and canoeing the Shenandoah River!

BIG thank you to Kevin and Nancy Agnew and to Brian Murphy for taking the Troop for the week!

So, what do you do when its 100 degrees on a campout?  Be thankful that you scheduled a canoe trip for your July trip!  Two days, 10 miles on the mighty Mullica River and I’m not sure the troop has EVER been happier that a campout was a canoe trip!