Texas Winter Camp

[CubsRgr8]

OK, here's one for all you Texans out there. As a Wisconsinite suffering through the coldest summer in recent history (58 is the HIGH today!), I'm looking for somewhere fun and warm to take the boys this year during Christmas break, and what better place than a scout camp? A quick check of the internet turns up several Texas councils that offer Winter Camp. Which one(s) do you recommend? Any councils offer Winter Camp for Webelos, too?

[Eagledad]

I've heard some good things about the Texas camps and Philmont has a good Winter program as well.

 

Barry

[CubsRgr8]

Philmont?!?!?! Where can I find out more specifics? The website has nothing.

[Eagledad]

OK, good question. I know of several troops in our area that go, but I've not done it myself. So I don't know who to ask. I do have a friend I will contact. One moment please.

 

Barry

[jkbhiker]

CubsRgr8,

 

The winter/spring program at Philmont is called "Kanik".

 

Try a google search on "Philmont Kanik" for more information.

[Eagledad]

OK! Took a little longer than I thought. Two moments?

 

JBKHIKER answered the question, but here is a little more from Calvin, SM in Texas.

 

Tell him to e-mail the Philmont camping department and ask for a Kanik

brochure. The brouchures for the 2004-05 Kanik program have been

available for about a month.

 

The e-mail address is: camping@philmontscoutranch.org

 

I've been on three Kanik adventures, including one during our Spring Break

in March. The best one was in 2000 as we had more snow that year than in

'02 & '04. He can read about (and view a slide show) our 2000 trip here:

 

http://www.troop405.org/camps/Kanik.htm

 

As far opportunities in Texas are concerned, the only real Winter type one

I know about is the Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch in the Davis Mountains of

west Texas. They don't have an organized Winter program but troops can go

there and backpack. They have 9,500 acres, including quite a few miles of

backpacking trails. Many times, they have snow in the Winter and early

Spring. Additional information is on this web page:

 

http://www.buffalotrailbsa.org/camping/btsr_weekendcamping.html

 

Many of the Texas councils have organized Winter Camps but they are like

summer camp in that merit badges are featured. My council (Capitol Area)

has one (two 3-day sessions) in December but we stopped attending after

2002 because of the large class sizes. For example, 45+ boys in the

Camping MB class being taught by a 17 year old boy who spent most of his

time reading from the MB booklet. After complaining about the quality of

the instruction for several years, I finally gave up and decided to look

for something different for our guys. T.W. Cook tells me the 2003 Winter

Camp was much better but having 350 boys in what is basically a merit

badge mill for Eagle required badges isn't what I'm looking for.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Barry

 

[CubsRgr8]

Thanks for all the info on Philmont Kanik. I checked out a couple of websites and learned that these treks require scouts to be 14+, so I'm filing away the information for future reference.

 

Back to the original intent of this post. I'm looking for comments from scouters who've participated in Texas winter camps - the good and the bad. MB mills don't sound like much fun. Ideally, there's one out there which provides a balanced program between MBs and outdoor physical activities, all set in a camp that is a testimony to God's handiwork.

[EagleInKY]

Gee, glad you don't expect too much.

[OneHour]

Our troop made regular trips to Camp Karankawa in the Bay Area District. The camp is about 40 minutes SE of Houston ( http://www.bacbsa.org/camping/tour.html ). They have a fairly decent "Fall Encampment" program that offers merit badges. As one of the older camps around here, they have your typical BSA latrine and settings. It runs 5 days before Thanksgiving.

 

Houston also has Camp Strake that holds Winter Camp as well. Quite a large camp in the Sam Houston Area Council. It has large lakes (namely Grand Lake) and is very well equipped. I didn't like Strake when I was a boy, but that was 28 years ago. Camp Strakes has over 70 merit badges winter camp program. http://www.samhoustonbsa.org/Home/Camping/Camps4/Strake/WinterCamp/ One nice thing about camping in Houston is that the average temperature rarely goes down past 40 degrees F in the winter ... wet and cold ... yes, but snow ... neah.

 

Barry is right. If you want the camping and seeing what this Earth has to offer as in beauty, Buffalo Trails is a good place to go. Our troop came back from there this past summer and the boys have nothing but good comments for it!

 

1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

[txscoutdad]

I've been to the Circle Ten Council Winter Camp several times. It's during Christmas break, four days long, and is run by the OA. The camp is in East Texas in Athens. Camping is done Jambo style but really more packed shoulder to shoulder campsite wise, reminds me of the large trades-day flea markets that we have down here in that you look out over a sea of tents in the woods. I don't know if they have a limit on the number of troops that they let attend.

It also has has a large ratio of campers to MB counselors who are OA members. Almost all MB are partials.

Our troop is scheduled to go again this year but I hope that they might look for something else next year.

The good thing is, if your looking for warm weather to camp in Dec you can find it here.

Would I recomend it? If your coming all this way you could probally find something better in this state.

 

[Eagledad]

I will throw in another fun Winter weekend our troop goes to now and then. Trappers Rendezvous just north of Wichita Kansas. It's on a three-day weekend, January 16 thru 18. It's well worth the trip and a lot, a lot of fun for the scouts. Over 3500 scouts the last time we went. Here is the address for their web site.

 

http://www.quivira.org/Trappers/

 

It is not a warm campout like in Southern Texas, but something different and fun. Lots of mountain men and women rein-actors to trade all kinds of stuff and to demonstrate skills of mountain men. We adults find it very relaxing.

 

If you consider this, the scouts need to take stuff to trade because they will do it all day.

 

Barry