Home from Scout Camp
Marvelous experience. Best camp I've been on in my 3 years as a Scoutmaster.
Ben Delatour Scout Ranch has recently refitted one of their camps -- formerly known as Camp Coffin -- to camp Soaring Eagle. The fresh new coat of paint on the camp proved to be most welcome. Aside from a full attendance, with Troops as big as 72 boys, and from as far away as Texas, their new "Cowboy Theme"d experience was really great for the boys.
I came up with 5 young men -- We'll call them Cory, Greg, Isaac, Joseph and Shelby. Cory is the rich pushy kid, Greg is the overconfident "Already an Eagle" kid, Isaac is the ADHD "What's going on?" kid, Joseph is the kid with the fire lit under him, and Shelby is the "generic" kid.
We arrived at 7 am on Monday, after a 5:30am departure from the church. You'd think the early hour would diffuse the boys' energy and they'd be all sleepy for a nice quiet trip up. Nope. These guys were wide awake, excited about the trip, messing with the radio, each other, having just a good time. They got set up pretty fast, had their breakfast, then on to course work at 9am -- climbing, horseback riding, fishing and the like.
This was definitely the least amount of packing I have ever done at a camp. All the cooking facilities were provided (Soaring Eagle is a "cook your own" camp) as well as the tent facilities. About the only thing I needed was personal items. But I always bring other fun things to do for the guys. I have a whole box of leather they can cut up and mess with, a box of rope for tying knots and hanging each other (we even MADE a rope there), and my LaCrosse beanbag -- a figure-8 shaped beanbag that can be thrown around with 4 foot willow sticks. That proved great enjoyment for the boys.
One of Isaac's classes -- basketry -- was in the other camp, known as Camp Jeffrey. It was about a 15 minute hike to get to Camp Jeffrey. And since nobody else signed up for it, it was my duty to make sure he got there okay. Great exercise.
Isaac is easily distracted, and has issues remembering things. But probably the most scary thing that I was not aware of is his sleepwalking. Scary. First night we were there, he got up the next day and told me he went to sleep in one cot, and woke up in another cot. My first thought was that the other boys had played a trick on him. However, later in the week I find out, as he and Joseph went to the Camping Merit Badge overnighter, that he almost sleepwalked over a cliff that night. Fortunately he tripped over a staffer that had gone up with them.
Isaac was also glad to find the Trading Post, stocked with all the junk food a person could imagine. He would average between $2 and $5 a day on junk food. We nicknamed him Junkie.
Cory was really the only one I didn't have figured out. He was from another Troop, and was invited to come by Greg. I didn't have too much problem with this initially, as long as the parents were okay with it, which they seemed to be. However, as the week went on, Cory and Greg would get into more and more spats. Cory liked to throw whatever he had in his hand -- rocks, pine cones, etc. We nicknamed him Chimp. Once he and Greg were helping with a conservation project -- reseating a culvert that had been displaced by a staff vehicle -- when Cory decided to throw something at Greg. Greg has a bad habit for retalliating, and threw a piece of the culvert he had in his hand back. Unfortunately, Mr. Scoutmaster, MOI, was in the way at the time, and received a rather nasty blow to the arm as a result. The blame game was played for a bit, and the boys were reminded not to throw things.
Joseph's first merit badge course at camp was canoeing. He did very well at the course, but didn't have the common sense to put on sunscreen before going. He returned feeling pretty miserable, and discovered that his head and legs had been pretty badly sunburned. We visited the medic for some aloe vera, and had him lie down. He spent the rest of the day lurking in the shadows. We nicknamed him Vampire.
Greg had brought all the wrong stuff. First day out, I caught him and Joseph throwing a Chinese Star, a definite no-no at camp. it was quickly confiscated, and not returned till arriving home. Greg also brought sacks of candy and snacks, thinking there would not be enough food there. I don't think Greg read the packing instructions at all, because he didn't have some of the basic things, and brought all the things he didn't need. He had Tootsie Rolls, Starburst, Nilla Wafers, and a bunch of other junk. I bet he would have had more room for things like his mess kit and pillow if he had not packed so much junk. We nicknamed him Willy Wonka. Many of his snacks, however, went to waste (waist?) because he would forget to put them in the bear box, and the mini-bears (chipmunks) would find them and eat them.
Shelby had a renewed sense of confidence I had not seen in him in past camps. Last year's camp, he went home early because of being overly-stressed about being hit on the head with a can of insect repellant. This year, he was right in the middle of everything, doing everything, showing off for the boys, and making the most of his camping experience. He wore sunglasses all the time, including early morning and late evening. Got a very nice racoon tan. We called him Cyclops.
4 of the 5 boys participated in COPE (Challenging Outdoor Physical Experience) which is a neat team-building exercise. Teaches the boys how to work together to overcome problems and obstacles. They played a lot of mind games, and also went up on ropes in trees about 30' in the air. We found out that Cory was afraid of heights. All 4 did exceptionally well.
We also competed in the camp's Gold Rush competition, which included a melee of archery, tomahawk throwing, pioneering skills, orienteering skills, volleyball, horseshoe throwing, lassoing, and several other events. My little band of warriors was the first group to have finished all events since the start of Soaring Eagle, and had also broke 3 records previously set. They were awarded a nice hand-made trophy for placing first over all the other troops, including the Denver troop of 72 boys.
Camp Soaring Eagle also has a Chuck Wagon, where two scouters spent all week cooking things up in dutch ovens, for the boys to sample. I have it in my mind to go up next year and do that.
The food, incidentally, was to die for. I don't even eat that good at home. There was always an overabundance of food and the boys were never hungry, although that didn't seem to curb their appetite for junk food.
Since most of the boys were self-sufficient, I didn't really have much to do up there, except referee, and keep Isaac out of trouble. About half-way through the camp, the boys decided they were going to sleep out under the stars, and hauled all their cots outside. The weather cooperated, and they had a marvelous experience.
This is the first camp where I really felt I could have been up there another week. All went well. Not stressful at all. Took 3 summer camps to get it right, I guess. If it were me, I'd choose Soaring Eagle at Ben Delatour for next year's camp as well.