USS New Jersey Battleship Overnight

January 10 – 11, 2026

We kicked off the new year with a trip up to Philadelphia and Camden to spend the night on the USS New Jersey. We had a few hours to spare before we could board, and since it was a rainy day, we headed to the Franklin Institute. We explored the various science exhibits, though after a while, some of the scouts got a bit bored and decided to play a game of tag and hide-and-seek throughout the museum.

After leaving the institute, we made a quick stop to check out the Liberty Bell before the parents drove us over the bridge to the ship. A big thank you to all the parents who drove and spent the weekend with us!

By the time we arrived at the battleship, it was dark and still raining. We entered through the hatch and descended into the mess hall, which looked really cool. We went down one more floor into a maze of hallways filled with three-high bunks everywhere. Once we found our room and stowed our gear, we headed up for a tour of the place.

There were ladders everywhere! Our guide was great and took us from the front to the back of the vessel. We got to see the inside of the massive gun turrets and the command centers. We even got into one room where you could sit at the computers and pretend to be authorized for a nuclear launch.

Dinner in the galley was a hit, chicken tenders and mac and cheese. Afterward, we had free time. We played cards and poker in the mess hall or just hung out doing whatever we wanted. Some people went to watch a movie, and it was pretty rambunctious until we finally turned in at midnight. One of the highlights was that three lucky scouts were selected to fire the ship’s gun, which was definitely a loud way to start the trip.

Sunday morning came early at 7:00 AM. Following a quick breakfast, we completed our tour with a visit to the bow, enjoying one last look at the Philadelphia skyline from the deck before starting the journey home.

Check out the photos of the battleship trip here.

Troop 1916 Responds: Emergency on the Cycling Merit Badge Ride

March 30, 2024

What began as a typical Saturday morning ride for the Cycling Merit Badge quickly turned into a real-life demonstration of the Scouting motto: "Be Prepared."

While the group was navigating the trails near Laurel Hill Park, our leader, Laurent Lee, 59, suddenly collapsed. The situation was critical, but the training the Scouts have practiced countless times at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer immediately kicked in.

The Scouts on the scene didn’t hesitate. They stayed calm, administered immediate first aid, and efficiently coordinated with emergency responders to guide them to their location on the trail. Their quick thinking and effective communication ensured that Laurent received the medical attention he needed as fast as possible.

Laurent has since expressed his profound gratitude to the Troop, noting that the Scouts’ readiness and composure made all the difference. This incident serves as a powerful reminder of why we prioritize first aid and emergency preparedness in our advancement requirements. We are incredibly proud of the Scouts who stepped up and potentially saved a life.

For more details on the story, you can click here to read the full article or watch the news coverage below featuring the Troop.

Assateague Island Beach trip

Our troop camped at Assateague Island State Park in early June. We had seven scouts from our troop, four scouts from Troop 2119, and seven adults. The forecast called for rain, but it stayed dry the whole weekend, which surprised all of us.

We arrived late Friday afternoon after stopping for dinner along the way. We got to the site, set up camp, and went to bed.

Saturday

Breakfast was muffins, fruit salad, bacon, and Nutella crêpes. Once breakfast was done, we started KP, but we waited a long time for the water to boil. While that was happening, all of us went to help with a. service project for the park.

The project crew included Thomas, Amay, Abhay, Stephen, Cooper, Rafael, Lizzie, Stephie, Maddie, Alex and me. We sorted old paint cans for the maintenance team. Most of them looked like they’d been there for decades. We also helped build a wheelbarrow and two carts (the adults helped on the trickier parts).

When we got back, the water had finally boiled, and we finished KP. Lunch was a spread of sandwiches and a charcuterie board.

In the afternoon, we went to the beach. We played bocce ball, tossed a football, looked for crabs, and swam in the ocean. It was cold, like "why did I do this?" cold, and Stephen decided to skip the swimming.

Dinner that night was fried chicken, hot dogs, Spanish rice with peppers, and cookies. We played cards, bocce, and volleyball with Troop 2119. KP went smoothly since we remembered to start boiling the water before we even began cooking.

Oh, and the wind. Saturday’s wind was out of control. At one point, someone’s tent ended up completely upside down. Stakes had to be hammered deeper just to survive the gusts.

Sunday

We woke up around 7:00. Thomas brought muffins, but Rafael’s homemade ones definitely won breakfast. We also had yogurt parfaits, meat and cheese, and orange juice.

Right after breakfast, a group of wild horses wandered through our campsite. One of them made its way to Mr. Wynn’s coffee stash, while the others started licking bowls that hadn’t been washed yet. So KP started off with some... extra help.

