HILLSBOROUGH: In Vermont, Scouts build snow huts

   Ten Scouts and four adult leaders from Boy Scout Troop 1776 completed a two-night “Okpik” trek on the Appalachian Trail outside of Manchester, Vt., on Jan. 15-17, a typically cold winter New England weekend.
   The word Okpik means “snowy owl” in the Inuit language. Troop 1776 completes an Okpik trip every year, and trains in cold-weather camping and survival for several weeks and adjusts to the particular conditions at the time. On the day of arrival, the hikers trekked through fast-falling snow and reached the hut after dark.
   There were two feet of snow on the ground, so snowshoes proved to be indispensable. Otherwise, hikers would have literally sunk to their knees, which is known as post-holing. The group backpacked seven miles all together.
   The highlight of Okpik is the construction of “quinzees,” or snow huts, on the second day of the hike, affording the opportunity to sleep in them the second night. The troop cut the quinzees out of snow they piled up — 10 feet in diameter and five feet high. In order to do this, they brought their own shovels onto the trail. Two Scouts working in these pairs built each hut, taking about five hours. The temperature was in the single digits at night, but inside the quinzees it hovered around freezing — much warmer than the outside and eerily quiet and calm.
   Every year one pair of Scouts is nominated for recognition for the best quinzee. This year the prize went to Michael Kinney and Kevin Parlato.
   Trip participants not only survived, but truly enjoyed the cold-weather activity — while most of us sat in our warm homes in New Jersey that weekend.
   Troop 1776 serves boys in grades 5-12 from the Hillsborough, Neshanic and Branchburg area. Any boy interested in participating can visit the troop’s web site (www.bsa1776.org). While most new scouts move up from Cub Scouts, it is not a pre-requisite. Troop 1776 is an active outdoor troop which has made treks to rugged areas of England, Switzerland, Maine, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and several states on the Appalachian Trail.
   The troop also works on outdoor skills, citizenship and community service. Most of all, the boys have a lot of fun hiking, learning, and doing things together. Meetings take place every Thursday night at Neshanic Reformed Church.
   If you have any questions or are interested in joining, contact Scoutmaster Gerry Scillitani at [email protected].