Fishing and Camping Trip
Pacific, MO
May 11-13, 2012


We all enjoyed a great spring weekend of fishing and camping. The weather was exceptional and the fishing was even better. Chris caught the first fish Friday evening and Mr. Hoffmann caught the first fish on Saturday. Allen S. caught the largest fish and won a cool pocketknife. On Saturday morning the boys caught over 50lbs of fish as shown in the group photo. These fish were kept and prepared for dinner. All fish caught during the rest of the trip were released.
(Click on "Read More" below to see more photos and text.)

CPR Red Card Training
Troop 161 Scout Meeting
April 29, 2012


Thanks to Mrs. Debbie Neuhoff for providing CPR "Red Card" training to our 1st year scouts. The training is a requirement for swimming merit badge as well as several other merit badges. (Click on "Read More" below to view more photos.)

Earth Day Tree Bagging Project
Columbia Bottom Conservation Area
North St. Louis County
April 21, 2012


Troop 161 assisted the Missouri Department of Conservation again this year to prepare 1200 dogwood tree seedlings for the St. Louis Earth Day Festival. This service project took place at the department’s Columbia Bottom Conservation Area at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in North St. Louis County. The tree seedlings arrived from MDC’s nursery in Licking, MO in bundles of 200.

After the bundles are cut apart, the seedlings are separated. The root of each seedling is individually wrapped in paper, dipped in water and then the seedling is inserted into a plastic bag. The bag is then stapled closed with planting suggestions attached. The project took about 2 hours to complete. Thanks to all that participated. (Click on “Read More” below to view more photos and text.)

St. Francois State Park
Bonne Terre, MO
April 13-15, 2012


14 scouts and 4 adults attended our spring camping trip at St. Francois State Park. The weekend weather began with light rain Friday night, but gradually began clearing by late Saturday morning. Highlights of the trip were camping in the parks scenic and secluded scout area and hiking the Mooner’s Hollow Trail. Scouts identified different plants and trees along the hike. Scouts also cut wood for the campfire which they kept burning for about 36 hours. Scouts said they had a great time and most want to return again next year. (Click on “Read More” below to see more photos and text.)

Babler State Park
Wildwood, MO
March 31, 2012



The following Troop 161 scouts attended the OA Service Project: Mr. Matt Grozovic, Connor G, Ryan D, Mr. John DiMercurio, Raphael Q, and Rob S. Working with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, our project was improving and updating the Scout’s campsites area at Babler State Park. The work project included staining the pavilion and latrine, digging three drainage ditches, building a main council ring which was enhanced with old Cedar tree’s that closed in the ring, made three benches, a camp ring, and distributed several thousands of pounds of gravel within the campsite to disperse rain water and limit erosion. We also improved the six campsites, cleared brush and trees, chipped the old Cedar trees into mulch to be used throughout the park, dug and constructed 6 new bbq pits, cleared off, raked and improved the 6 Scouting campsites. This project began at 9:00 am and concluded at 4:00 pm. Story and photos submitted by John DiMercurio. (Click on "Read More" below to view more photographs.)

Discovery Camp
Beaumont Scout Reservation
March 23-25, 2012

19 scouts and 9 adults attended Discovery Camp, our first tent campout of the year. The weekend went very well and the weather was just gorgeous with night temperatures in the 50s and day temperatures in the 70s. Light rain fell overnight Friday into early Saturday and most slept right through it. The scouts enjoyed the weekend and said that their favorite parts included playing in the creek, falling in the creek (for some), whittling, the hike to cub world, the campfire, being with friends, being at camp, the food, the cobbler, the Beaumont Betty story, and teaching the new scouts different skills.

Most said that they look forward to the next campout.

Here are some comments from parents:

“I want to say thank you to the Scout leaders and the older Boy Scouts who helped at the campout this past weekend. My son Tyler had a great time and he learned a lot. Thanks!”
Diane M.

“Wanted to say we had a great weekend at our Discovery Camp: with Friday [evening’s Lenten] feast of 12 pounds of fish, 16 pounds of French Fries, 5 pounds of frog legs, and hush puppies; besides our troop meals I believe we ate very well. Thanks to all our leaders and older Scouts who helped our new Boy Scouts learn a vast amount of information on knife, ax, and saw safety,.. the presenting and retiring our nation’s flag, and also retiring an old and tattered flag. And how can we forget Saturday night’s camp fire; after dinner we snacked on Jiffy popcorn, and a delicious blueberry and apple cobbler. But last and not least we were captivated by the story of Beaumont Betty told to us by our renowned story teller Andy Sandroni…..I am sure she [Betty] was present on that weekend; some very strange and unanswered events happened that made the hair on the back of our necks stand up.”
Mr. John DiMercurio

Thanks again to all the adults who attended: R. Butler, L. Cain, J. DiMercurio, J. Hoffmann, M. Menteer, P. Moleski, K. Ohlendorf, A. Sandroni, D. Strebler

Click on “Read More” below for more text and photos.

Discovery Camp
Beaumont Scout Reservation
March 24, 2012

Our 1st year scouts practice their wood cutting skills using the hand ax, long ax and bow saw. Thanks to Alex S. for supervising the ax yard and also Alex D. and Robert for assisting. (Click on “Read More” below to view more photographs.)

Blue and Gold Banquet
St. Simon LCH
February 26, 2012


Congratulations to our newest members of Troop 161.

6 Webelos II scouts crossed over to Boy Scouts at the Blue and Gold Ceremony. Welcome to our new scouts Matt, Tyler, Drew, Eric, Sean and Ben. (Click on "Read More" below for more photos and text.)

Baumgartner Road
South St. Louis County
February 18, 2012

On Saturday, February 18, River Rats Chris and Alex and their families joined Arnold Stream Team, The Open Space Council and the Metropolitan Sewer District to improve the Meramec River floodplain in South St. Louis County near Baumgartner and Lemay Ferry Road. A total of 51 volunteers helped remove 40 cubic yards of trash, tons of scrap metal, and over 250 tires from the area. Much of the trash had accumulated over the years from old clubhouses and past floods. Great effort guys! (Click on “Read More” below for more photos and text.)