Starting May off early with a bike trip to Valley Forge! The Scouts biked 29 miles from Valley Forge to Philadelphia and back, which was pretty tiring! Sunday, we explored the encampment area of Valley Forge, including Washington’s Headquarters. Good trip! And no snow!
Our second trip for April was to the White Horse District Bullseye Camp-o-ree! Our Scouts had a great time shooting rifles, shotguns, and archery, as well as playing a number of fun games. Troop 48 ran a station featuring launching water balloons across the field at a target area, although Mr. Mock took a few good shots for the cause.
Thank you to everyone who helped out with this trip!
In April, our own Kavi Pannu was awarded the Silver Beaver Award for his service to Scouting. This is one of the highest awards that can be given to a volunteer in Scouting, and is well deserved for the hard work that Kavi has done, particularly in raising awareness of the Sikh Faith in Scouting.
Alas, only a rainbow. Logan was stoked.
Our hoagie sale last week went GREAT! We sold 503 hoagies in record time… every single one we made!
Appreciate Berlin’s support of Scouting in town!
Productive swim night at the NL Aquatics Center! A bunch of Scouts took their swim tests and practiced water rescues! Another batch got going on Swimming Merit Badge! It didn’t even snow (for once)!
Thank you Aaron and Danny for arranging this, and to Tom and Mr. Murphy for helping do rescues, swim tests, and badge stuff!
CLICK HERE FOR TRIP PICTURES!!!!
We started April off just as we should… with the threat of snow! Luckily, it only threatened, and a crew of nine Scouts set off for their first backpacking experience through the wilds of Wharton State Forest.
After a frog-filled night at Goshen Pond, Troop 48 spent the first day following the Mullica River Trail 5 1/2 miles to Mullica River Camp, our home for the night. Some Scouts took a nap there, others explored, and a pair opted for another 10 miles of hiking in the area… you know, for fun.
Then it was warm campfires and warm backpacking meals before a night under the (thankfully not snowing for once) clouds.
On our last day, it was 4 miles to Batsto, then a short stroll across to the parking lot where we were picked up.
The trip was tough at times, but everyone did a great job!
Troop 48 visits Crystal Cave
By Magnus P.
This was going to be a nice, chilly weekend for Troop 48 when we went out to Kutztown, Pennsylvania, visit the Crystal Cave. We headed out on our long journey, and after a while of driving, we reached our destination for the night. We had begun to s
et up camp in the dark of the night, assembling our tents so we could sleep in them in our cozy sleeping bags, waiting for the next day to arrive.
When the next morning came, it was a tiny bit chilly out, but not enough to discomfort us for the whole morning. We got ourselves dressed, made our nice breakfasts, and we had packed gear that we’d be needing when we went out to visit Crystal Cave, and Roadside America!
Our drive to Crystal Cave not much time at all. We did go by a huge Cabela’s store, a place we’d be visiting again, soon. We get there, and we did a bit of looking around at their gift shop, and we saw some pretty nice things. We hadn’t spent much time, when we were suddenly brought out to experience the main 
reason why we went on this trip, which was visiting Crystal Cave! We walked up the path, leading us to the entrance of the cave. We were also introduced to a small room, where we saw a small video on the basic history of this cave, and its
discovery. We then ventured into the cave, being led by a tour guide, as we were shown the various formations in this cave, each one being given clever names.
After a tour of this cave, seeing the stalagmites and stalactites, we ate our 
lunches, and headed back out, to visit Roadside America. We get to Roadside America, a little attraction which is basically a huge diorama, and we enter inside the building. We move into the room that has the diorama, and there are toy trains everywhere. This was truly an astonishing masterpiece, I can safely say. The whole thing was as big as the room itself! The whole town was modeled off of towns throughout the U.S., ranging from the wild west in the 1800s, to the 1960s. It was truly a great scene.
After Roadside America, we then ventured out to the Cabela’s store we saw on the way to Crystal Cave. This place was huge. They also had a huge amount of
guns there too, one being a Thompson. That was my favorite part about visiting this store. We also noticed that nearby, was an army surplus store. There, I made the great investment in buying a gas mask. We head back to camp for the day, and I could safely say that we have been satisfied with what went on that day. At camp, we were free to relax or explore, which is what most of us did for that night. We stayed at camp for the rest of that day, and the next morning, we packed up our gear, and we completed this trip.
Back in March, we held our Winter Court of Honor to recognize what our Scouts have achieved since December. Good times, and junk food, were had by all. Thank you to all the families who came out to support our Scouts!
Charles crossed over in March after completing his Arrow of Light. He already has two camping trips under his belt in his first month. We wish you a long, adventerous Scouting career in Troop 48!