December 2025: Wilderness Survival
November 2025: Hike Across Maryland
For the November camping trip, we will be doing a hike across Maryland, hiking the entire Maryland section of the Appalachian Trail. As I mentioned at CoH, this is going to be logistically heavy, so we need all the help we can get…PARENTS, THAT MEANS YOU!!
October 2025: Climbing at Sugarloaf Mountain
Octobers campout will be to Strongholds Sugar Loaf Mountain to do some rock climbing, repelling and some hiking. This is a private piece of land which Stonghold Inc. makes available to the general public while preserving its natural beauty and geologic formations. We will be camping at Turner Farm at the base of the Mountain and hike up to the climbing spot on Saturday. Sunday we will do some hiking around the property before departing for the Hut via Mc Ds.
September 2025: 40 Mile Biking along the Potomac River
This September, Troop 735 had a wonderful biking trip on the C&O Canal.
We loaded everything up Friday and went to Chic-Fil-A, got to the campsite and pitched the tents, then did random stuff till everyone went to bed. In the morning we made breakfast and packed all our stuff up, loaded everything into the cars and went out biking around 10. We stopped at Fort Frederick before going very far on our bikes and Jackson already had a flat and needed one of Mr Bob’s tubes. We went the rest of the way to the next checkpoint at around 10 miles, stopping frequently and waiting for the people in the back. At the 10 mile point, the younger scouts had gone farther than they ever had before and were done for the day, Evan already had a flat but we quickly patched it and headed back out. The rest of the 30 miles were about the same, no more tires popped but many brakes. We got to the next campsite after around 6 or 7 (heh), taking us a lot longer than expected. We made dinner and some of us went into the river on the rope swing. We had raw s’mores and a flashlight campfire. In the morning after breakfast we headed back out for another 24 miles, and Emmett, Tyler, and the younger scouts stayed behind. They were supposed to meet up with us at 7 miles remaining but we went a lot faster than they expected and they had stopped for ice cream so we just kept going, with very few breaks this time. The whole 24 miles took less than 2 hours including all the breaks. We went to Sheetz for lunch and then went back to the scout hut and we were done biking 67 (hehe) miles.
July 2025: Summer Camp at Camp Horseshoe
Troop 735 went to Camp Horseshoe for the 2025 summer camp. We all had so much fun!
May 2025: Mom’s Campout with “Mamalympics”
For May 2025, we had our annual Mother’s Day campout with our moms in Paw Paw, West Virginia!
We left the Hut at our usual time of 6 PM and arrived at Chick-Fil-A in Eldersburg 15 minutes later. We left there for Paw Paw and arrived at the campground at 9:00 PM.
After we got set up, Mr. Worley took us to the Paw Paw tunnel, used on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Legend has it that a few engineers were killed in a blast during the construction of the Tunnel, and that their soul still haunts the Tunnel. The conditions to “feel them” were to go to the Tunnel at night, turn flashlights off, and then walk in the tunnel w/o lights off. (Webmaster note-I didn’t “feel” anything different, other than someone breathing down my neck from behind me.)
The next day we got up, served breakfast, and planned to hike over the tunnel and then back through it. We left the campsite around 10 AM to start our hike. We first took the Tunnel Hill Trail, which switchbacks up over the tunnel and ends on the other side of the tunnel. The views on the way up were priceless. At the end of the trail we hiked not to the tunnel but further down the C&O to Lock 62. We had our lunch there, and then hiked back to the Tunnel and went through it (At least we could see in it!).
We arrived back at the campsite and had a dessert competition! My patrol had a chocolate Dutch oven “cake” (it burned sadly) and Byron’s patrol had peach cobbler! We then set up for our version of Klondike-Mamalympics! There was a fire-starting station, tent building station, cup-stacking station, and of course a tower building station (plus more!) We broke up into 4 groups and went out to see who could finish with the most beads, and turns out us Scouts were wrong of who was going to win. THE MOMS WON!!!
After our… moment there, we fixed our dinner and then had a campfire and then took off for bed… not without having a couple games of manhunt! After all of us were tired of running we (actually) went to bed.
The next morning was full of excitement, we finally were able to ride our bikes! We planned on a 2 hour round trip, and whenever that one hour was up we were to turn around and head back. The faster group (Byron) ended up past Magnolia WV and stopped under an abandoned railroad bridge (not even I knew it was there lol!). After that we packed our bikes up and headed out back to the Hut with a stop at Myersville McDs.
