First order of business was to transport the gear down to the site. It was deemed too risky to bring the trailer, so most things were loaded into the back of a couple of the trucks, and driven over. The Scouts walked. There was a closed field for horses on the way there; the fence turned out to be electrified. Touching was strongly discouraged.
We set up tents once we got up. It was decided that we'd start the ranger ride first, and lunch later. This news came as a surprise to some, especially those who had already begun lunch.
The tripod was shorter this year. We used the same poles as last year. The tripod went up, and the cross-braces went on, and we broke for lunch. This year, Mr. Scrivens had procured a cable-tightener, which he attached to the setup. Once we set it up, I was asked to check the tautness of the cable. The loop which attached the cable to the cable tighter popped loose while I was doing this, but I escaped uninjured. The bolts were tightened, and the cable retightened. This was not the last time something snapped.
Once the bugs were out, we rode the ranger ride for quite a while. On this ranger ride, you could go all the way to the tree at the end, and many of us did. However, at first, we couldn't reach the tow-rope with you in the tree, and you had to pull yourself hand-over-hand along the cable to where they could reach you. That difficulty was soon corrected, and we rode most of the day. Riding stopped around dinnertime, when an adult was on, and the rope they used to connect the cable-tightener to the stakes that held it down, broke. The rider was fortunately at the low point, and escaped unhurt.
There were seperate dinners for the adult leaders and the scouts. The latter had pizza, and the former chicken cordon-bleu (spelling?). However, us Scouts were allowed a little rice to supplement the pizza.
The biggest event of the evening was the bonfire. There was a pile of wood slightly bigger than the Scout meeting room in the field, which was set ablaze. The flames were terrific. By the end, no-one could stand within thirty feet of the fire for any length of time, and many tried. We went to bed after that.
In the morning, there was a massive pile of coals and ash where the wood used to be. Some of the early-rising Scouts played around there, and then we all decided to repair the ranger ride. I tied up the rope and attached another onto it, to make a triple-thick coil to hook the cable tightener on. We then hooked the latter back onto the main cable, and began cranking it tighter. We eventually hauled it tight enough to ride, and we returned to our riding.
Breakfast was pancakes and sausage. Everyone got three pancakes and two sausages; some got an extra pancake or sausage. We rode some more after breakfast, but we had to strike our tents and pack to go. We left around eleven or twelve, getting back to the church at one o'clock.
The program, performed by Michael Cutting, Thomas Napack, and Alex Kovacic, was a little disorganized. There was a heavy stress on the importance of camp improvements at Goshen, and the ease with which such devices are made.
They went out to play Capture the Flag, but the game actually was disbanded by mutual agreement! (Gasp!) We were going to do the Candle Game instead, but that plan was ditched in favor of eating the ice cream Mr. Minnick brought. A couple Boards of Review and a Scoutmaster Confrence were held before the meeting adjourned.