Greetings to All. This is the last of my "late" Year 2000 Scoutmaster's Minutes. You will note, however, that I did not say the last of my late Scoutmaster's Minutes! Sorry it took so long. Enjoy....

Did you know that Troop 111 is the oldest Catholic-sponsored Troop in the Arlington Diocese? It's true! Our Charter application was submitted on March 31st, 1939, and was approved on July 31st, 1939. This was only 3 years after St. Agnes Church became an independent Parish. In reality, however, the Troop's roots go back even further, to the very beginnings of the Boy Scouts of America. You see, prior to 1936, families living in the current St. Agnes Parish were members of St. Charles Church over on Washington Boulevard (St. Agnes was an unstaffed "branch" or "Mission" parish of St. Charles). St. Charles had one of the first Boy Scout Troops in Arlington (and one of the earlier Catholic sponsored Troops in America), later re-numbered as Troop 102 (Troop 101 was the very first Troop in Arlington, sponsored by the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department on Lee Highway). When Troop 111 started up in March of 1939, 8 of the Charter 10 Scouts were actually members of Troop 102 who lived within the St. Agnes Parish boundaries, and so transferred to the new Troop. Troop 102 folded in 1985, a victim of changing area demographics, declining enrollment at St. Charles School, and mutual fratricide with Troop 813, the latter having been sponsored by American Legion Post 139 down the street. If Troop 102 had persevered, they would be over 85 years old now, and one of the 10 oldest Catholic sponsored Troops in the entire country. A noble legacy....

PS - We inherited the last Scouts from both Troops 102 and 813, too....

Summertime transitions were reported in the September "Minute," and will not be duplicated in this edition.

It was a terrific summer for advancement, with 2 Eagle Scouts, a boatload of merit badges from summer camp and independent efforts, and even some rank advancements. Read On!

Daniel Holland - our 68^th Eagle Scout, completed his marathon on August 22^nd, 2000. His Honor Roll:

• 24 Merit Badges
• 92 Days of Short-Term Camping
• 70 Days of Long Term Camping (5 Summer Camps, plus 3 High Adventure Treks; the 1994 C&O Canal Bike Hike (225 miles total), Killarney Provincial Park/Canada 1999 (Wilderness Canoeing), and Philmont 2000.)
• 2 50-Miler Awards
• Totin Chip Award
• 3 Scoutmaster Awards for Most Active Scout
• JLT Certificate
• Assistant Patrol Leader
• Troop Guide (many years)
• Projectoree Staff member
• Junior Assistant Scoutmaster at Philmont
• 4 years Chess Club
• 1 year Computer Club
• tennis player
• 8 years Altar Server at St. Agnes

Daniel's Eagle Project was cleaning and oiling all of the pews at St. Agnes Church - a difficult and badly neeeded project. About 125 man-hours in all.

Daniel, a graduated Senior from Bishop O'Connell, headed off for James Madison University the morning following his Board of Review!

Thanks to the Board of Review members Dan Creedon, John Manning, Rita Rooney, Jim Smith, and Jane Tuck.

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John Creedon - our 69^th Eagle Scout completed his Board of Review on August 29^th, 2000. His Honor Roll:

• 22 Merit Badges
• 27 Days of Short-Term Camping
• 44 Days of Long Term Camping (3 Summer Camps, plus 3 High Adventure Treks: Virgin Islands SCUBA trip 1997, Rideau Canal/Canada 1998, and Killarney Provincial Park/Canada 1999 (Wilderness Canoeing).
• John also attended 7 non-BSA summer camps from 1990 through 1998.
• BSA Snorkeling Award
• 2 Mile Swim Awards
• 50 Hour Community Service Award
• Totin Chip Award
• Assistant Patrol Leader
• Troop Guide (many years)
• Projectoree Staff member
• Presently a Senior at Yorktown H.S.
• Football 4 years
• Basketball 4 years
• Lacrosse 2 years
• Golf
• Weightlifting
• Catholic Youth Group (Young Life)
• Works at Washington Golf and Country Club
• Works as a Lifeguard at Upton Hills Regional Park
• Certified in American Red Cross CPR and First Aid
• PADI certified in SCUBA

John's Eagle Project was setting up shelves and reorganizing the Religious Education Office at St. Agnes, plus repairing all the door stops in the Parish Center, plus putting new edging on many of the conference tables in the Center, plus cleaning the uphostery on several hundred chairs in the Center. Another badly needed project, taking about 125 man-hours.

John is interested in attending a college or University in the Carolinas.

Thanks to the Board of Review members Tim Arthurs, Hank Dettmar, John Manning, Kim Smith, and Jane Tuck.

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Merit Badges:

On the Merit Badge front, the following advancements were recorded. Parents and Scouts, please double check carefully!):

There are also many partials leftover from Summer Camp and Philmont.

