Bad weather camping

[txscoutdad]

Last month our troop went for a canoeing campout and had two days of rain. The river rose about 3 feet and even though we were camped along the bank, were not in danger of it coming out of its banks. We did how ever have a few patrols that made poor choices when selecting a campsite and woke up in the night to find 8 inches of water in the tent. The funny thing was that the SM at this campout site last year took the boys around and talked about not camping in the low lying areas. You can train and talk a lot but sometimes bad experinces are the best teacher.

We spent most of the day Saturday drying off stuff and trying to stay dry, raining all night, with it still raining most of Sunday morning.

Our troop doesn't break camp and leave to go home early because of weather, unless it's unsafe.

Was wondering what stories others might have about a campout that maybe wasn't that enjoyable or down right standing around trying to be comfortable.

Curtis

[EagleInKY]

Our young troop (1 year old) is now a perfect 9 for 9 on rainy campouts/outings, including this past weekend. Some have been just minor rain events, but we have had a few dooseys:

 

- We've had 4 with severe weather (Severe T-storm warnings or Tornado warnings). We never had to evacuate, but stayed close to the weather radio. Luckily, the severe stuff has usually missed us.

 

- Klondike this year - Snow turned to freezing rain. The district ended up calling it early and sending everyone home Saturday evening.

 

 

Worst I've ever been in as a scout was at a council-wide camporee back in the 70's. A huge storm came in during the night and flooded the field. We stayed up all night in a large tent, sitting in a couple of inches of water. The next morning, when the sun came out. We stepped out of the tent to find that most of the other troops had bugged out during the night.

[fotoscout]

Its always fun to survive the rain, and I like listening to stories about those who braved the weather as much as anyone else. On the other hand I have great respect for those that pack up and leave when the weather begins to trend in a direction that they are not comfortable with. I am even more impressed with those people who talk about leaving their campsite because of the weather!

 

Safety first, bragging rights much later.

[ASM59]

Some of the most memorable campouts have had bad weather associated with them. We've endured many a campout with rain (from a non-stop drizzle to absolute downpours with tornado warnings) and had our share of colder than expected winter campouts. These are the campouts that the boys remember and continue to talk about...

One such campout was in a state park in early May. The assigned campsite was in a low lying area surrounded on all sides by higher ground. Just after arrival, it began to rain. All of our gear was wet, the tents were wet inside and it continued to rain all night. This whole area became a swimming pool by morning. Most if not all of the boys clothing was soaked, with nothing dry to change into (they didn't follow our suggestion to pack their clean clothing in ziplocks). At about Noon, as the rain continued, the temperature began to plummet, boys were turning blue, and a decision had to be made to break camp early. We packed all of our soaked gear over the complaints of the nearly hypothermic boys.

Among the older boys this is a favorite story to tell the younger Scouts; especially when making the point of packing clean clothes in ziplock bags.

ASM59

[dsteele]

Now you guys are causing me to remember my first campout as a Webelos Scout about to cross over. In retrospect, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .

 

It was the district Klondike derby. I shared a tent with three of my fellow Webelos. First campout in Michigan in the winter isn't the brightest idea, but the troop had trained us well. Or so we thought.

 

My dad was the cubmaster of the pack we were coming from and planning to become an assistant scoutmaster. I remember marveling at the icicles hanging of his moustache.

 

I remember the Scoutmaster sitting on a bale of hay when it caught fire. I remember being suprised at how fast the old guy could move when his butt was on fire. I remember laughing when the hay bale caught fire a second and a third time and he stubbornly sat on it.

 

I also remember curling up inside my sleeping bag thinking I was smart because I remembered to take my snow-mobile boot lilners into the bag with me. However, when the boots froze shut in the morning, I kind of regreted the decision. The propane in the tanks for our stoves froze. As did the milk, the eggs, and everything else we had.

 

In retrospect, it was miserably cold that night.

 

but it was the best campout ever!

 

Unc.

[Mike F]

We almost never bail out due to weather unless it's totally flooded - and then we'll usually just look for higher ground. Instead, we use the opportunity to find where problems occur and teach everybody how to avoid it next time. About 1.5 years ago, we arrived at the trailhead late at night in a steady cold rain. After some extra time to check everybody's gear, we stepped off into the wet darkness for a bracing 5-mile hike to campsite. In the few breaks we got that weekend, we dried out what we could and got ready for the next onslaught. In the meantime, we set up and ran compass courses in the backcountry - in the rain. I like to say the true test is not about surviving, but thriving in the conditions you're dealt.

