When the going gets tough, the scouts get going.
\nWell the going was tough on the weekend of Jan. 17 at Camp Wopsy along state Route 253 for the annual Penn Woods Council, Chief Logan District\u2019s annual Igloo Campout and Klondike Derby, but the scouts from Troop 300 in Tyrone were ready and willing and do whatever it took to survive.
\n\u201cIt seems that it gets colder each and every year that we go up there,\u201d said Scoutmaster Pete Kreckel. \u201cBut the scouts were prepared and did a fine job in the harsh temperatures.\u201d
\nWith mercury on thermometers reaching under the zero mark, many scouting troops decided not to brave the night on Friday, instead choosing to return on Saturday for the competitions.
\nBut that wasn\u2019t the case for Troop 300.
\n\u201cOne thing our scouts learned was that if they are prepared, they can handle anything,\u201d said Kreckel. \u201cThey all handled the cold pretty well. It wasn\u2019t an exercise in discomfort. It was an exercise in preparation and our scouts did a great job in that aspect.\u201d
\nThe troop arrived at amp Wopsy in the dark at 7 p.m. on Jan.. 17 and began pitching their canvas tents. Kreckel said because of the extreme cold weather, the boys scattered a bale of straw and pitched their tents on top.
\nAfter huddling around the campfire and swapping stories the scouts and leaders headed off to the bed, wrapping themselves in mummy-style sleeping bags and extra blankets before waking up to a temperature of six below.
\n\u201cWe were cold, but who wouldn\u2019t be,\u201d said Kreckel. \u201cThe scouts were well prepared and they knew what they were going to be in for. It was a good time and the kids learned that preparation is the key to make themselves comfortable in an environment like that.\u201d
\nThe morning breakfast consisted of hot chocolate and oatmeal. Kreckel said it was the perfect meal ticket for the days\u2019 upcoming events.
\n\u201cProper nutrition is key in those type of conditions,\u201d said Kreckel.
\nThe scouts, along with other local troops from Troop 20 from Church of the Good Shepherd, Troop 1-3 from Bald Eagle United Methodist Church and Troop 104 from Warriors Mark United Methodist Church, had their skills tested at nine various stations and achieved a score of 86 out of a possible 90 points.
\nThese stations tested the scouts\u2019 skills in basic first-aid, knots, an obstacle course, fire building, shooting and archery and lunch preparation on an open fire.
\n\u201cOur troop really cleaned-up on the fire building,\u201d said Kreckel. \u201cAnd the lunch they made was pretty good too.\u201d
\nKreckel said the boys made foil packs, which contained meat, carrots and potatoes, that were tossed into the fire for cooking.
\nPerhaps the toughest event was the Klondike sled pull, where scouts were required to pull their sleds through 8-inches of snow in the chilly, mountain air.
\n\u201cThe kids and we scoutmasters had a pretty good time and we\u2019re already looking forward to next year,\u201d said Kreckel. \u201cI think everyone in the troop took a lot from this experience.\u201d
\nAccording to Kreckel, one of the most important lessons, excluding the preparation, was the leadership skills.
\n\u201cMe and Mark (Raffetto Sr., assistant scoutmaster) had to man some of the stations so we had to leave the scouts attend the competitions on their own,\u201d said Kreckel. \u201cWe had a couple of older boys that really stepped out and helped things along. I\u2019m sure they took a lot from that experience.\u201d
\nAccording to Kreckel, 24 patrols from all over Blair and Bedford counties participated in the event.
\n\u201cThe scouts thoroughly enjoyed the fun and competition of the day, where the most important lesson they learned is that with adequate preparation, any kind of adversity can be handled with a positive attitude,\u201d said Kreckel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the going gets tough, the scouts get going. Well the going was tough on the weekend of Jan. 17 at Camp Wopsy along state Route 253 for the annual Penn Woods Council, Chief Logan District\u2019s annual Igloo Campout and Klondike Derby, but the scouts from Troop 300 in Tyrone were ready and willing and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}