We also held one Board of Review, just before summer camp. Moving up the ladder were:

David G. - Tenderfoot
Todd G. - First Class
Daniel M. - Tenderfoot

Congratulations to All of the above Scouts!

Deleted from this edition of the "Scoutmaster's Minute."

Deleted from this edition of the "Scoutmaster's Minute."

Missed in the May "Minute" - Brad G. also participated in the 2000 Projectoree - in fact, he was one of the Scouts featured in the Arlington Courier photo on the event. [Sorry for the omission!]

We started off the month of June with our second shakedown for the three Philmont Crews - this year, a full weekend long event, in order to make up for the abbreviated C&O Canal shakedown in May. We headed out on Friday afternoon, camping at Elizabeth Furnace at the base of the Massanutten Mountain Range. The evening featured a standard Philmont style camp set-up, plus cooking a full meal over backpacking stoves, a Philmont style cleanup, and plenty of related instruction on how things are done in the backcountry. Although Washington enjoyed a violent thunderstorm Friday evening, we dodged that bullet. About the only downers for the night were a surplus of mosquitoes and the water from the local well, which (at its worst) appeared to be something that was halfway between ice tea and chocolate milk - No Thanks!

On Saturday morning, we did a (relatively) quick camp breakdown and headed off to Little Sluice Mountain in the George Washington National Forest. In the past, we have used Robertson's Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park for our "killer" backpacking weekend, but putting 30 people on the trail in the SNP is a definite no-no, plus our traditional campsite is now fairly dangerous with excessive numbers of gypsy-moth killed trees (and they don't call them "widowmakers" for nothing!) There are no group size limits in the GWNF, plus you're allowed to have fires if you so wish. We pulled into the trailhead around 8am, and had a trail breakfast before heading on out. Little Sluice Mountain is nowhere near as brutal as Robertson's, but it's a stiff climb nonetheless, and everyone was soon bathed in sweat and Thanking God for the Caterpillar technique. Once we made the ridgeline, we did another camp setup with the backpacking tarps and tents, just as quickly taking them down and hitting the trail again, taking a short break a few minutes later to enjoy an overlook to the east. By this point, we were enjoying bright, sunny skies, so the view was excellent. The hike down to the only decent spring was about another 3 miles, which everyone knocked off in short order. The spring pipe was clogged, but Dr. Bob and Clay Henderson, ASM, Troop 104, managed to clean it out, giving everyone a copious supply of top-notch spring water. After scouting around a bit, we found a very nice camping area within about 200 yards of the spring, off a short spur ridge. A bit small for such a large group, but we made it work. Everyone did the third camp setup for the weekend, cooked, ate, and cleaned up dinner, put up bear bags, enjoyed Dr. Bob's patented "How to Poop in the Woods" demo (simulated, Thank God!), knocked down a bunch of dead trees, and washed up at the spring before hitting the rack (early, I might add!) Clouds moved in overnight, but there was no wind or rain.

On Sunday, we got up with the sun, did a fast camp breakdown, and hit the trail. At Philmont, the hiking protocol we practice involves hiking for at least 30 minutes before stopping for breakfast (usually at a nice overlook), and it was our intention to hike to the White Rocks Overlook, a super viewpoint. Unfortunately, a wrong turn put us dead wrong for almost an hour, so we ended up eating alongside the trail after returning to the scene of the crime. Back on the trail, we headed up and over the ridge to our east, stopping at the overlook (where the views were as spectacular as advertised.) After this high point, however, things deteriorated somewhat. On the map, an easily followed circuit hike brings you back to the vehicles on old logging road-style trails (which are very easy hiking). In reality, the actual trail maze coming down off the ridgeline was nothing like the map, and the "roads" back down the valley turned out to be thin, brutally rocky and obstructed trails, many running with water. [Contrary to the Scouts' comments, I had NOT intentionally planned this!] It took nearly twice as long as planned, but we finally emerged (exactly where we were supposed to), sporting numerous ticks but otherwise only a little bit the worse for wear. After some vehicle relays (and multiple tick checks), we finally called it a hike and headed back to Arlington.

All told, shakedown #2 was a much more productive affair versus #1. In total, we completed 3 camp setups, learned most of the Philmont protocols for Crew responsibilities, stove use, water purification, cooking, cleaning, bear bags, map reading, hiking, quick camp-strikes, etc., and also put in about 16 miles of backpacking over 2 days. Most importantly, each Crew learned quite a bit about their relative strengths and weaknesses, too!

Troop 111 participants included: Charles B., Matt G., Daniel Ho., Dan Hu., Brad J., Neal K., Stefan N., John P., Michael R., Steven S., and Chris W., and Eric W., plus Adults Tim A., Hank McE., Rick W., and yours truly.