 

Experience came in handy last summer when it rained for about 20 straight hours at the beginning of our Canadian Boundary Waters canoe trip and bailing out wasn't a viable option. We all had our moments of "What have we gotten ourselves into?," but did fine.

 

A lot depends on the attitudes of the leaders - if you howl back at the storm, the guys will howl with you.

[LPC_Thumper]

Horror Stories? Boy do I have horror stories!

 

My last two trips as a boy. I was a scout in the early 70's, this made some of what we do now sem just bad. Let me share the highlights from my last two trips. BTW, I had already made Eagle by this time. I'm from a VERY rural area on the California Coast, about half way between LA & SF.

 

The next to the last one was a camporee. After we set up camp, the storm blew in off the ocean. It rained, wind howled, just poured. Now in the 70's you were encouraged (not allowed, encouraged to trench your tents) this was a good thing, except for the younger guys that didn't quite get the idea. These kids trenched THROUGH their tents. We used the old canvas Army surplus pup tents. It took 2 of them to work, you carried one, your buddy carried the other, when we got to camp you buttoned them together. The guys had a six inch trench THROUGH their tent. It was so bad the OA teepee blew OVER. Now the storm lasted the whole time, but one of my foundest scouting memories was standing on a hillside, over looking the ocean, using "semi-four" (how the heck do you spell that?) techniques to signal the message "The weatherman said it was going to be shattered clouds" As an adult, I now understand the creative nature of that message, at the time, I was upset it was so long. (Ironic part, my city has grown to the point that I now live about where that incident took place.)

 

My last trip as a scout, we went hiking in the Sierras. (In case you don't know, in my part of the country, it doesn't snow. On a cold winter day, if you get up early enough, you'll find frost on roofs of houses) We decided that we didn't need our canvas tents, we would sleep under the stars. This was in the last week of August (In case you aren't from CA, you NEVER go backpacking there then, it snows) We were caught in the snow four days before we were done with our 50 miler. We found caves. We slept in wet bags. I honestly thought we weren't going to make it out. I talked to my Scoutmaster years later about this trip, HE thought we weren't going to make it out. I must say the boys that have been on trips with me haven't ever gone through the thoughts that we were going to freese in the night and just die.

 

The first trip, we didn't go home because it was FUN, the second trip we couldn't go home, all we could do was get through those hours.

[hastingr]

As a scout, I have had 10 inches of snow, -5 temps, 7 inches of rain, 2 days of rain, lost above 12,000 in the rain, and all that. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It made US Army Basic Training seem easy.

 

In our lives, sunshine awakens the soul for rejoycing, but rain, sleet, snow and cold, they can build character. The one thing you learn, is to "Be Prepared". Ok, the second thing you learn is that misery is 80% mental, 20% physical. My son just joined scouts recently, and has gone on two campouts thus far. One was a gully-washer. I sympathize with him as he complained about being cold, wet, and miserable. Inside, I was jumping for joy. He spends too much time in comfort already, playing computer games and air conditioning...

 

John Eldridge says in "Wild at Heart" that the one burning question in a man's heart is "Do I have what it takes?" I believe that we take our boys out into the wilderness where the unexpected can occur, where being prepared means everything. Where that question can be answered within a young man's heart, "yes", he has what it takes. After all, he survived a soaking 50 degree rainstorm in March didn't he? IMHO, this is why you don't bug out unless the level of risk is unacceptable. Being uncomfortable is merely that. It is something to overcome.

[txscoutdad]

Hastingr,

I have to give you a BIG FOUR SQUARE HOW for that post. That is exactly how I would describe the attitude in our troop and part of why I like being a part of it so much.

[OneHour]

LPC_Thumper, "using "semi-four" (how the heck do you spell that?)"

 

semaphore

 

txscoutdad, don't know if you have been down to MikeF's and our neck of the woods yet, but in the SE Texas, camping is interesting in that we can get a flash flood just about any time that the sky decides to open up! Of course, in SE Texas, we can be bonedried at our campsite while a couple of miles down the road, it is blowing and going, or vice versa! Happened last year for us at Huntsville State Park.

 

 

[hastingr]

A friend of mine sent me a doc file that had this quote in it that I thought I would share...