The horses stuck around the edge of camp for a while and even posed for a few pictures.

Before heading out, we made a quick visit to the Visitor Center. We got to see a horseshoe crab and even hold it. After that, we packed up and went home.

Despite the wind and slow water boil, the trip went great. Thanks to everyone who came and helped out.

-Michael Ingulli

Projectoree

May 1-3

Projectory is a campout that consistently leaves a strong impression on everyone who attends. From the moment you arrive, it becomes clear why it is so memorable. The drive there is fairly ordinary, with the usual roadside stops along the way, but as you get closer, the setting begins to change. At first, the campsite is hidden by dense trees, giving little indication of what lies ahead. Then suddenly the view opens into a massive, wide field bordered by a large barn, scattered structures, and a long dirt road stretching into the distance. Seeing the site for the first time is always exciting.

After arriving, campers set up their tents carefully, choosing safe spots away from branches, and spend the rest of the evening relaxing. The real activities begin the next day, when Saturday is filled with games focused on teamwork and collaboration. The most popular event is always the obstacle course, where participants race through challenges, trying to complete the course and ring a bell as quickly as possible. Other activities include team coordination games like the synchronized walk, where groups must move in perfect rhythm, and strength-based events such as log throwing competitions from past years.

Food is another highlight of the experience. Lunch typically includes hot dogs, snacks, and chips, with plenty available for everyone. Dinner is especially meaningful because it is prepared by fellow scouts, who put in effort to cook a full meal for the group. This shared responsibility adds to the sense of teamwork and appreciation throughout the campout.

Evenings at Projectory are calm and enjoyable. The weather is usually mild, requiring only a light sweater. Campers gather around the fire, talking, laughing, and bonding with one another, creating some of the most memorable moments of the trip. By Sunday morning, the campout winds down quickly with breakfast, packing up gear, and heading home. The return drive is typically quiet, with most people resting after an active weekend.

Overall, Projectoree stands out as a fun, team-oriented campout that combines outdoor adventure, friendly competition, good food, and strong camaraderie.

-Abhay Shukla

Antietam National Battlefield

– April 5–6


The Troop had a meaningful and memorable weekend exploring Antietam National Battlefield, the site of the bloodiest single day in American history. Despite some light rain, spirits remained high and the hike went smoothly. Scouts hiked the Burnside Bridge Loop and the Snavely Ford, Connector, and Final Attack Trails, covering nearly 5.5 miles and taking in the historical significance of the area.

The group arrived at the Visitor Center around 9:30 AM and began hiking before checking into the nearby campsites at noon. It was a great opportunity to learn about Civil War history, enjoy the outdoors, and build camaraderie.


- Abhay Shukla

Kepler Overlook

March 15-16

The trip began with everyone meeting at the trailhead before starting a short hike up to the campsite. Since the hike was quick and the group moved at a good pace, they reached the top earlier than expected and ate lunch soon after arriving. With plenty of time left in the day, most people spent the afternoon relaxing. Some explored nearby side trails, while others set up their gear early and even took naps.

As evening approached, campers cooked dinner and gathered together around the fire. The atmosphere was calm and enjoyable, with many people taking time to appreciate the scenic overlook and climb up to a large tree near the site. It was a laid-back night, and most people went to bed early after spending time talking and unwinding.

The next morning, the group packed up and hiked down, which went quickly. After finishing the trip, everyone stopped at Spelunker’s for food. The meal was a great way to end the outing, with especially good burgers that everyone enjoyed.

-Abhay Shukla

Klondike Derby Recap

February 8

Due to extreme cold and bad weather, our troop decided to make the Klondike Derby a day trip instead of an overnight campout. Both teams took on five different stations along the course, facing a mix of challenges that tested our skills in real-world scenarios.

Midway through, some sleds needed repairs, but everyone worked together to get them back in shape and across the finish line. Regardless of the condition of the carts, teamwork kept things moving.

The course was tough but fun, and the stations ran smoothly. Everyone who went had a great time and is already recommending the trip for next year.

- Abhay Shukla

Whitetail Mountain Resort

– January 11

Troop 1916 started the new year off right with a great day of skiing at Whitetail Mountain Resort on Saturday, January 11. With perfect snow conditions and blue skies, everyone had a great time on the mountain. Scouts, families, and friends enjoyed a day of skiing from dawn till dusk before heading back to McLean around 6:30 PM.

