Canoeing Merit Badge at Crystal Lake

Crystal Lake in Enfield is one of Troop 279’s favorite places to canoe and kayak. This year, Chris Lamontagne, one of our Troop leaders and a professional whitewater guide, guided our Scouts through the Canoeing Merit Badge. We had a beautiful late-August day to intentionally swamp canoes, practice T-rescues, learn the proper names for the parts of a canoe, and all the essential paddle strokes. We took our lunch to the “pirate island” in the lake and Chris covered water safety.

A bonus is that all the Scouts who went on the whitewater rafting trip last year finally get the Whitewater Merit Badge, which required them to get the Canoeing or Kayaking Merit Badge.