Troop 51 enjoyed a successful and high-energy weekend (27-29 Apr’26) at the “Loo with a View” campsite.

Troop arrived at the camp site around 6 PM and were amazed at the towering ‘loo’ in the middle. After a quick Cracker Barrel, all the scouts and adults slept early in preparation for the hike the next day. The next morning, bright and early at 6:30 AM, all scouts going to Philmont, a scout ranch in New Mexico, left early to embark on the grueling 10 mile hike in Harper’s Ferry. The non-Philmont scouts left later at 10:00 AM as they were hiking for a shorter amount of time and miles. At the edge of the mountain, the view was amazing, and we could see where we came from and the town beneath us. The hike back was much easier because it was almost all downhill, and we arrived back quickly. The non-Philmont scouts arrived around 12:30 PM and the Philmont crew came back at around 1:00 PM.

The highlight of the trip was a troop-wide canoeing session at 4:30 PM. The weather was perfect, and the Scouts were in high spirits on the water. Back at camp, our grubmasters prepared a fantastic dinner – delicious pasta with alfredo sauce.

The troop concluded the night with a campfire and a service project: helping the property owner by safely burning off a large wood pile.

On Sunday morning, we had muffins for breakfast, conducted a police line, and talked about “Roses and Thorns,” the Troop 51 tradition that we do at the end of every campout. It was a little hard to clean up, though, because it started raining when we woke up. Finally, the troop broke camp and arrived back at FUMC by 10:00 AM.

Troop 51 had a fantastic experience of Sandy Spring Adventure Park (Mar 20-21, 2026).

Friday evening– We all met at the FUMC parking lot between 5 and 5:30 PM. Before leaving, the scouts set up their brand-new patrol boxes and grabbed the desired items from trailer. Then, we all started our journey to the adventure park. All the scouts managed to fit in 3 cars and reached the camp site at about 7:00 PM.

Overnight– Friday night was very harsh, as an approaching storm forced us to abandon our tents and quickly run to a nearby shelter. Almost everyone was soaking wet as we headed back to the campsite after the storm, but it was worth staying safe. However, barely anyone could sleep as a lot of us could not dry up and some did not have a change of clothes.

Saturday morning- After waking up at around 6:30 – 7:00 AM, we finished our breakfast and prepared to start our exciting adventure. When we arrived at the park, we learned how to use the equipment, what levels were suitable for us, and how we could have the best experience there. After that, the scouts were allowed to have as much fun as we could. At first, we tried out some of the easier ropes courses just to see how it feels and get a little bit of experience with how everything works. When we were done with that, we all separated into groups of 2-4 and went on to more engaging levels of our choice. At the end, almost all the scouts went on a specific ropes course called “Sprite” with the most ziplines in the entirety of the park.

Saturday afternoon– After our selected time slot ended, we had sandwiches for lunch and some snacks. We then returned our gear to the main building and packed up our items to prepare to exit the campsite. Like every other campout, the troop did “Roses and Thorns,” a Troop 51 tradition before we left. We departed at around 12:00 PM and entered Floris Elementary by 1:00 PM.