Whitetail Mountain Resort is located on Two Top Mountain in Pennsylvania's Bear Pond Mountains, roughly 85 miles from Redeemer. It opened in 1991 and is operated and owned by Vail Resorts. In addition to skiing and snowboarding, Whitetail has a snow tubing park and also offers summer fishing and golfing. It's one of the most accessible ski resorts to D.C. space and a great spot for an instant day on the mountain.

- Abhay Shukla

2021 Riverbend Park Hike

Sunday started out rainy, then cloudy, and back to rain.. and so on. However, hiking in the spring Mid-March drizzle was beautiful and definitely worth it. We arrived at noon, finding only about 10 or so cars in the parking lot. Parking was one thing we were worried about, as the day before, the lots of around 60 parking spaces filled up before 10:00, but the forecast had definitely helped us with not running into many people during the hike; having the freedom of the trail to enjoy and really “soak” everything in.

The plants were teeming with life from the downpour and drizzle, giving us the chance to see them in their fully-nourished glory (see the photos below). Bluebells, forsythias, and cherry blossoms were peeking out as we passed through the woods. We also saw various wildlife along the trail, occurring woodpeckers, ducks, turtles, and a variety of river bird species (and a potential eagle’s nest?)

The rain also brought insects up from the ground. The group observed many, brightly colored and large. The hike was approximately 4-5 miles and lasted about 2 and a half hours. Starting out at the visitor center, making our way up the Potomac Heritage Trail, down the Bootlegger trail to the other end of the park, and back up the Potomac Heritage Trail. See a map of our trek below.

The last thing we saw was quite surprising. I was about to throw some garbage we picked up during the hike into a trash receptacle along the trail. Thankfully, I looked into the can before throwing things in, as there was a raccoon on its back, looking straight up at me. It appeared to be stuck in the can, in a food coma from leftovers and specific perishables. We alerted the Park Authority ranger station on the way out, and they promptly left and freed the raccoon, who made a full recovery :)

Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Thesmar for attending the outing with the Scouts, and organizing the hike.

Check out the photos of the outing here

- Sebastian Herbolsheimer

National Mall Hike - March 2021

We often head west a few hours to get to the woods. But today was a different story — 13 miles from McLean to the National Mall. For more than 200 years, the National Mall has symbolized our nation and its democratic values, which have inspired the world. The National Mall - the great swath of green in the middle of our capital city and stretching from the foot of the United States Capitol to the Potomac River - is the great civic and symbolic space in our nation. Sunday morning, we met at the Korean War Veterans Memorial Information building. Instead of the intense, longer hikes we usually complete with the troop, this 6 mile, relatively flat terrain hike was the perfect way to get back in shape after a year of pandemic-inspired takeout food and snacking. The group made its way around the Mall, taking a quick look from a distance (they didn’t let anyone get close — see the perimeter fencing below) at the White House, visiting the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Grounds, MLK Memorial, and much more. The beautiful mid-March weather was definitely a plus during the stroll, with temps reaching about 67 degrees, and a sun-filled afternoon ahead of us. Even though the trees looked barren, we were still able to see the green tips of the soon-to-be Cherry Blossoms poking out, ready for a spectacular season. You can plan your own trip to the National Mall right here, or by using the Troop 1916 map we created below. Thanks to Mr. Thesmar for the great photos.

Check out the troop photos here.

Information/excerpt from the National Park Service (nps.gov)

- Sebastian Herbolsheimer

Duncan Knob Hollow Backpacking Trip - December 2020

I think we've now completed four full-troop backpacking trips to Duncan Knob Hollow. And each one has been a little better than the last one.

On the first trip (Dec 2016), we inexplicably walked past the best campsite, slept on some very dodgy terrain, and had an awful time getting food hung at night. The second time (Dec 2018), we camped at the best spot and employed a much better bear bag system (Marrison Haul technique). The third time (Dec 2019), we split into two groups and journeyed up the mountain in pretty good weather.

We met at the Pilot Travel Center (fancy name for a gas station), at Exit 291 off Interstate 81 South, at 8 am on Saturday, December 12th. The Pilot was about one hour from McLean. From there, we “caravaned” to the trailhead together -- about another hour's drive.

This year (due to covid signup limitations), we decided to stay as one group as we ventured up the familiar terrain.

We backpacked ~3 miles from the trailhead to a campsite in the valley, next to the stream. Saturday afternoon, we took a side hike to the top of Duncan Knob (side hike round trip ~2.5 miles including a 1,500-foot climb and a rock scramble to the summit) and returned to camp.

There had been some heavy rains lately, and the hike had several stream crossings. However, we were able to cross with our boots on. The weather had definitely improved during the trip; warm weather and no daytime rain (also no snow), but still, a slight chance of rain sprinkles, particularly overnight. We got to our campsites and unpacked from the hike, getting prepared for the quickly approaching darkness.