 

Sir Baden Powell said

 

I wanted to make them feel that they were a match for any enemy, able to find their way by the stars or map, accustomed to notice all tracks and signs and to read their meaning, and able to fend for themselves away from regimental cooks and barracks. I wanted them to have courage, from confidence in themselves and from a sense of duty; I wanted them to have knowledge of how to cook their own grub; in short, I wanted each man to be an efficient, all-round, reliable individual.

 

[txscoutdad]

OneHour,

Two years ago during our councils Winter camp in Athens I went for the first part, Sat and Sun. It was beautiful weather, warm and just a joy to be at that camp. When I left Sun night as I was crossing the dam of the lake, I looked back up on the hill were everyone was camped and saw all the lights and heard all of the sounds, it made me not want to leave. Well Monday rolled around and a large storm system rolled tru and they had lighting strikes at the camp and they brought all the boys down to the dining hall for saftey. There was also funnel activitey with this system. A group of dads left at the urging of the concerned parents and brought them home with my son arriving back at 1:00 am.

In my first post we were outside of Glenrose on the Barzos.

[fotoscout]

I thought this needed repeating.

Its always fun to survive the rain, and I like listening to stories about those who braved the weather as much as anyone else. On the other hand I have great respect for those that pack up and leave when the weather begins to trend in a direction that they are not comfortable with. I am even more impressed with those people who talk about leaving their campsite because of the weather!

Safety first, bragging rights much later.

[Mike Long]

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad decisions.

[Eamonn]

One of the most scenic parts of the UK is the Lake District. There is no Council Camps as we know them for Summer Camp. Most of the time a troop will make plans and summer camp is still a little bit like Brown Sea Island.

I'm not sure how it came to pass but the County got the idea that some Scouts weren't getting to attend a Summer Camp.

Plans were made and soon we had 1,500 Scouts on busses on their way to spent two weeks at Great Tower Camp Site.

Great Tower is a great place for Scouts. 250 acres of heavily wooded and rocky terrain on the east side of Lake Windermere.

As a rule we had normally taken the PLC to visit where we had hoped to spend Summer Camp. We normally did this over the Easter Holiday, when the Leaders had a long weekend. Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays and the Scouts have 3 weeks off school. But because this was a County event and because I was dumb we didn't. We spent Easter in Holland as a troop.

The troop was set up for patrol camping. Six man tents and cooking over wood fires. 250 acres of heavily wooded and rocky terrain didn't lend itself very well to our style of camping. But we got that sorted. No easy task when you have 12 patrols. Then it started to rain. We had "Soft Days" when the rain was like a heavy mist that just soaked you, we had wet days when it rained and we had heavy rain when it really rained and the patrol cooking fires were floating. It rained every day. The program which had times scheduled for the Lads to go sailing, canoeing,climbing and abseiling went out the window.

We were the lucky ones most of our Lads had done a lot of camping and even if the equipment that we had wasn't suited to where we were at it was in good shape. Sad to say some of the Troops from the East End of London had neither the experience, equipment or leadership. We had taken our mini busses up with the equipment and when the program fell apart we took the Scouts out to visit Steam Railways, museums. We fed them a lot of Fish n'Chips. But even doing this trying to remain Cheerful was an uphill task. The Kids shoes and boots were soaked with little or no hope of ever being dry. We found a store that was having a sale of Wellington Boots we struck a deal and got the store to reduce the price even more. Soon you knew which Scouts belonged to the 17th. They were the guys in the green wellies!! The Green Wellies became a symbol of having made it in the years that followed.

We held daily leaders meetings and as the days past and the rain kept falling we thought of ways to try and raise the spirits of these poor wet kids. I said that a Camp Fire might help. There were those who said that we would never get this bunch to sing. There was a big covered area where we squeezed everyone in. I don't think that I will ever forget the smell of wet, smokey, musty Scouts. I don't know why but I remember this as being the best camp fire ever.

The final day needless to say the sun came out and we loaded the Scouts on busses. I drove one of the mini vans home with two Scouts. I wanted to stop and get something to eat, but was unable to wake them.

I suppose today we would have a t-shirt made, that would have some clever wording saying that we had made it through the worst summer camp ever. But we all had our green Wellies.

We never went back to the Lake District, one of the Patrol Leaders brought it up once at a PLC. He was lucky that he made it out alive!!

Eamonn