Skip to main content

2008 Winter Klondike Derby - Ward Pound Ridge Res.

Despite a last-minute change of venue, the 2008 Winter Klondike Derby was yet another success for the boys of Katonah Troop 1! Building upon our experience at the Fall Camporee, one of Katonah's patrols took First Place in the overall competition! The theme for this year's Klondike Derby was paying "Honor and Tribute" to the men and women of the armed forces, especially those who fought in World War II. Designed by Assistant Scoutmaster Otto Vondrak, the event put Scout troops into the height of the 1944 Allied advance across France towards Germany. A map of the trail was overlayed with actual location names and landmarks from the Allied campaign as they drove the Nazi army back into Germany. Along the way, Scouts challenged their skills in First Aid (organized by Katonah Troop 1), Map Reading (Mahopac 271), Fire Building (Brewster 1), and Signalling (Patterson 440). At each station, Scouts were taught how the skills they were demonstrated would be used by soldiers not much older than them in a battle situation. Scouts were also judged on the construction of their Klondike sled and how well they worked together. Our troop was challenged every step of the way, but both patrols gave their best effort and came out in the top ten. Over 200 Scouts participated in this event, a record for district events.



This year's Klondike Derby honored the brave men and women of the armed forces.



Otto checks in a sled at Headquarters.



Katonah's Swamp Chickens Patrol starts their day at Headquarters.




Assistant Scoutmaster Otto Vondrak assembles the troops and leads them in opening ceremonies at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, January 26, 2008.



Mahopac 271 operated the Klondike Cafe for feed warm food to weary Scouts.



Katonah Troop 1 ran the First Aid station, seen here with Assistant Scoutmaster Hank Tschorn.



Katonah's Rabid Raccoon Patrol renders assistance to their fallen camerade at the First Aid station.



Hank Tschorn, Dennis Winthers and Jeff Kane compare notes at the First Aid Station.



Mahopac 271 ran the Observation Post, where Scouts were challenged in map reading skills.



Brewster 1 ran the fire building station, where troops had to quickly and safely build a fire to burn through a string.



A troop makes the dangerous crossing of the Rhine River from France into Germany!



Mahopac's "Manly" Patrol at the Signals Station.



Troops send a coded message in German to fool enemy troops at the Signalling station.



Patterson 440's Bob Cirelli ran the Signalling station at the Klondike Derby.



Weary troops arrive at the Signalling station.



On the trail, Assistant Scoutmaster Otto Vondrak checks back with headquarters.



A Mahopac troop re-enacts the flag raising at Iwo Jima.

Popular posts from this blog

Troop 1 Celebrates 100-Plus Years of Scouting

Annual Family Dinner - Feb. 7 Our family dinner will be held at the Katonah Presbyterian Church at 6:30 pm on Thursday, Feb. 7 (Snow date Feb. 9). The cost is $15.00 per person. We will need a head count by Feb. 2 to be sure we have plenty of food! Please RSVP to htschorn@aol.com. We will have lots of troop memorabilia to browse through. If any of our alumni members have some pictures or a story that you'd like to share, please bring or send them to me ahead of time so they can be included. We would like to include as many alumni members of the troop as possible, so please forward this to anyone former Katonah Troop 1 Scouts who you think might be interested in joining us!

2019 Troop Calendar

January  3 Troop meeting  10 Troop Meeting  19 Klondike Derby  24 Meeting  31 Board of Review February  7 Family Dinner at Katonah Presb. Church-6:30 PM  14 Troop Meeting 19 Boy Scout Sunday- Boys Wear Uniforms to Church  21 Troop Meeting  23-24 Camp out on the U.S.S. Intrepid  28 Troop Meeting March  2-3 Campout Weather Date  7 Troop Meeting  14 Troop Meeting  16 Thrillz-High Flying Adventure Park-time TBA  21 Order of Arrow Elections  28 Troop Meeting April  4 Troop Meeting  11 Troop Meeting  18 NO Meeting-spring break  25 Troop Meeting  27 Field trip to Bear Mtn. Park and Camp Out May  2 Troop Meeting  3-5 Camporee  9 Troop Meeting 16 Troop Meeting  23 Troop Meeting  27 Memorial Day Parade  30 Troop Meeting June  6 Board of Review  13 Court of Honor  27-30 100th Anniversary Memorial Canoe Trip to Fryeburg, Maine August  4-10 Summer Camp at Camp Read (Week 6)

Our visit to the Campfire Club of America

On Thursday April 16, 2009, Troop 1 Katonah visited the Campfire Club of America at their private camp in Chappaqua, where we were taught about conservation and preservation of the world's wildlife. When we arrived, we were introduced to the two men in charge of the club. They told us a little bit about how the club was started back around the turn of the century. Among their famous charter members were Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest Thompson Seton (the first Chief Scout), William Hornaday . The Campfire Club treated us to an amazing dinner which consisted of homemade burgers, hot dogs, french fries, and some deserts. After dinner, we walked around the lodge and observed the different trophy animals that were displayed all over the club. One room was dedicated to North America which consisted of examples of many animals from across the continent. In the other room, there many examples of wildlife from Africa. It was pretty cool. Who would have known there was that many animals in Afric