On Sunday morning, we hiked ~3 miles back to the cars. We got back at the trailhead's parking lot sometime between 11:00 and 12:00. Thanks to Bill Muntean and all of the parents who made this trip happen.

To see photos of the trip, click here.

- Sebastian Herbolsheimer

Sebastian's Eagle Project

Sebastian’s Eagle project is now complete! A total of 34 people showed up for both parts of the project--15 volunteers at the invasive species removal and 19 for the tree planting. The weather was great on both days of the project. The group removed multiple large bags of invasive plants from the park, which were blocking sunlight from trees previously planted.

These invasives weren’t cleared last year due to COVID. We also planted about 17 trees in areas around the park. We planted a row of Oak trees across the park property line (see the banner photo above), and we planted various species of native trees in the surrounding lower meadow and forest. These trees ranged from sycamores, river birches, and many other beautiful species. The trees were primarily bare root.

Volunteers first dug holes to the appropriate depth and then inserted the tree. Then they backfilled with a compost and soil mix. We finished off with staking and tying the trees, and of course, watering. You can see some photos (before and after) from the project below. Thank you to everyone who helped! In 10 or 15 years, we will return to see how much our trees have grown!

If you want to see the pictures from Sebastian’s Eagle Project, click here.

Cub Friendly Open House - 2020 COVID Themed

This Saturday, Troop 1916 hosted their annual Cub Friendly for about 20 Cub Scouts and their parents. Given the current COVID environment, we could not offer the usual overnight experience at Lake Fairfax Park but instead offered an outdoor Open House at Redeemer.

Each patrol created a station and set up to demonstrate and perform an outdoor-related activity. The Troop had five stations, one for survival shelter building, a totin' chip station, basic orienteering skills station, a catapult building station, and a station for starting a fire to boil pasta noodles. A separate group of scouts served as "Health and Safety Guides," monitoring the stations to ensure safety guidelines were followed.

The weather was great! A few late morning showers had worried us; however, they rolled out just before the event started. At the totin’ chip station, Cubs observed the proper use of pocket knives, hatchets and axes, and different types of saws. Cubs were also allowed to use the saws and had quite a competition between themselves (for each log cut, they would receive a piece of candy). At the catapult station, Cubs were taught lashings and knots essential for Scouting (and putting together catapults to launch various items through the air). The third station was a fire building station, where Scouts instructed Cubs on the various ways of building fires in the wilderness. We also had an orienteering course set up around the church. Lastly, the survival shelter building station demonstrated examples of the different shelters that one could build in the wild.

Even though this outing wasn’t our usual Lake Fairfax Fall campout Open House, I know everyone enjoyed the socially-distanced version just as much like previous years’ Cub Friendly’s. A BIG thanks to Mr. Pak for organizing this whole event!

You can take a look at the photos from the event here.

- Sebastian Herbolsheimer

Billy Goat Trail June 2020

Approximately 20 scouts and parents of Troop 1916 completed the Troop’s first post-pandemic hike on Sunday morning, with many thanks to Matt Salt and Mike Forrer for helping plan the routes and provide necessary comic relief along the way!

The hikers met at the trailhead at 7:30 for a 5-ish mile jaunt through Loop C of the Billy Goat Trail, along the Potomac River bank and generally parallel to the C&O canal towpath.

The parking lot was already filling up by 7, but the air was relatively cool and skies were relatively clear. Mr Salt oriented everyone to the map, and we measured out 6 feet to give everyone a reminder of the social distancing requirements. All wore masks, as well.

The group made good time through the hike, but the size of the group made social distancing somewhat difficult to maintain as we paused to confirm directions or to make room for passing cyclists.

We saw herons, egrets, a vulture, and a bear-sized dog wearing a life jacket. The river is exceptionally beautiful and wild, and it was hard to believe that we were only a few miles outside the beltway.

The weather remained dry, but poor Mr Salt did not. Virginia’s summer climate certainly can limit the amount of hiking we can do.

We finished the hike and were on our ways home by 10:30. That’s a truly remarkable end time for a Troop 1916 hike— some of our treks on West Virginia trails don’t even start until 10!

Looking forward, I’m thinking the next hike will have to move in a larger number of smaller cohorts to make social distancing easier.

I’ll post a new signup for the next hike on July 12th. I expect we’ll do another one relatively close, and relatively short.

Many thanks to all the parents who came along, it was a great day to be outside!

Mr Ross