BSA Troop 38 helps prep Mountain Lake Park for future visitors

On Sunday, November 19, Warwick’s BSA Troop 38 and Cub Scout Pack 177 went to Warwick’s newest park, Mountain Lake Park, to blaze and restore hiking trails around its lake. The scouts worked on two trails, removing overgrowth and dead foliage. The upper trail, called “The Loop,” was pruned. The lower trail, aptly named “Rhododendron Ramble,” was widened after being initially blazed by park volunteers. After being cleared, the trails were also mapped through the use of an online hiking app which will facilitate future hikers. The trail map will be displayed on the park’s new outdoor message boards with information about the park, hiking trails, history of the park, plants and animals, and more.

After the trails were cleared, two of Troop 38’s scouts, Klaus Lindeneau and Paul Helmrich, worked to complete their orienteering merit badge. Orienteering is a sport where a group of competitors use a map and compass to navigate their way to certain places marked on their map. For their final requirements, these scouts needed to set up an orienteering course and teach a group how to navigate their way through the course. Once the course was set up, Lindeneau and Helmrich taught some younger scouts how to orienteer using the “EDGE method.” This teaching method, developed by Scouts BSA, instructs youth and adult leaders to “Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, and Enable” others to teach a skill or concept. The group of scouts then skillfully made their way through the 12-point course in under a half hour.

The Mountain Lake Park offers swimming, fishing, pickleball, theatrical events, rentals for all occasions, and now hiking. Troop 38 will look to continue to work with Sam Walter, the park’s recreation director, in helping with other improvement projects in Mountain Lake Park.