2025 Scouting for Food
Troop 735 put out 600 flyers to the Gamber Community on March 30 and collected 1,200 lbs of food on April 5th including what the members of Calvary UMC (Gamber) provided.
The were 20 scouts who participated in the even along with 10 adult volunteers
These donations went directly to Carroll Food Sunday where our food drive provides them with half of what they distribute to the community each year.
This was part of a much bigger effort with all the Troops in the County collecting 17,000 all together
Scouts pictured are Sulle, Erik, Henry, Colton, CJ, and Byron
April 2025: Washington DC + Capitol Trip
This April, we took an “abnormal” Troop 735 trip to Washington DC to tour the Capitol and tour other important monuments, such as the WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial.
We left the Hut at 6:30 after some complications with Mr. Ray’s van door (it wouldn’t shut!). We arrived at Chick-Fil-A in Eldersburg, and a few hours later arrived at Greenbelt Park at 8:30 in the pouring rain.
The next morning we left for the Capitol tour at 9 AM. Instead of driving to DC, used the Metro system. We arrived at College Park Metro station and as we got up to the platform our Branch Ave-headed Green Line train arrived. We hopped on and rode to Mt. Vernon Square, where we hopped on a Yellow Line train to the Pentagon.
We toured the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, and learned about why each bench was faced a certain way. The benches facing towards the Pentagon were the ones on Flight 77, and the ones facing AWAY from the Pentagon were the ones inside the building that saw Flight 77 before it hit the wall. After touring the Memorial we took a moment of silence and went back to the Metro station, taking a Yellow Line train to Gallery Place-Chinatown station to transfer onto a Red Line train to Union Station.
We got off at Union Station and had lunch there, not from our packed lunches but from one of the many restaurants on the food court level (there were a LOT, some got Philly subs, Wendy’s, and yes Dunkin Donuts too). We left our bags there and hiked to the Capitol building, where we had an excellent tour of the Capitol dome, and each of the rooms that we were in (sorry, we didn’t see the House or Senate room!). After the tour we hiked BACK to Union Station to gather our belongings and hiked out to the Mall, our destination of Arlington National Cemetery. We stopped by the WWII, Lincoln, and Japanese American Memorials before hiking across the Potomac to Arlington.
We got to Arlington before it closed, and hiked up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As we were hiking up, we heard the bell inside the amphitheater building ring off at 5:00. We arrived to the Guards changing and then “getting kicked out but not kicked out”. (Basically the Tomb became a restricted site after closing so we were free to go walk around the cemetery but unable to be at the Tomb).
We left the cemetery and took the Metro Blue Line train to L’Efant Plaza then interchanged onto a Green Line train to Greenbelt and got off at College Park, passing by Gallery Place, Mt. Vernon Sq, Columbia Heights, Fort Totten, and then eventually College Park. We got off, exited the station, went back to camp and had a “makeshift campfire” to end our night.
The next morning we had a quick breakfast, packed up, and instead of College Park, went to Greenbelt Metro station. We got on the Green Line train and headed back to DC, getting off at a Silver Line station in downtown DC. We hiked to the Vietnam War Memorial, where we had a moment of silence, toured the memorial, and saluted for Taps, which was being played for a group of Vietnam veterans at the other end of the memorial.
Click link below to see pictures:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bK9Kzy1cHXKTrAD_q04Z2qrSwRJbyv5J?usp=sharing
December 2024: Wilderness Survival
Wilderness survival is the test for the scouts. They must see if they can spend a whole night outside. The challenge is to do so in a shelter that they made all by themselves. On Friday we departed for McDonald’s (as usual). We then headed to the Appalachian trail start point (actual location TBA). After that, we hiked about a mile into the shelters. The boys stayed in the shelters Friday night and were up bright and early Saturday morning. They spent Saturday building their shelters for the night. Some were very elaborate. They made their dinner without using stoves. Instead, they cooked in tinfoil by the fire or on rocks by the fire. They had campfire and went to bed. Sunday morning, they decided to do it differently. Instead of doing the three-mile hike they usually do on this trip, they decided to go straight to the cars. They took down their shelters. They tried to put the wood pieces back where they found them. This is part of the leave no trace principle. After they were packed up they headed back to the cars. On the way back they stopped by McDonald’s for lunch, and went back to the scout hut.
