Well, the sun has just set.

It's going to be 15, maybe 20 degrees tonight.

Oh, what am I setting up a tent for?

Stick around.

I'll show you.

♪ Welcome to Windows to the Wild.

I'm Willem Lange.

We're going to try something a little different on today's program.

I set up my tent here, and I'm going to spend the night sleeping under the stars well, under the clouds and hoping it doesn't snow too much by morning.

I'm a Camp Carpenter just outside the city in Manchester, New Hampshire.

This is where Boy Scouts from all over the region come to test their camping skills, develop new ones, and simply enjoy the outdoors.

Joining me here as darkness deepens and the cold strengthens is Joe Biedrzycki, who has a virtually unspellable last name but has spent over 40 of the last years of your life as a Scout and a Scouter.

Correct.

Yes.

And your job here this weekend is to...?

Well, part of it is to work with you folks.

We are very appreciative of the fact that your program has decided to come and learn more about Scouting and particularly this Klondike Derby event, which is held every year about this time, often in the snow.

But tomorrow, we’ll be traversing around without snow.

Well you never know.

What the Scouts have done is actually retrofitted their sleds with wheels.

Go go go!

[Willem chuckling] This event goes back to the old days of the Gold Rush, actually, when prospectors used dog sleds to get around in the snowy north.

Only the dogs in this case are the Scouts who pull the sleds.

How nice for them.

The sled is outfitted with a prescribed list of equipment that the Scouts are going to need at about ten different activity stations that are all around the lake here.

And they'll make a tour of the lake tomorrow and go station to station and have different activities that they'll have to do, including fire-building, emergency preparedness, citizenship.

And they are scored based on their performance, as well as their Scout spirit, as we say, how well they work together as a team.

Put that underneath.

Okay.

yeah, that’s good.

Now I go to this one?

Yeah.

Here.

Wait, wait, wait.

Because you guys have to hop off too.

That’s great.

That's great.

Now there's the Klondike Derby.

Starts, what, tomorrow morning, first thing.

Tomorrow morning when you wake up, there will be about 220 other Scouts somewhere in these woods at Camp Carpenter.

Really?

We will all convene down below in the parking lot.

Actually, tonight, as they come in and set up, they are judged based on their winter camping skills to make sure that they have the right clothing, the right gear, and their sleds are inspected to make sure they have everything that needs to be in there that they'll need tomorrow.

And that's where our story begins.

Oh, nice.

♪ [fire crackling] All right, guys, now there's two parts to this inspection.

And we're going to be doing a site inspection of your campsite to make sure you're properly prepared for winter camping.

The importance, especially for the younger Scouts, for a lot of them this is their first winter campout, do we're looking to see that they're well prepared for the scouting experience and winter campout.

All right, I want to take a quick peek at everyone’s tents.

Just want to see your sleeping gear for tonight.

I've been involved in Scouts now for almost seven years when my son, who was ten years old when he joined and is now almost 17, started.

And your metal plate for making a fire.

I'm a kid that came from New York City, so I've had no experience prior to the Scouts with camping, and I've come to really enjoy it.

It's been as much fun for me as probably my son.

In the morning, we'll tag along with two teams competing in the Derby.

The Dynamite and Fellowship patrols, both from Manchester.

So Troop 91, right?

Yeah.

And we're the senior patrol as well.

I can tell.

Yeah, I'm just so much more sober and sedate than you kids.

Hopefully there won't be that many so we can place [chuckling] no matter what.

Is there a name for the patrol or just senior Fellowship.

Fellowship ?

Nice.

I like it.

As the group went by, he reached out and grabbed one of them by the ankle and went, Yahhh!

Nicholas Boire leads to the Fellowship patrol.

What rank are you now?

Right now I'm a Life Scout, and that's the rank next to Eagle.

That's as far as I got.

Life.

But then I had to go away to school, so I couldn't be in Scouts.

That's okay.

Scout marshal said, Once a Scout, always a Scout.

You’re now a Scout for life.

All right, so, why don't we proceed over to your campsite and begin by doing an inspection of the campsite?

This is your bunch here?

Oh, yeah.

This is 91.

Our troop is boy-run, boy-led.

We as adults are here to to guide, you know, and health and safety, that type of thing.

You know, we try to keep them they decide on the program, they decide what we're going to do, and we're here to kind of just maybe challenge and bring them up a notch.

But, a lot of fun to still get back in the woods.

Because otherwise, if you leave that out, any rain that falls down is going to collect right on that and it's gonna slide right underneath your tent.

So it's going to be a waste to have that.

In fact, it will make it worse than not having anything at all.

Before the campfires are put out, the Scouts end the day with a traditional song.

[Scouts singing] I expect after I read myself to sleep, it's going to be a nice, pleasant night.

And we'll wake up early, have a little bacon and eggs, and start a new day with the Klondike Derby.

