What do you sacrifice

[prairie]

When you go camping?

Back when I started Scouting no campout was complete till somebodys tennishoes had been burnt, I remember I supplied one pair, might have been two, but not by intention, just wanted them dried out a bit.

[gwd-scouter]

On one of our winter campouts it was cold and windy. A few scouts were sitting around the small campfire and one scout got up from his very light aluminum and cloth chair. A gust came up and the chair blew over and into the fire. Very nice char marks on the cloth that he'll always remember.

 

(This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

[SemperParatus]

Mostly, a good night's sleep.

[EagleInKY]

Once we sacrified our Klondike sled. We were trying to rid ourselves of the evil spirits which brought the freezing rain and snow.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Late one night on a high hill overlooking a beautiful camp area, the Scouts were all down for the night and I had just gone to sleep when a large and creepy storm blew in from the SW bringing with it buckets and buckets of rain, high velocity winds and loud frequent thunder. It was like being on a battlefield with bolts of booming electricity hitting all around us. As I lay face down on my increasingly wet sleeping bag with my tent being pushed forcibly down around my backsides, I remembered that underneath me was my aluminum "ground cloth". I believe I heard myself begin to pray out loud and it was then I think I might have sacrificed my wits. FB

[oldsm]

I mostly sacrifice a good night's sleep. I routinely use a CPAP machine at night, but nature hasn't figured out how to power it. So I mostly catnap. I'm usually pretty groggy the next morning.

 

But it is so worth it! I just love the time late at night (after quiet time) chatting with some of the boys; sometimes it's the older scouts, sometimes the younger ones. It's a great time to really get to know what's on their minds, what problems they face, their likes and dislikes, their dreams and goals. And I really like seeing them (OK, prodding them to hurry up and) strike camp in the morning so we can go home.

[Aardvark]

Alaska, Seward NAtional Forest, Summer Camp, as a young Scout on his Ordeal.

 

Was given a sleeping bag, a poncho and two matches. Told to make a camp, start a fire and sleep well.

 

Pouring down rain. Tried to start a fire with birch bark as tinder; no luck. Relit with last match-almost gone out again, them remembered my hankerchief! Was dry enough to get a fire going!

 

Returning home from camp, Mom wondered what happened to the hamkercheif.

 

Ask me sometime about me and my Scoutmaster (also doing his Ordeal) and the Bear!

[gwd-scouter]

Back in the year 2000, I was on a camping trip with the Cub Pack. Adults were sitting around the campfire after the little guys had gone to sleep. I sat my large plastic insulated coffee mug a little to close to the fire.

 

The plastic bubbled out and formed a small bulge on the side of the mug.

 

It was dubbed the pregnant chad. (anyone remember that)

 

Still have the mug. Boys in the troop ask me about it when we go camping. Older guys get it, younger guys just looked puzzled.

[OldGreyEagle]

Was on a winter cabin event. It was cold, the snow deep and a great time was being had by all. One scout decided to sit up close to the fire to dry his boots off and before long the soles of the boots were steaming, as the boy drew his legs back from the fire, the soles dropped off the boots. The boy grabbed the soles, shoved them back on the boots and backed away from the fire. Those boots recovered and were seen many more times.

 

Then again about 8 years ago a boy arrived on a winter campout with brand new nylon ski pants. They were waterproof and abrasion resistant. At the campfire he was sitting close to the fire and all of a sudden it was noticed that Bobby didnt have black pants anymore, they were white. The black nylon (or whatever) melted off in a flash. The boy was fine, but a little shaken. Everyone with synthetic pants took a decided step back.

[mtm25653]

One of my oldest son's first campouts - freezing weather in NC, and the pond was frozen solid enough to walk on (I've never before or since seen that here in NC in 22 years).

 

A group of boys were standing on the ice. My son had a stick, and pounded it on the ground (ice). Then he turned and repeated, again and again, till he had turned in a circle. The ice broke, and he fell into the water (a couple feet deep). The others hauled him out. After he changed clothes, he dried his shoes by the fire. When he got home, he had to explain why his first pair of Nike's, the expensive ones, were melted.

[hastingr]

Occasionally, I've considered a young scout.

 

I lost a nylon covered down coat to a campfire that sparked heavily in my direction when another scout tossed a log onto the fire. It looked like I had been hit with buckshot and was bleeding feathers