To help give visitors a sense of our troop’s full program offerings, the following sections summarize a few of our more consistent pastimes and diversions, though this is by no means an exhaustive list of our trips and activities. For a list of our upcoming events, check the Troop Calendar at the bottom of this page.
Mountain Climbing
Troop 400 is fortunate to be located near a protected wilderness area as vast as the Adirondack State Park, where opportunities for high adventure are readily available. Historically, Troop 400 has taken advantage this proximity by venturing into the Adirondack High Peaks for mountain climbing trips. These hikes tend to be physically demanding, but there are few greater feelings than the sense of accomplishment one experiences while gazing out across the Adirondack mountain range from the summit of a High Peak.
Canoeing
Of course, there’s more to do in the Adirondacks than just mountain climbing. Troop 400′s equipment inventory includes eight canoes, which we’ve used to paddle along substantial portions of the Raquette River and the Fulton Chain of Lakes during week-long summer camping expeditions. Traveling through the mountains by way of canoe is a very unique and rewarding experience, but one that also requires a specialized set of skills. Our scouts practice for longer paddling trips on the nearby Seneca River, and after countless miles of paddling and portaging, Troop 400 continues to turn out seasoned and capable canoeists.
Summer Camp
When Troop 400 isn’t feathering its way across the lake chains of the Adirondacks, we travel to Sabattis Scout Reservation for our summer camp experience. Sabattis is a premier scouting facility located between Tupper Lake and Long Lake in the central Adirondacks. A multi-faceted scouting experience, Sabattis provides boys with the opportunity to engage in a variety of exciting activities, earn a wide selection of merit badges, improve their wilderness skills, and practice the patrol method while cooking their own meals.
Pioneering
Sabattis has also been one of Troop 400′s chief venues for showcasing our enormous pioneering structures, which we erect without the help of any machinery. We acquire our building materials by using axes to fell entire beech trees, which are dragged into position on the construction site, and usually hoisted into an hourglass configuration. Some of our more massive undertakings have towered more than 40 feet into the air! These projects provide our scouts with opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of lashing and pioneering techniques, and make quite the impressive statement to neighboring troops.
World Brotherhood Camporee
Troop 400 has attended many annually recurring camping trips, but the World Brotherhood was one of our first, and every year this international event maintains a certain mystique that has turned it into a mainstay of Troop 400′s program. The World Brotherhood Camporee has been held every September since 1977, alternating its location each year between Wellesley Island State Park in New York and Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada. The event draws hundreds of troops from both the Boy Scouts of America and Scouts Canada for a weekend of scouting fellowship and international good will. With the presence of so many scouts from distant places, a major program highlight of the World Brotherhood has become patch trading, where scouts exchange uniform patches representing different Boy Scout councils and Order of the Arrow lodges, in an effort to collect complete sets.
