By Peter D.

Early in the morning on the first Saturday in February we arrived in the parking lot across from the reservoir at the Oakdale Area in the South Mountain Reservation.

Because of not enough participants, we merged some patrols, and then were off to win the competition, dragging our sleds and equipment on the muddy ground to each “town,” or station, for skills and knowledge contests with other patrols from the Northern New Jersey Council of Scouting America’s Lenape Trail Klondike Derby.

We headed straight through the mud to our first station: Axe Throwing. We dominated thanks to Tucker.

All the patrols from Troop 5 and other Troops progressed to successive stations, though some Scouts who were constantly  wandering from their patrols subsequently lost points.

Each participant was valuable, so we didn’t give up, and wandering Scouts were coralled and continued on to each station.

We were so focused on the various competitions at the various stations, we didn’t even have lunch until the end; after dominating in the stations’ competitions, it was time for the ceremony.

Troop 5’s Fox Patrol, with their magnificent flag, won the flag competition, of course.

Troop 5’s Bull Patrol placed second in the “panner” division, while the other patrols got nothing.

While all of Troop 5’s Scouts at the annual Derby had fun, the Bull Patrol came out on top of them all.