GRAFTON — When Earl Grennan of Springfield approached the biggest step of his scouting life - his Eagle Scout project - he wanted to do something out of the ordinary, something that would last a lifetime.
At the same time, the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association [WHPA] put out a plea for just such a project: a log shelter to be built set back from a ridge in Grafton.
Grennan took on that challenge. He planned the design of the shelter, figured the equipment and access he would need, and secured the necessary approvals and help for the construction.
The long, hard, snowy winter of 2013-14 delayed that process until less than three weeks remained for Grennan to start and finish his project before the deadline: his 18th birthday.
The first day that the scouts from Troop 206, out of the First Baptist Church in Chester, could physically get to work, three feet of snow still covered the ground.
The day was freezing and it rained continuously, but the scouts and adult volunteers hauled chain saws, debarking tools, and ropes and pulleys to the site to prepare the necessary logs from trees in the area.
Some of the trees and rocks for the foundation had to come from 150-200 yards away. In the freezing to merely cold conditions that day and others, the boys worked as fast as schedules would allow.
The weather was a challenge, as was a complication stemming from safety: it was dangerous, and so forbidden, to have more than five workers on site when the trees were being felled and dragged.
On the last day available for Grennan to do the work, a crew of 23 people aged 11 to 42 gathered in an all-hands-on-deck effort to finish his part of the Eagle project: the foundation and major walls.
The shelter has designed outside dimensions of 16 feet by 12 feet, with an interior space of 14 feet by 10 feet. The end walls will be about 8 feet high. The present walls are eight logs high and reach more than 5 feet tall.
Although project leader Grennan's part of the project is done - and he received his Eagle Scout award last month - his fellow scouts want to see the shelter finished. As a result, Troop 206 has taken on the last few levels and the roof as a troop project, and its leaders say they hope to complete that part by the end of spring 2015.
Volunteers from WHPA will then construct the floor.
Despite the weather, Greenan completed a very demanding Eagle Scout project, one that, when finished, will be what he wanted: an impressive, meaningful, and lasting project that will be a resource for hikers for years to come.
The Pinnacle Association offers its thanks to Greenan, and the volunteers who assisted him, for a job well done.