November 2024: Caving Trip
On Friday the 15th we met @ the scout hut at 6:00. We then all loaded into the cars and went to the Myersville McDonald’s. We went from the McDonald’s to the Berkely County WV Izaak Walton league and camped. On Saturday the 16th we hiked a mile up the road to the Whitings and Indian neck caves. We split into the high adventure group and the regular group. The high adventure group just went deeper into the cave. On Sunday we packed up camp and drove two minutes to the Yaukers Nature Preserve to do a service project. We then went back to the Myersville McDonald’s and from there we went back to the scout hut.
October 2024: Climbing at Shaffer Rock
We left on Friday the 11th to go to the Taneytown McDonald’s to eat dinner. We then drove to the Appalachian trail entrance that was just outside Taneytown and hiked maybe a mile to the backpacking site. On Saturday the 12th we ate breakfast and hiked to the cave that was maybe two miles away. We climbed for the better part of the day and did some parts of the climbing merit badge. We then had campfire and went to bed. On Sunday we packed up camp and hiked the mile back to the cars. The scouts then split off from the adults and we hiked on the AT about six miles to the next road crossing and headed to the Taneytown Burger King. We then returned to the scout hut.
September 2024: Abandoned PA Turnpike in Breezewood and the Flight 93 National Memorial
For this trip, we biked along the abandoned PA turnpike from Breezewood to Pump Station Road and back, and also visited the Flight 93 memorial and honored those who died for other Americans.
On Friday, the 20th, we left the Hut and went on our way to Shawnee State Park, home of our sleeping quarters for the trip. We stopped at Myersville McD’s for a “healthy” dinner. We arrived late at night and set up camp.
Saturday morning we got up and cooked breakfast. We packed our day packs for the trip to Breezewood and left around 8:30. We got to the parking lot of the Abandoned Turnpike and unloaded our bikes; then we headed out! The old turnpike is of course abandoned, so the road was rough! The first tunnel was Rays Hill tunnel, ~3/4 mile long. An old tunnel office was there, but in rough shape. We past the tunnel and rode about 7 miles until the longest tunnel, Sideling Hill tunnel, came into view. We rode into pitch black and it was a while until we saw the end. Then we stopped and had a quick break before riding down to the end and riding back through the tunnel to a ex-POW camp. We had lunch there and after about 7 hours on being on the turnpike we arrived back at the parking lot. We drove back to camp where a rainstorm delayed our hike to Forbes Trail and back. At the western end of Forbes Trail there was a covered bridge. The bridge was the Colvin Covered Bridge, built in 1880. We hiked back to camp where we had our campfire and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up, and immediately starting taking down camp. We left around 8:30 AM to head to the Flight 93 Memorial. We got there around 9 and took a trip inside the Visitor Center and hiked down to Memorial Plaza. We had a moment of silence while we remembered who gave their lives for the people at the Capitol/White House (the supposed location of its crash if the passengers failed). We hiked back up the trail and left for the Hut and arrived back at 2:30 PM.
See pictures below:
July 2024: 2024 High Adventure in Colorado
For this month, Troop 735 went to Colorado for our annual High Adventure trip. We hiked around 30 miles in the Rocky Mountains!
June 2024: 2024 Troop 735 Summer Camp
For June 2024, we went to Camp Sinoquipe in Fort Littleton PA. We had loads of fun learning how to motorboat, do first aid, and more!
April 2024: 24Hr Challenge Hike
For this month, Troop 735 did a Challenge Hike from Nolands Ferry to Antietam Campground.
The 2024 Challenge Hike was to raise money for new Troop 735 canoes. It was also to test the Scouts’ motivation, fitness, and determination. The hike started at Noland’s Ferry along the C&O Canal towpath. From there it goes through 5 checkpoints totaling about 41 miles; the endpoint is about 50 miles. The scouts started Friday night at 9 PM and hiked from there through the night and into Saturday afternoon (if able to go the entire way). Each checkpoint was about a 6-8 mile gap between each other. They provided snacks, food, water, and a place to “retire out” if they were done hiking. Although the trail was flat, some challenges were rain, dark outside, risk of fatigue, and blisters due to rain.
About 10PM-12 AM
Taken at Checkpoint 1 (Lander Boat Ramp)
March 2024: Mountain Biking in the Alleghenies
For the March 2024 trip, we went biking on the Allegrippis Trail in the Allegheny Mountains.
The first part of the trip was getting to the campground, which was Sinoquipe Scout Reservation in Fort Littleton PA. We first stopped at McDonalds in Myersville MD, off I-70.
