Ken Mont Camp for Boys - Golden Days Yearbook (Kent, CT)

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SPEC! l IN EREST 2 CAMPING Ken-Mont's motto is 'ckeep the camp in campingi' and 1969 saw the greatest interest in our tripping program ever. Our diverse and far ranging camping expeditions found each group in a different and exciting area. Donlt ever sell the American boy short! The spirit of adventure and adaptibility to rough environment still is part of our make up. Every boy in camp had the opportunity to pitch a tent, build a fire, cook, eat raw or burned food, clean a messkit, test his endurance on a hike, avoid C25 poison ivy, sleep in his clothes, listen to a scarry ghost story, count the billion stars at night . . . and back at camp, spend hours removing the accumu- lated dirt! A Lower camp tripping again was led by our rugged elder statesmen, that premier cook of home fries the morning after, Elderberry J ack Turek. The Bluejays had their introduction to poineer- ing by sleeping out at the Pine Point camp site, a dense hemlock forest along the lake not far from the saildock. Every little man had his chores-tent pitching, wood gathering and clean up, but it seems we spent most of our time eating Jackis delicious cooking. Campfire and story time at night were great and when we crawled into our sleeping bags. the bed of pine needles felt like a down mattress CD Jerry cooked our breakfast in the morning and we can still smell the bacon sizzling! .. ::E.'-ter.. :::..'::e:- '--'D f--f- ..........w,..... . . The Sparrows, .our eight year old boys, braved the wilds of Mohawk Forest, again with Jack blaz- ing the way. This was their first experience away from camp and Jack tells us they were the most rugged Sparrow group ever. One thing certain- they ate more food than any group of 8 year old boys ever did! - The Robins also camped at Mohawk State Forest although their trip was a far more rugged one. The highlight was a hike through famous Black Spruce Bog. One of the few specimen of its kind in the country, the Bog was gouged out by the last great glaciers, some 16,000 years ago. The soft muck is some 60 feet deep and it never com- pletely freezes in spite of 300 below zero winter tempe-ratures. There is all types of vegetation grow ing in it, even semi-tropical varieties. Although the Bog has undoubtedly claimed hundreds of animal lives over the centuries, the Rangers have laid a boardwalk over the bog and we were able to closely observe the phenomena. The Falcons, on their first three day campout ever, explored the wilds of Pittsfield State Forest in Western Massachusetts. Now for the first time, the boys put to a test the woodsmanship they had learned. Berry Pond, the climb over Berry Mountain and the evening trip to town were memorable. The old menn of lower camp, the Cardinals camped out for three days atop the highest point

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in the state of Massachussetts, Mt. Greylock. The high point of the trip was the 4 mile hike to the peak over a torturous mountain trail. Once up, we had a great lunch at Bascom Ski Lodge and then to the slippery descent. We, too, had a night on the town that added to the fun of the camp-out. The Condors and Eagles each had their own three day camping trip to Cape Cod. With tents pitched just behind the dunes along the Atlantic Highlands fjust below Provincetownj the trip again proved to be one of the summer's highlights. No other camp- out seems to generate quite as much excitement! Our head counselors, Jim Charlton and Ron Bouchier each headed a trip and their reports on return can be summed up in one word . . . FANTASTIC! The last big trip of the season was the Hawk's oft-delayed camp-out on the shores of Long Island Sound near Mystic. With a mile wide beach just in front of their campsite and perfect weather to com- plement the location, our boys had a great time. On the third day, arrangements were set by Lloyd for the boys to have a tour of the Coast Guard Aca- demy and a trip on a C G Cutter through New Lon don harbor' After buying out the Ships Store at the Academy we rode home in style in a pullman bus Th1S was a first time trip for Ken Mont and it will now become a fixture for future Hawks The 1969 pioneering work at Ken Mont 1n spite of the weather was varied and most successful A new pioneering area was established in the vicinity of the campfire arch This new area 1S farther from the main campus which gives the campers a greater l f .2 R 5,5 'S 'A g KEN-MONT HAWKS AT THE U. S. COAST GUARD ACADEMY. feeling of roughing it. Bill Rogers, one of two pioneering counselors with the help of MARK VERSHEL BRYAN EGGERT ROBBIE WEIS BEIN BRUCE LADEN TONY ASTMANN and SHELDON KIVELL moved the monkey bridge from behind the nature hut to its new location near the campfire Brad Hanson the other pioneering specialist with the help of DAVID GODNICK DAVID OSHIN and SCOTT ZUCKERMAN dis mantled the tree house and with the assistance of JEFF DANIELS reassembled lt approximately 200 feet south of the Indian campfire ring PIONEERING The progress of this years Pioneering program was greatly hindered by the long siege of rain However the goal of relocating the Pioneering area near the campfire circle was completed to a large extent when a new 40 foot long Monkey Bridve was successfully constructed A Monkey Bridge consists of three heavy Mi ropes suspended between two supporting A frames The climber walks across with his feet on the central rope and his hands holding on to the outer two ropes The latter ropes are suspended several feet above the central one and all three are secured together to prevent the ropes from swaying apart Whell the Bridoe 1S m use Thlg type of brid e 1S common among the Indians in South America as a means of crossing small rivers or canyons The natives often become so skilled at crossing these bridges that they can walk across balancing heavy burdens on top of their heads Work on the bridge was done by a crew of re liable and hard working boys BRYAN EGGERT MARK VERSHEL BILLY FALK STEVE FISHER BRUCE LADEN BOB PRAVDER TONY ASTMANN BOBBIE WEISBEIN LARRY COPELAND and STEVE SCHWARTZ Approximately SOO feet of rope was used in con structing the brid e Among the various knots used in the construction were the following 60 clove - 9 . . , 2 2 ' , , 1 a a , . . . . 7 ' 3 ' 7 s 9 3 ' - - 3 ' , l , . . . 7 . o ' . . . . ll - 7 7 ' CC - 37. , 7 . . 3 7 , ' ' . 9 7 , . O . l . . 0 . O l n u ' ' U n o ' D