Goodnight.

♪ How was your night?

[Willem chuckling] Just fine.

Slept like a log.

Picked a good spot.

Usually I pick a spot with a lump in the middle of my back but I didn't last night.

After an early- morning breakfast, the Klondike Derby begins.

Teams move around a mile- and-a-half course, stopping at station after station.

Oh, we need our fire pin that we don't have and we need our wood.

Testing their scouting skills.

What are normally sleds become carts this year because there’s no snow.

Fellowship, hoping for a last-minute storm, chose to skip the wheels and go with skis.

Whose idea was it not to put wheels on it?

[pointing and chuckling] Whose idea was it what?

Not to put the wheels on.

Oh yeah, that was my idea.

You don't need em.

I told you guys.

Let’s just carry it.

No!

No, no, no!

How long have you been doing this?

Well, Boy Scouting?

Or just Scouting?

I've been doing it since first grade.

I joined Cub Scouts as a Tiger Scout, and I've been in Scouting ever since.

What do you like about it?

What I like about it?

It's just like the guys and everyone.

It's just really great.

And, like, bonding, fooling around, laughing, lots of laughing.

The people in the front picked it up first, so it went down.

[laughing] ♪ The reason why I do Boy Scouts is because I really like the outdoors.

And I love learning about stuff such as how to make do with little, like how to build a fire if you're just stranded.

And I think those are very good skills to have.

Yeah.

You bet.

Yeah.

You're stuck in the woods somewhere, you’ll know how to start a fire, you’ll know how to make a shelter, and stuff like that.

And just knowing you can makes you more of a confident person, I suppose.

That's true.

Did you get the fire going with the flint and steel?

We did, and then it kind of went out.

[sarcastically] Yeah, it kinda went out.

It was kind of a lie.

And then we put a match on it and then it went.

Oh no!

Yeah.

♪ Joining the Scouts at the Derby are parents, troop leaders, and some veterans.

When you see Ralph out here, it's hard not to say, Why aren't I out here as well?

[chuckling] Yeah, I'm just a month and a half or so away from being 79.

I was in back when I was 12, but only a couple of years since it was during World War II.

So, I’d really gotten involved in it again when my son got into it at age 8.

He is now 49.

We’ve been here a while.

When you see him start out as a snot-nosed 11-year-old, and then he's standing there as a 17, 18-year-old young man, that's an impressive change.

I guess people have asked me a number of times, why we do this.

Feels like it's something you can do that makes a difference.

Feels like you're doing something worthwhile.

♪ ♪ [shouting encouragement] Welcome to the obstacle course.

Your quest for treasure begins here.

Can your patrol work together to overcome the obstacles along the trail, recover the gold, and make your way back to civilization in the fastest time?

We need people who are agile but also have strength.

What is it, you three?

They need to carry the plank.

My role as patrol leader is to delegate everyone so that we can get everything done efficiently.

And also, it gives us more points because in these stations... every station has about five points for leadership.

So, I'm the leader.

So, pretty much, those points are dependent on me and how well I delegate.

You two in the back.

We're going to bring our equipment.

The leadership is very important because in the future, although it doesn't seem like it, you might have to have leadership roles, and this really gets you prepared and it's fun.

Sometimes it can be a burden to take on the responsibility, but I think it's fun.

I like it.

The three people on plank you first, you second, you third.

What makes a good Scout?

Teamwork.

They have to have it in them that they want to work as a team, they want to learn different skills, they want to be productive.

Raise!

Oh, let's get the oh, what's the Cool Runnings bottle?

We're looking to beat 6 minutes.

We're looking for 4 for maximum points.

Yeah.

For maximum points we need to work together and motivate each other so we can get 20 points because we want to dominate the stage.

Let's go, let's go!

That's it.

Pick it up.

Up the hill.

Up the hill.

Tony, left.

Let's go!

Hustle!

Come on, you can do it.

Let's go!

Don’t rush, but... Let's go!

Come on, come on, let's go!

All right, let’s go!

Here, here.

Go, go, run!

Five minutes and thirty seconds.

Yeah!

All right.

I don't hear a cheer.

Knock knock!

Who’s there!

[cheer continues] Owww!

How are you guys doing?

Good.

Score-wise, you're doing okay?

Yeah, doing really well.

How about time-wise.

Pretty good.

Probably gonna make the whole thing, so... You think you’ll win?

Hopefully.

That's what we're going for.

Are there other senior patrols?

There's one other.

There's one other?

Oh, 135.

Yeah.

So, we can at least get second place.

Oh, it's dessert for lunch.

We're having Oreo pie for lunch.

What are we putting in it, Ryan?

Pudding.

Pudding?

The official Oreo Jell-o brand pudding.

This Oreo Jell-O brand pudding.

That's amazing.

