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On May 22 through May 24 Troop 17 went on a canoe trip down the Haw River. We arrived on Friday and set up our campsite. We were lucky to be able to use Troop 65’s scout hut right on the river. On Saturday, we canoed for about 5 hours and traveled about 6 miles down the Haw River. The weather was great for this trip but there were a ton of spiders, tics, and poison ivy. An exciting thing that happened on the trip was that a black king snake jumped into Mr. Moser’s boat. He just picked it up and threw it back in the water. On this trip we were fortunate to have 4 new troop members. All 4 of the new scouts got their scout badge. Before we left on Sunday, we cleaned up the camp site and had a church service by the water. This was a fun trip. I think that we should canoe more than once a year.
Chase Briggs
Troop 17 went on an awesome canoeing trip on May 22, 2009. We arrived there late afternoon and hung out. We were either fishing, or by the fire, or playing 4-square in troop’s 65 awesome scout hut.
Saturday morning everybody was up cooking breakfast. We were all ready to go canoeing. We all piled in the cars and headed upstream to where we were going to put the canoes in the water. After Mr. Bates told us how to use proper canoeing strokes, we were off. We paddled about a mile then we came upon a dam. We had to get out and walk around it. Then Matthew found a pet turtle the size of a quarter. A couple of hours later we arrived at an island and had lunch. We all took a swim too. A few miles down the river I saw something huge fly from my dad’s canoe ahead so I paddled up to see and it was a 6-foot-long black snake in his canoe that he had thrown out. Then we had a swim break for a while. While we were swimming Mr. Bates fell a sleep, so we untied his canoe and he drifted away. We arrived back at the campsite and loaded the canoes up. Then we hung out again. A lot of us went fishing and I pulled in a 7 or 8 pound bowflyin fish. As it got dark we all played 4-square!
Sunday morning we had an awesome breakfast and finished the morning with a good church service. I hope we can go camp there again!
Ellis Moser
On May 22nd, Troop 17 went to Saxapahaw to go on a canoeing trip. When we got there, there was a basketball goal, a firepit, and a four square court inside the scout hut. We also realized that the site was infested with ticks, grand daddy long legs, and poison ivy. Me, Zeke, and Stewart Powell helped teach the new Scouts beginner’s things so they could earn their scout badge. Next morning, we all ate breakfast by the fire and at about 11:00 we drove with our canoes tied to Beauford and drove to a little take off kind of thing for our canoes. We set off and canoed downstream until we came upon a dam. So we had to bring our canoes around an extrmeley narrow and shallow section of the river where we had to drag our canoes down ladders and back into the river. Soon the river got more rapidy and it became easier to paddle. We found that there were turtles all along the edges of the river. Matthew even found a very small yellow belly slider and kept it until lunch. When we got to a small little section we put up our canoes for a while and ate lunch. Some people went swimming, and alot found toads and frogs, because there was alot of them in the weeds. We finished and put up and had about half way to go until we got back to our camp. Up a little ways there was a black (which means harmless) snake that swam along the surface of the water and hopped into Mr. Moser’s canoe! He threw out it and everyone just had a laugh about it. At one point when we were very close to our campsite from the river, some people got out and swam in the very shallow water. Then when we got back to the site, everyone helped load up the canoes back onto Beauford. We walked to out camp (Beauford drove) and we cooked our delicous foil packs over the fire. We continued to play basketball, 4 square, and some people fished. Ellis even caught a fish that was about 5 pounds! The next morning we were cooked a delicous breakfast (sausage egg and cheeese casserole) by our scoutmasters. We attended a church service next to the river. Everyone packed up their tents and we soon left. When we got back to our scout hut, everyone helped pack up the things into the scout hut and we left to go home. Overall it was a really great trip and I hope to go on another canoeing trip!
Sam Collins
The canoeing trip at the Haw River was another fun, exciting, and successful scouting trip. It also helped us see how our new scouts would fare in the troop, which they all seemed to take a fair liking to it. We had a small problem with hammockers not having enough spots to swing on, due to the overpopulation of poison ivy. We had a fun time canoeing, and thankfully this time we were not in a drought, so this was much more relaxed. No one fell too far behind; no one went too far ahead. Best of all, there was minimal complaining. We had quite a few fishermen as well, around six. Only Ellis and I caught anything. I caught a 2-pound bass and a 1-pound crappie, and Ellis caught a monster prehistoric fish with nasty sharp teeth, at around 5 pounds. Also, I bet if you leaders had let me and Charlie take a canoe out to fish, we could have had a fish biscuit for everyone that Sunday morning. Though the breakfast was good anyway, mostly people ate only biscuits. So again, overall, this was a great and successful scouting trip, no doubt.
Mitchell Stadler