We gathered bright and early Sunday, June 25th to begin the long drive to Camp Powhatan. As always, the "run around in circles" routine before getting our campsite figured was a joy, but once the Camp figured out where they wanted us, the Scouts did a great job getting the Troop all set up. It helped that this was our second straight year at this campsite, so the learning curve was shallow.

The next day the boys set off to begin their merit badge work - and then the rains came. It rained on and off for the next 4 days, at times pretty darn hard. As a person who experienced the "Goshen-by-the-Ocean" mud bath the last time Dr. Bob didn't come with us, I have to admit that, by Thursday, I was getting pretty worried. But the boys kept up their spirits and it cleared up for the last 3 days (Thank God!) Nick M.'s Big Brother, Jim C., was great help taking on all challengers at chess. Dr. Bob, you have competition! Meanwhile, SPL Richard B. and Ed C. were doing battle with the toilets. For some reason they kept stopping up and overflowing. I think some of the Troops sharing our site hadn't had much experience with flush toilets and/or toilet paper. Ed became the Troop expert on toilet plunging and even received the much-coveted Mambo Glove from the Camp, the only specialized tool for problem toilets the Camp had, a giant Rubber Glove! Welcome to summer camp, Ed. Richard, by a carefully audited count, plunged the toilets 11 times during the week. What a pair!

We did great in the Camp's Aquatic Games with our relay team coming in 1st. Dale R. gave a stirring performance in the diving competition, although the Judges didn't appreciate it as much as we did, the bums. As usual, we got the best scores in our area on inspections from our Inspector, to the chagrin of the Troops around us. For the week we won a Hound's Tooth award for campsite cleanliness. Thanks, Guys! I couldn't have faced Dr. Bob without it. Moms, ask your boys if the elephant has been in their beds today. Hopefully they'll remember.

With the great help of Mark and Jane S., we achieved our usual success with merit badges, with the normal number of partials that will have the be finished up at home (especially in First Aid, where the counselor apparently thought he was teaching medical students).

Tom D. took over for Ed C. midway through the week and was a great help. I hope he and Ed are ready for Camp Tuckahoe next year. Ed, I hear the toilets a callin'! Oh, that's right, no flush toilets there! All parents and Scouts owe great thanks to Jim C., Ed, Tom and the wonderful Stanga's, who took all the merit badge burden off me. Thanks to all the parents who drove down and back, it was a long, long drive. The good news is Tuckahoe is only an hour and a half away. Thanks to everyone and a Big YEA! to all the Scouts who, even though I yelled at them a lot, were a great bunch of kids. Special thanks to Nick and Dan T., Asst SPL's and Luke B.

Participants included: Chris Bg., Richard B., Chris Bk., Luke B., John B., Matthew C., Michael C., Patrick D., Max D., Sam F., David G., Brad G., Will K., William L., Nick M., Patrick P., Dale R., JT R., Thomas S.r, Charlie S., Carl S., Neil S., Dan T., Nick T., JJ T., and Mark T.

[Note from Bob - Summer camp merit badges earned are listed in the advancement section; please check the lists carefully!]

From June 26th through July 11th, the Troop had 13 Scouts and 4 Adults (spread throughout 3 Crews) enjoying numerous high adventure activities in Colorado, then hitting Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Eleven members of Troops 104, 149, and 647 joined us. You will be happy to hear that I have written a personal diary for my Crew (Crew 3), which believe it or not runs about 60 pages in WordPerfect. You will therefore be even happier to hear that I'm not going to duplicate it here! Brad J. will be putting it on the web, and I will relay the URL to everyone when he completes his work. This year's diary will include about 250 linked photos! Rick W. is also preparing a diary for Crew 1, which will also be posted. Stay tuned.... Troop 111 participants included: Charles B., Matt G., Daniel Ho., Dan Hu., Brad J., Neal K., Matt McE., Stefan N., John P., Michael R., Steven S., and Chris W., and Eric W., plus Adults Tim A., Hank McE., Rick W., and yours truly.

On July 5th, the Dan C's family coordinated the complete pack-up and move of Sister's Office to the room next door, freeing up the end room for the new Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Thanks to everyone who assisted; Sister was most appreciative.

On July 29 the Troop held a bike hike that gave some of the Scouts working on the Cycling Merit Badge the opportunity to do the 50-mile, one-day ride, and others to tune up for the August C&O Canal bike trek. After stupendous thunderstorms Friday night, the weather cooperated on Saturday with overcast skies. Nine Scouts and six adults turned up at 7:15 (everyone on time!) and, after doing the ABC Quick Check and some stretching, headed down the Custis Trail to the Capitol Crescent Trail. The usual assortment of Saturday morning bikers, walkers, and roller-bladers were out in full force!