Then after exiting I 70 in Hagerstown we drove back roads to route 16 in PA. Then we went up one of the mountains of the Alleghenies. The grade up and down Route 16 was so high, we couldve had that as a trip (new trip idea: downhill biking on Route 16). We got onto Fort Littleton Road a while later and arrived at Sinoquipe.
The next morning it was raining so we had breakfast under the canopy of a cabin nearby. Fortunately it wasn’t the cold night as that was the next night. After breakfast we left for the Allegrippis Trailhead near Raystown Lake. We had a blast riding. One group rode for 1.5 hours, the other 4 hours.
After we left, we went into Huntingdon for pizza, and what a surprise we saw two trains go through. One was a intermodal that we heard but didn’t see. Another was an autorack (video below). These trains were going to points west (Altoona, Gallitzin, Johnstown). We got to the pizza shop and ate some delicious pizza! We left there to go back to the campsite and we got ready to sleep in sub-freezing temps that night.
The next morning we got up and ate breakfast. Then after breakfast we went to the chapel and had a quick message by former Scoutmaster Nelson Laur. After that we left and hurried home to be in time for the Scouting for Food event.
See pictures/video below:
Pictures:
November 2023: Climbing along the C&O Canal & Potomac River
This month, Troop 735 went on an exciting Climbing trip along the C&O Canal in 2023.
Our troop first went to McDonald’s for a quick bite for dinner. Then we arrived 30 minutes later to a beautiful camping spot with a view of the canal. As soon as we arrived, we unpacked our things at the campsite, set up camp, and settled in for the night.
The next day, we gathered up camp, had a delicious breakfast, and set off for our 7-mile hike to our climbing spot, this time on the Potomac River! For our first 5 miles, we hiked, with our day packs, along the flat C&O Canal trail from abandoned Lock 21 to Carderock. We hiked for 3-4 miles along the trail, until we spotted a very interesting spot. It was for the Great Falls, carved out of rock that had naturally been carved by very fast-moving water.
After Great Falls, we hiked along for another mile until we saw Billy Goat Trail A. We decided to take this trail over the C&O for half of it.This trail had a smooth start. We stopped at a sign that said “Difficult Trail Ahead” to rehydrate and snack. Even thought that sign said that, we knew we can make that sign false! We hiked on through the trail, hiking along the hillside with a huge drop to the river, jumping across rocks, and climbing up a steep rockface.
After we got off Billy Goat Trail, we hiked along the C&O for a mile longer until we reached Carderock, our climbing place. We had our lunch there, and after that we had lots of fun climbing and rappeling down the rock wall.
We had our dinner in the parking lot for Carderock, and afterwards we hiked a mile back along the C&O trail to our campsite. We pitched up camp and built a fire. We told funny stories, skits, and sang songs. After the fire, we went into our tents and went to bed.
The next morning we ate breakfast, which was instant oatmeal. We packed up camp, and hiked a mile to the parking lot, which thanks to Jeff Basford we didn’t have to walk ~6 miles to Lock 21 to that parking lot. We left, went on I-495 then I-270 to MD-27, which led us to the Mount Airy McDonald’s for brunch. (They had excellent hotcakes!) We left there and got back to the Hut around 11:00.
See the pictures below:
October 2023: Backpacking at Massanutten
For the October backpacking trip, we backpacked along the Appalachians at Massanutten Mountain in G. Washington National Forest near Front Royal, VA.
We went to McDonald’s in Littlestown PA for dinner, then met up near Caledonia State Park at George Washington National Forest. We picked out to sleep in the shelter, so we slept there for the night.
The next morning we had breakfast and hiked 8 miles to Mudhole Gap camping area, where we started building shelters for the night. We had our dinner at camp, and spent the night there.
The next morning we packed up, took down our shelters and left at 8 AM. We hiked around 5 miles back down the Mudhole Gap trail to milepost 678, where the parking lot was. We got back in our vehicles and left camp to McDonalds, ate there, and went back to the Hut.