And we have Double Stuf Oreos in here, too.

Where’d those go?

Okay, so while they're eating Oreo cookies, what do you got?

We have roasted pork loin for lunch.

Check this out.

How long have you guys been Scouting?

First grade.

Five years.

Second grade.

Yeah, started in first grade.

And we're all juniors, sophomores, and seniors.

So what keeps you Scouting?

The goal to be an Eagle Scout, and it's just fun, so I don't see why we would stop until we turn 18 when we have to.

♪ That was good!

Oh, the sled!

Many of these Scouts will stay together until they're 18.

Then they'll have the chance to become adult leaders.

Yeah.

You can become an adult leader.

But there's this honor society in Scouting called the Order of the Arrow where you can stay until you're 21.

Snack time.

So, that's what a lot of people do once they turn 18.

Are you guys going to be Scout leaders when you’re older?

Maybe after college.

Yeah.

Once college ends and such.

I’ve got like a month left because my birthday is March 23rd, so this is my last go.

So then what will you do after?

Well, I'll still show up and stuff, so I guess I'll have to sign up as an adult leader.

Do I have to call you Mr.

Nichols ?

Yes.

No.

No.

No.

I don’t wanna call I’m gonna call you Ryan.

There's no way I'm gonna yeah, we still call Nathan Nathan.

We don't call him Mr.

Boudreau.

Well, I’ll insist on Mr.

Nichols.

So you'll be bossing these guys around?

Oh yeah, definitely.

That doesn’t mean we’ll listen to you.

He's going to be eating all the adult food.

King of the head, king of the feet, 91, can’t be beat!

Is this fun, though?

Yeah.

Come on every campout.

Why wouldn't you?

I mean, the only reason that you have to miss it is sports or previous commitments, but this is probably one of the best places to be.

♪ May we please have permission to enter the station?

♪ [chatter] ♪ All right.

Now onto cold water conditions, guys.

You have to be going to cold water.

I’m going to give you a scenario.

You're out and about, your all together, right?

It's about 30 ft away from shore.

You have to go in the water.

What's the best way to prepare for that?

Get a fire... You can grab the loop.

Grab the loop and put it between your hands.

That's good, Joe.

Yeah.

Am I gonna get dragged?

[laughing] Yeah.

Oh my.

I hope they don't, like, make a hole in my shirt.

Okay, we got a nice warm blanket.

Drop you down slowly.

All right.

Get a nice warm fire, hot chocolate, blanket.

How’d they do?

18 and 4 nugget.

Not bad.

The only thing we didn't see them verbalize are... Oh, yeah.

Two kids go off for help, or even, like, pretend to call for help.

Yep.

That's the only thing I didn't give them.

Okay.

But the extraction was okay.

Yeah.

♪ Your challenge is you have four points with bearings, distances.

And at the end, you'll be able to answer these questions.

All right, what we have to do... We're using those stakes right there.

From that stake to that stake is 100 ft.

Is Scouting in your family?

Yes, it is.

My two sisters are Girl Scouts and my two other brothers are Boy Scouts.

My older brother is in the military, actually, and he's an Eagle Scout.

All right.

So I have to go 18 steps that way.

And my younger brother is also in this troop.

So ohhh!

In the swamp.

Aidan, this way!

And your parents, were they Scouts?

My dad was a Scout.

Yes, he was a Scout.

My mom wasn't a Girl Scout.

Oh, no, she was!

She was a Girl Scout.

So my complete family.

[whispering calculations] We're trying to find a point on a tree, most likely, that has a letter on it.

It spells a word.

Because on the paper it says, A scout is... And so it has to be one of 12 things.

This is completely wrong.

So what went wrong?

You guys!

We have no idea.

We saw this coming.

First, they need to follow instructions.

Read the instructions.

Know how to use a compass.

I think the compasses are messing us up.

The compasses are messing us up because they’re saying Watch guys.

Come here.

Look!

42 is, like, that direction.

Figure out which way is north, which way is south, but follow the compass.

I thought at each one of these points, we’d find a letter.

But we're not just finding a letter.

We go to this point, and then we go to that one... Oh my god.

...then that one, then that one, and then we'll find the whole word.

Who’s the guy who knows how to read a compass?

Ah... well, theoretically, we should all know how to do this.

28 and a half!

We're just, we're struggling, as you can probably tell.

Did you get it?

We don't know.

We got a... We hope.

We got our stakes, so that’s cool.

But we got out of the swamp, so that's always a plus.

If we get above a 13, I'm happy.

Loyal.

Loyal would get you seven out of ten points.

Oh, okay.

Aye!

70% is all right.

[chanting] [running] Well, we're nearing the end of the stations, and I'm talking with patrol leader of Dynamite Patrol.

Boom.

Dynamite.

I love it.

You've been watching him going through the various challenges here.

How's your gang doing?