After a leisurely stop at the Bethesda Barnes & Noble (first mocha grande of the day), we broke into two groups--the five Scouts planning to do 50 miles, and four planning the shorter 27 mile route. The two groups crossed over the Georgetown Branch Trail to Rock Creek Park and a pleasant ride down Beach Drive (closed to vehicular traffic on weekends). Closer in, the route shifted to back the trail (narrow and rough in many spots) and wound through the Zoo on the way to Georgetown. The 27 milers turned right on the C&O Canal to Key Bridge and a return to St. Agnes on the Custis Trail.

The 50 mile group rode along the Potomac into West and East Potomac Parks, stopping for lunch by the Awaking Giant at the end of Haines Point (Stefan N. succeeded in climbing onto the Giant's knee!). The clouds gave way to sunshine, and the temperature rose accordingly, making frequent stops for drinks important--Gatorade by the gallon! After riding back from Haines Point, we crossed the 14th Street Bridge and rode up the Mount Vernon/Custis Trails to the Rob B. house for a break and bottle refill. Not wanting to repeat the climb from Rosslyn at the end of the ride, the group retraced the route down the Custis and Mount Vernon Trails to National Airport, then headed up the more gradual Four Mile Run Trail (and another 7-11 opportunity) to the W Trail, finishing the run to St. Agnes on the Custis Trail--for a total of 54.6 hot and steamy miles! That wasn't enough for Stefan, though--he used it as a springboard to continue on the W&O Trail for a total ride of 102.6 miles!

Fifty-four mile finishers: Stefan N. (102 miles), Neil S., Sam F., Matt C., David G.e, Mark S., and Ted G.. Other participants: Mark T., Charlie S., Tom C., Will K., with adults: Carey T., Bill N., Hovey K., and Rob B. (37 miles).

This year's "Troop High Adventure" (August 5th through the 9th) was biking the towpath on the C&O Canal, all 185 miles of it, from Cumberland, Maryland to Georgetown in Washington. [The mileage was actually closer to 190 miles, since we had one fairly lengthy detour.] Rob B., Ted G., and Dr. Bob have combined (or conspired, if you like) to write up a trek account, with Ted doing the lion's share of the writeup.

Participants included: Luke B., Todd G., Dan Hu., Will K., Stefan N., Thomas S., Neil S., Steven S., JJ T., Mark T., and Eric W., plus Sara W. and Nora P., plus adults Rob B., Ted G., Dr. Bob, Bill N., Hugh S., Rich S., Mark S., and Rick W.

Every summer the Troop suspends weekly meetings, and instead holds a number of fun day activities, scheduled between the major outings like Camp Powhatan, Philmont, and the C&O Canal Bike Trek. ASM Rich S. is the SoF Coordinator. This past summer, we held 4 "tried and true" events: On Monday, July 10th, the Troop viewed "The Perfect Storm," the smash hit about the loss of the Andrea Gail in enormous seas whipped up by a congruence of three powerful weather systems over the northeastern Atlantic in late October, 1991 (Thanks especially to Heidi B.).

On Sunday, July 23rd, Rich S. and ASM Tim Hu.took a small group down to Six Flags America for fun and sun.

On Monday, August 14th, Rich also coordinated about a dozen Scouts in an Ultimate Frisbee game, at Oak Grove Field Park.

The "Summer of Fun" ended with our traditional laser-tag massacre and pizza dinner, this time down at Laser Quest in Potomac Mills (our preferred venue since the demise of Q-Zar in Manassas 2 years ago.) 34 Scouts and Leaders headed down on Monday, August 28th, to do battle as the Reds versus the Greens. ASM Rich S. did the division of teams based on height, which (not too surprisingly) always seems to generate about evenly matched squads. Game number 1 was just squad versus squad, won by the Greens 7754 to 7176. Games 2, 3, and 4 included bases to attack or defend (a better game) The Greens prevailed again in both Games 2 and 3, 5804 to 5688 and 9184 to 7670, respectively; however, the Reds salvaged some pride in the last game of the night, 8549 to 7964. Top marksman for the night was Steven S., with a high game of 1244 points - wow! The only downer for the night was the maroon van, which blew a fuel pump as we tried to leave, forcing us to crowd extra Scouts and Leaders into the already full white van and Brian P.'s sedan. Well, it worked, and we headed back for Arlington with thoughts of strategy for the next "war" already dancing in our heads.

Participants included: Colin A., Chris Bg., Richard B., Luke and Will B., Matthew C., Michael C., Patrick D., Todd G., Matt G., Dan Hu., Ryan K., Anthony M., Stefan N., Jack O., Patrick P., Thomas S., Charlie S., Carl S., Jimmy S., Neil S., Steven S., Dan T., Nick T., Mark T., Chris W., and Eric W., plus Adults Matt B., Larry H., Rich S., Mark S., and yours truly. ...and special thanks to Regina C., who drove but didn't play, and Brian P., who drove and also organized the event, but also didn't play.

- Dr. Bob, Scoutmaster

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27 December 2000