See pictures:
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June, 2023 Piney Run Cleanup
Our troop got together at Piney Run to go canoeing and help clean up the lake. At the start, we went over canoeing skills on land before entering the water. We grouped up into buddy pairs and paddled out onto the lake. We spent some time paddling around the shoreline cleaning up trash and debris. We collected a fair amount of trash and our efforts helped to improve the cleanliness of the environment. See photos below:
April, 2023 Caving:
To start off, this caving trip was one of our best trips yet. Friday, we camped by the Potomac, thanks to the Potomac Fish and Game Club for letting our troop stay on their property and use their boat ramp. On Saturday, we packed up camp and canoed 3 miles across the Potomac River. Upon arrival, we hiked to Whitings Neck and Indian River caves. The majority of the troop explored the India River cave and top part of the Whitings Neck cave. A small group of us explored deep into Whitings Neck cave. After entering the cave, we went down two rappels. Inside the cave, we saw tons of crazy cave formations. Many of these were formed by minerals in the water that drips through the cave. These formations can take millions of years to form. When trekking through the cave, there were many small spaces we slid through to adventure deeper and see more cool formations. On the way out, we needed to vertically ascend the rope that we rappelled down. We used ascenders to climb up the rope so it was not necessary to cling to the rock face inside the cave. Our adventure through the cave was really cool and I’m sure everyone who went would do it again. The Izaak Walton League was extremely kind to provide us with a place to camp and a delicious dinner. We really appreciate this and would love to plan another event with them in the future. After setting up camp, we joined the leaders of the Izaak Walton League for dinner. On Sunday morning, we canoed 6 miles downstream and loaded up the vehicles. We would like to thank both the Izaak Walton League and the Potomac Fish and Game Club for making this trip possible. We would also like to thank Mike Shank from the York County Grotto for training our leaders and guiding us deep into the cave. See photos below:
December, 2022 Hiking:
Our troop went camping in Green Ridge state forest. We set up camp to find everything covered with snow. On Saturday, we hiked the long pond trail which was about 10 miles. This hike was interesting because there were no switchbacks on the trail and a substantial amount of elevation changes. With the snow on the ground, we often found ourselves sliding up and down hills on the trail. Additionally, we encountered many stream crossings, in the beginning, they were relatively easy to cross but they got incrementally more difficult. We thought of some elaborate ways to cross the streams. We did troop cooking on this campout meaning we cooked as a troop to feed everyone. For breakfast on Saturday, we had oatmeal and for dinner, we cooked chilly. We ate peach cobbler for dessert from a dutch oven. For breakfast Sunday morning we made omelets in a plastic bag. Since this was our December campout, we sang Christmas carols at campfire Saturday night. We drank lots of hot chocolate over the entire trip. This was another great campout. See pictures below:
March, 2022 Scouting for Food
Scouting for food is a food drive where we scouts give out tags to neighborhoods in our area, on the decided day, people set bags of food outside their homes to donate. We divided into groups of scouts to collect this food. This year we collected 1,000 pounds of food to donate to Carroll Food Sunday. That’s a lot of food!
November, 2021 Mountain Biking
Our troop set off for our monthly campout, this month was our biking campout. We met at the Scout Hut and made sure everyone was equipped and prepared for the campout. We then traveled to McDonald’s for a late dinner and made our way to Camp Sinoquipe where we spent the night. When we woke up early the next morning we divided into our patrols and each patrol made their scouts breakfast. We then went to a nearby State Park to bike. We had two options for our Scouts: one trail that was 11 miles round trip and a longer one that was 25 miles. We spent all day biking. Once everyone was back, we packed everything up and went back to our campsite. After the patrols cooked their dinner, we started a fire and had our Troop’s Campfire Ceremony which takes place at every campout. After the ceremony, everyone went to their tent to go to bed. The next morning we broke down camp, had breakfast, took a tour of Camp Sinoquipe, and rode back to the Scout Hut hitting McDonald’s on the way back. See pictures below:
October, 2021 Climbing:
This climbing campout started just like any other campout, at McDonald’s. After we ate dinner at McDonald’s, we hiked with our climbing gear to Tumbling Run Shelter. When we arrived, we set up tents and got some rest. In the morning, we hiked to Shaefer Rocks where we climbed and rappelled for most of the day. We set up two climbing ropes and one for rappelling. After rappelling awhile, it started to rain. We took down our ropes and hiked back to camp. On Saturday night, we had our usual campfire when we shared our favorite experiences from the campout. We also acted out skits and ended the campfire by singing Scout Vespers. On Sunday, we went on a 6-mile hike. Halfway through the hike, we stopped at Deer Lick Shelter where we had a Scouts Own service. Every scout found a quiet place to reflect on what we were thankful for. After we had thought for a while, we got together and shared what we thought about. After Scouts Own, we continued our hike until we reached the vehicles. After the campout, we drove to McDonald’s to have lunch and went back to the Scout Hut to put away gear. Overall, this climbing trip was an awesome campout! See pictures below:
Troop 735 