There is nothing quite like the bracing cold of a winter’s walk through woods — especially if some sweet maple syrup awaits you at the end the trail.

Cub Scout Pack 2146 was sighted out on the move again part of its constant mission to elevate and enlighten. The pack, which serves both Tuxedo and Sloatsburg, visited the Hudson Highlands Museum’s Outdoor Discovery Center last weekend to learn about the art of Maple Syruping.

The Hudson Highlands Center covers 177 acres of the former Kenridge Farm dairy and horse farm, and features any number of youth environmental and outdoor adventures — including wetlands and meadows and woods. Plus maple trees, fat and tapped and filled with that sweet concoction that is expensive by the time it reaches the grocery shelf.

“It was a great choice for a group activity,” said the ever ebullient Brian Colton, Pack 2146 Webelos 1 Den Leader and trip organized the trip. “The Highlands were excellent hosts and really showed our pack a great time,” he said.

The Highlands trip was part of the pack’s ongoing scouting adventure, which has included  a trip to Field Station Dinosaurs in Secausus, a Sterling Forest Fire Tower hike and camp out at Murphy Field, and a cleanup effort at the Sloatsburg Ambulance Corps.

During the Highlands visit, scouts learned  how to identify maple trees, how to tap and collect the sap, and how to turn the sap into syrup via a boiling process. Many maple trees growing in the Sloatsburg area are non-sap producing Norway maples — an invasive species that inhibits the growth of native trees. Snap a Norway leaf stem and it bleeds a milky white substance.

The scouts walking adventure wound through Highlands paths to a visit at the Sugar Shack, which presented a perfect spot to rest and experience how maple syrup is produced.

The kids discovered just how much time and effort goes into producing that most perfect sweet tree sap — it takes 40 gallons of sap to generate one gallon of pure maple syrup. The scouts were also given a “Taste Test” that compared freshly made maple syrup to the store-bought stuff.

After all appetites were thoroughly whet, the pack roamed the Hudson Highlands gift shop.

“Anything that gets the scouts outside is a good thing, and Hudson Highlands presents a very easy to understand and fun program for scouts, that combines hiking, learning, and taste testing,” said Colton.

Photos and information provided courtesy of Brian Colton and Cub Scout Pack 2146. For more information on the Pack, visit here.