Almost 30 people enjoyed the beautiful Deer lake Reservation and all it has to offer. We were back in the DaRos cabin with Antlers, bunk rooms, and the temp controlled wood stove. Scouts began the day

with a fire lighting competition using flint and steel and practiced their wood splitting skills with some new equipment, compliments of Mr. Martin. Lots of creative cooking was followed by our signature hike

to Fat Man Squeeze. We welcomed some Webelos guests(Max and Vihara) on our hike and introduced the new scouts to our troop and some of our traditions. First aid instruction for the Webelos and younger

scouts filled out the afternoon, along with some prep for dutch oven cooking desserts.(Isak won the silver spatula award for his apple filled creation! Although, Zack had a mean chocolate cake as well.)

Mr. Knaul, Mr. O'Keefe and Mr. Moy worked hard for the signature "Turkey in a trash can" meal and produced two perfectly cooked 20 pound birds. As bellies were full, scouts assembled for a lively campfire

program with jokes, skits, songs and a flag retirement ceremony. Lots of fun and new experiences as we put another Deer lake campout in the history books. Till next year!

 A blog from Vihara, one of our visiting Webelos.

 https://thescoutjournal.blogspot.com/2023/12/my-campout-with-troop-156.html

Troop 156 braved a typical fall weekend as they conquered Mt. Greylock, the tallest peak in Massachusetts. 13+ miles, 5 peaks and 2700 feet of elevation gain. We enjoyed wide views, frosty tree tops near the top of Greylock and a spectacular sunset. The scouts learned about cold weather camping, how to manage their backpacking necessities and work together as a team. Lots of fun while testing their skills and stretching their person limits.

Troop 156 enjoyed the fall scenery of Gay City State park. The day started with some scouts mountain biking and others hiking the wonderful park trails. As the mid day rain set in we were well prepared with some handy tarp work(Thank you Mr. O'Keefe) and had plenty of space for lunch and scout activities. The weather then cleared so we could launch rockets in the field and a few scouts even went fishing and caught a Bass. Some amazing food was cooked for dinner followed by a campfire program with new skits and an original song/poem by Mr. Martin.

Zach, Brady, Tiago and Ryan served 30 residents at the South Park Inn in Hartford on Wednesday.

Thank you Mr. Moy, Mr. Lopez, Mrs. Banhon and Mrs. Krane for your support.

Additional thanks to Alex, Evan and Mr Glynn for food shopping as well as Ryan, Evan Tierney, Mrs. Krane and Mrs. Tierney for food prep.

Awesome team event to help those in need and make this happen.

The weather was kind and fun to watch on top of this beautiful mountain as the clouds moved around us sharing expanding views for moments at a time. 6 scouts and 5 adults scampered up 1800 feet of elevation change to reach the top of the 3200 foot mountain. We enjoyed lunch as we sheltered from the wind and enjoyed the views. Rock climbing on the way up and down was rewarded with a fresh mountain spring to top of our water bottles at the bottom. Traditional camping and meal planning was livened up with some dutch oven peach cobler and an enjoyable campfire program and flag retirement ceremony.

Troop 156 accepted the call to service! The Hands on Hartford food pantry was getting low with a steady increase in families asking for help.

With short notice the troop mobilized in a week to collect and donate over 1400 lbs of food. A special thanks to Sandy Oullette who helped coordinate, the scouts

and the Glastonbury community who is always so generous.