Tag: Ten Mile River Scout Camps

Volunteering

How many of you volunteer? I’ve been involved with this since I was a little kid. Well, not sure the Cub Scouts was volunteering. I joined because I wanted to copy my fadder (That’s what a former Chappy camper used to call his dad. I think he still does.) I’m Eagle. He’s not. But from Cubs through the Boy Scouts the emphasis was helping others. We had to do our good turn daily.

I have always given back and been involved as an adult leader. These days I don’t do as much as I used to. I guess because I am no longer a Staten Islander. In my teen days when I was chief of Aquehongian Lodge #112, one thing I noticed we had a steady group of adult leaders volunteering. My job was to get the youth involved. One of my favorite leaders used to scream, “We need more boys. We gotta keep this program going”. I miss him. I’m proud to say my meetings usually had about 100 people attending. Most were scouts. These days we are lucky if we get 10 people in the room.

I had my core group of leaders and volunteers. I appointed them all. One once said, “Yeah you had to be nice to him and have lunch with him the Tottenville High School Library and rehearse the ceremonies. Then you got any position.” Of course, he is one my close buddies. Perhaps that was the case. Or perhaps it was not. I sense someone may comment about how many trunks I used to carry in camp? But that’s in another post.

Many of the fun adults are still around. Some left us for the great campsite in the sky. I hope if I ever get there it looks like Chappy Hill. The Hill I remember. That was my summer camp.

I never stopped volunteering. In my frat, Tau Epsilon Phi, I led tons of community service projects on SUNY New Paltz’s campus.

I was a trustee on the Ten Mile River Scout Camps’ Museum committee. I handled their PR and edited our newsletter, “Smoke Signals”. I could do more with the group. They are my camp family. Many of them watched me grow up. Some of these scouuuuts (our camp joke) met me when I was 12.

About six years ago, I had my best Thanksgiving. I was in Tel Aviv and worked with the kids from ELEM/Youth in Distress in Israel. ELEM’s N.Y. office does a lot in the U.S. to help these kids. I am part of it.

I‘ve noticed in all my activities is that no matter how hard you try to bring in new blood, it is always the same group. Whenever new people come to help out we usually wine and dine them to the extreme. Offer them cool patches. Whatever it takes. A few comeback.

Sadly it usually the same bunch that grinds it out. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all know who will be late and what everyone will drink? And of course, who will complain about something.

We are the ones who will arrive hours before the event and stay hours later. We will be the most stressed and sometimes the dirtiest. But it is us who will have the most fun. So join the party. You won’t be let down.

Imagine if we could double our attendance? Just think of how many more Eagles would soar? Or how many distressed Israeli kids could have a better life.

Dock Test

If we wanted to swim in Rock Lake, Camp Kunatah we had to pass a dock test. All of the swimming areas of the waterfront were divided up based on a scout’s ability to swim. We had non-swimmers, beginners and advanced.

On the first day of camp, our Chappy Scoutmaster Rodney would give us a tour of camp. It ended with the dock test. We started going down the muddy steps of the Hill. You can’t beat the Hill. We hiked through camp.

Rodney showed us the nature lodge, we went to the Kunatah Dining Hall, where we might have rocked-n-rolled or discombobulated. We stopped at the trading post for Bon Bons or a Coke.

Eventually, we made it down to Rock Lake. By the way, it rocks.

All of us eager scouts went up to the docks and gave our name to one of the dock guards. One by one we jumped into the lake and we were charged to swim three laps of any stroke. But we were forced to conclude with the elementary backstroke. Then we had to tread water for about a minute while holding the Scout sign and repeating the Scout Oath, Law Motto or some other scouting stanza. Our dock tester decided what we would do.

Those of us that passed all parts were given a red and blue buddy tag. We needed to check in with this when we went swimming. ‘Ya see you and your buddy would give it to dock guard who was manning the Buddy board. You told him which area of the lake you were jumping into. He attached the tag to the Buddy board’s respective section and you were off for your swim.

Sounds simple and fun, right? Well, I was always an advanced swimmer. In fact, the first merit badges I earned as a Chappy scout were Swimming and Rowing. You think I would have an easy time with my dock test.

Well, well, well.

