Welcome to Troop 61

Camp Yawgoog is a Boy Scout Reservation that hosts summer camps and rents out campsites. Camp Yawgoog includes three different camps as well as outlying campsites with a total of 1800 acres of land. The camp was founded in 1916 and is the fourth oldest continuously run scouting reservation in America. It is located near Rockville, Rhode Island.

On October 21, 2011 Troop 61 Sudbury embarked on a backpacking trip to Yawgoog Pond. The backpacking group included sixteen scouts and six adults. We departed for Camp Yawgoog at around 9:00 AM and arrived before 11:00 AM. The backpacking hike began at 11:30 AM. The trip consisted of a tour of the camp led by Ben Kurn and a hike around Yawgoog Pond. The total backpacking trip lasted about four hours. Throughout the hike we crossed many small streams and bridges. Some of these bridges consisted of only wooden planks placed end on end. We stopped for a trail lunch at a campsite near the lake. Just before arriving at our campsite we were able to witness and climb up Smuggler’s Cliff. Our campsite was on top of the 60-120 foot cliff. Upon arrival at our designated camp we unpacked and pitched tents. The campsite consisted of two picnic tables and many large boulders. In order to boil water, we had to use backpacking stoves called whisper light stoves.

At around 7:30 PM we were invited to Pack 1 of Barrington, RI’s campfire. There we performed skits, sang songs, and ate smores. We returned to camp at around 10:30 PM after stargazing for meteors in a large field (We actually saw a few).

The next morning we cooked breakfast, took down tents, cleaned the campsite, and left camp at 10:00 AM. We completed the journey around the lake on a short path and departed for home at 12:15 AM.

By G. Mays