Pretty good.

Yeah, we're all having a lot of fun.

Like, if you have fun, then you'll definitely do well in the competition because, you know, the more fun you have, I think, the more the people, like, want to participate, they want to say stuff.

If it's boring, and you just say, Oh, yeah, you need to do this, you’re not really going to learn anything or have any fun or do anything.

The faster you complete the challenge and the better your patrol works together as a team, the higher the score you'll receive.

You were great on the obstacle course there.

Eight minutes.

Something like that.

That was fun.

Yeah.

You got this, guys, come on!

Here we go.

Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!

Down.

And you got 100% on the citizenship.

What does it mean when someone flies the flag upside down?

United States flag.

Sign of distress.

Sign of distress!

And the fire... [distant yelling] Once that lights, we’re good.

Fire building we got 19 points.

I thought you were going to lose that for sure.

I know.

I thought it was going to go out and I was like, Oh no!

But you rallied.

Yeah.

That was great.

No, we just need a little more.

So we're here basically to test how well we've learned essential Boy Scout skills, which involve wilderness living and... Knots, lashings, basic skills that I think are really cool to know and stuff.

Yeah.

And citizenship.

Yeah.

That's great.

It's kind of like a way for the whole patrol to work together, you know, and really just know each other more and share each other's skills and do well.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Come up with the concept first.

Yes!

Oh, yeah.

I consider it like the Olympics.

Olympics for Boy Scouts kind of thing.

That's good.

Just testing for everything that you do all year.

It’s just getting recognition for how well you do.

All right.

Good.

And you can find out what you need to... Yeah, what you need to work on.

Yeah.

Boom!

Dynamite!

But thank you.

It's just been great.

We'll be with you some more today, but it’s just been a lot of fun.

Yeah it has.

Makes me wish I was in Dynamite.

[chuckling] Hey, well, you can.

Oh, no.

You don't want me.

I can hardly walk.

[dragging over ice] It should only be what's in a patrol box or what you find.

You're going to have two people build a tent, and then the rest of people build a legit shelter.

Has to be a legit shelter.

It cannot be a tent.

All right, so we’re gonna tie a rope between Aidan!

We’re tying a rope between those two trees.

So, it's going to be about that high.

Then we're going to drape a tarp over it, and we're going to use these stakes to hold it down.

The tarp is going to be lower so you're going to conserve the body heat when you breathe naturally through the night.

So lowering the sides is another way to conserve body heat.

And basically it's going to curve.

The wind can just glide over it.

It's not going to be as bulky.

It's a pretty good shelter.

It has a couple of vulnerabilities that concern me.

There's no drip lines here.

So, anything that runs onto that rope has a chance of coming down into your area there.

But overall, it's a pretty good design.

I would give you a seven out of ten on that and a pretty good The other thing is your cooperation.

How you worked together was excellent.

You guys will score five out of five for teamwork and leadership.

Do you want Oreos completely covering the top?

We're sitting here at lunch after a busy morning with the... the vaunted and famous Fellowship Patrol with whom we spoke last night and who made the arguably brilliant decision not to put wheels on their sled, but instead to carry it through the bushes.

Yeah... How'd that work for you?

Well, obstacle course... You did well on the obstacle course, yeah.

It worked out on the obstacle course.

We got a perfect score on the obstacle course.

Even up that steep little pitch and everything?

Yes.

Woah.

It’s a lot easier to carry up then push up with wheels because it was just too jagged.

We probably would have caught on something anyway, so.

So that worked out okay?

Yeah.

How about overall?

You feel really good when you find ice patches.

[laughing] That's debatable.

I think, overall, having wheels would have been awesome.

[yelling] How'd you do on the fire building?

Structure our fire, get it built up enough so that we can burn these two strings right here, and we'll get some points if we burn the lower string, but we can get maximum points if we burn the upper string.

[fire crackling] Come on!

Oh, baby.

Yeah!

We got perfect on that, right?

No, we got a 19 out of 20.

To get a perfect score... You did what?

We used flint and steel.

Hah.

Okay, so you're pretty happy with the performance of this outfit?

Yes.

We're doing very good, actually.

Our lowest score was 16 out of 20.

Only one 16.

For what?

That was... ooh, what was 16?

Let me guess.

Citizenship.

Citizenship we got 19.

All right.

So you have more to do this afternoon.

Oh we have like seven more stations.

Well, I suppose I should leave you to do it.

That's great lunch.

You'll probably average 19 from here on out.

Maybe 20.

Hopefully.

[chuckling] As it's come to that time, once again, I like the least, the time we have to say goodbye.

So I'll get it over with and say goodbye.

I’m Willem Lange, and I hope to see you again on Windows to the Wild.

♪ In case you're wondering, Dynamite Patrol won the open class, and Fellowship, they won the senior patrol division.

♪