One year, perhaps ’85 or ’86, a man who I call My Leader gave me my dock test. He had been a waterfront director in the now closed Kotohke or D-1 section of camp. Sadly, these days Chappy and Kunatah are closed too. During his day he spent a lot of time on the lake and used it for swimming, boating and well? I have nothing more to say.

Back to my dock test, my leader asked me to jump into the lake and begin. I easily did the laps. I do a great elementary backstroke. I learned it as a young Cub Scout age in Lake Ohrbach, Pouch Scout Camp, Staten Island. I figured I was home free. Then came the treading test.

I followed My Leader’s orders and held the Scout sign upside down and began repeating the Scout Law no big deal. Oh, I forgot to remind you the esteemed leader is not into it. I will never say what being into it or not into it is.

But for some reason that morning he became into it and made these interesting facial gestures while I treaded. By the way, he made me tread far longer than it would take to repeat the Scout Law, Oath and Motto. We skipped the OA Obligation. I’m not sure why. Then all of a sudden strange noises started to emanate from his smiling mouth. I was aghast. Eventually, he said I could climb out of the lake onto the dock. I speedily did that. He gave me a passing grade.

Camp

Today, I spent the day at the American Museum of Natural History (AMHN). I got there at about 1:00 p.m. There were tons of camp groups wandering through the museum. I knew this would happen. This would piss off some museum-goers. But I loved it.

I wandered through the mammal’s wing. A bunch of kids stood in front of the wolves. They shrieked, “Wolf”. They all tapped on the glass and yelled, “You can’t get me”. They all smiled and went to the next exhibit.

Most of these kids were day campers. I did see a group wearing t-shirts that said their camp hailed from the “Old Dominion” state. Maybe they were on a trip into the City that Never Sleeps.

I too went to camp. Camp Chappegat (aka “Chappy Hill), part of Ten Mile River Scouts Camps, located in Narrowsburg, N.Y.   Mine was a summer camp. I lived there for many weeks during my summer. It was the greatest experience of my life. Nothing can replace it. I was 12 when arrived on the Hill. Sometimes I still feel like I am 12, and on the Hill. I made more lifelong friends than I can ever count. I still speak to dozens of them every day.

So while these kids in the AMNH were on a camp field trip, I thought back to the trips we took. We went on many. Yeah, we went to Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to pay our respects to the team that the building was built for, the 27-Time World Champions. We went to Callicoon to bowl. We went to Action Park. I fell off the Alpine Slide. It was painful. And, who can forget our, Super Week banquet in El Monaco’s? Man how I miss the red sauce.

We enjoyed these trips. But I must say and I surely hope my fellow “Scouuuuuuts” will agree that our best trips were the ones we did right in the vicinity of our blessed camp.

We had bog hikes. What could be more fun than playing in a bog? We went to Father Meyers Swimming Hole. It had a giant tree with a rope tied around it. We climbed up the tree and grabbed the rope. We swung on it until we fell into the swimming hole. We swam around a little and climbed right back up our tree.

On Saturdays, we had leanto inspections and hiked out to Bob Landers. Most of us had the two hamburgers, fries, and soft drink special. Then we hiked to the Delaware and Ten Mile Rivers to swim. We hiked back up to our beloved hill. We had a great BBQ and then our famous campfires. We had skits that would have won more Tony’s than any Broadway drama or musical. We were that talented.

TMR is huge. We went on many hikes. My favorites were lead by an alumnus. He used to come up and stay on the Hill each summer for about three weeks. He used to teach me all sorts of things about the camp. He became my mentor. I still consider him my leader.

He would take us to D-1. His camp. On the way, he would point out historic sites, the dining hall, old cabins, and other stuff. Sadly, None of these buildings remain.  One was actually moved to our Camp Museum in headquarters. He took us to the “Asshole”.

The Asshole is two large rocks with openings that resemble, the aforementioned. I visited about three summers ago. It is still there.

We went on other great trips in camp. We went to the old saw mill, we hiked through closed down sites and dreamed of what went on there.

Sadly, camp Chappy closed after 1988. But every day, especially during the summer, I still dream about the fun we had there. Oh Chappy, boy do I miss you.

I would love to carry a scouuuuuuts’ trunk up the hill.

CH CH CH AP AP AP EG EG EG AT, Chappegat, Chappegat, Yeah Chappegat.