Troop 2 takes a trip to the White Mountains, 1936

In July 1936 the troop embarked an excursion to the White Mountains, New Hampshire.
The cost for the three day trip was $3.50, which covered the food enroute. Each boy was expected to cook his own food, and supplies were bought wholesale for the scouts to control costs.

The route traveled was up the Daniel Webster Highway to Woodstock and Lost River, through Franconia Notch to the Old Man in the Mountain, and Echo Lake. The return was via the Crawford and Pinkham Notches. The travelers stopped to check out Newfound Lake on the way North as well, twenty years before the Troop began camping there!

While in the mountains the Troop hiked to a mountain summit and took scenic nature hikes. On the adult leadership and coordination side, Dr. Stetson was in charge of transportation, Mr. Rudolph and Mr. Jordan of the food, and Mr. G. Stinson Lord of the nature hikes and general programming.

Several photos from this first excursion to the North still exist, shown below, and the same route was traced again in 1941 by the Troop, and included a stop for swimming at Newfound Lake.

The Troop continues this tradition of hiking in the White Mountains to this day, and plans are underway for a spring overnight hike this year.



These two photos show the scouts at Newfound Lake along the West Shore Road





The next two photos show roadside stops on the way up. The photo with the old cars is most likely the Old Man in the Mountain viewing location at Cannon Mountain.





The next 5 photos show the Scouts and their leaders hiking and scrambling - perhaps the Lost River, the Flume, or at a scenic stop along the way.







These photos show Scouts at the summit of the mountains, with cairns and trailmarkers clearly visible.






Finally, two photos - one of a Scout showing us his breakfast, the other of a scout enjoying the tram railway.




We are indebted to Mr. Franklin Pratt for saving these photos and many others, and for taking the time to document all of the Troop activities with incredible detail in the Scout News. Without these materials we'd be unable to tell the story of these early scouts and the shared experiences they have with our scouts down through the years and today.