National Camping Award how to count days and nights

[alancar]

I have a question on how you count days and nights of camping. Say your typical weekend camp out is that 3 days and 2 nights for a total of 5 as it asks for the cumulative days and nights of camping?

[Stosh]

I normally don't count a weekend 3 days, only 2. If the boys leave at 5:00 pm on Friday and go to 5:00 pm on Sunday, that's 48 hours or two days of camping with 2 nights in the time period.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

Stosh

[Twocubdad]

One troop in our district got the 1,000 night award a year or two ago, so I looked into it. Their SM said it took them about about 7 years to rack up that time.

 

Our TroopMaster records go back about that far, but we weren't close to 1000 nights. Doing the math, even with a high adventure trip and summer camp, a troop would have to camp every-other weekend consistently to get those nights.

 

What I discovered was that they were counting any and every overnight activity a troop member participated in whether it was a troop activity or not -- OA, national jamborees, adult training. And if there were more that one activity on the same weekend, (OA ordeal the same weekend as a troop campout) the weekend counted twice. A Scout serving on summer camp staff counted 35 or 40 nights toward the troop total.

 

I decided if the award is just an exercise in accounting, it really wasn't worth persuing.

 

By the way, adding three days and two nights for a total of five for a weekend trip, I would be considered an accounting trick. I'm with Stosh that I would count Friday night to Sunday afternoon as two night.

[Eagle92]

I'm with everyone else a Fri-Sun event for the entire troop would be 2 days and nites. A Sun-Sat camp would be 6 days and nites.

 

I would only count troop camp outs, not individual. I would count patrol nites out IF a majority of the patrols camped out the same number of nites in a month.

 

No individual camping, i.e. OA staffing events, etc, would count unless the majority of the troop was involved.

[EagleBeaver]

The form for the troop award tells what counts.

"At least 50 percent of your troop must attend resident camp. On other campouts, at least 33 percent of your Scouts must be in attendance for each twenty-four-hour period to count as a camper day to qualify for the troop ribbons."

 

And, what can count for individuals:

"Individual Scouts and Scouters may qualify for the cumulative patch by participating in campouts with their families, patrols, or other groups."

 

"A full day of camping counts as a "day", late arrival and early departure days together count as a "day"."

 

The National Outdoor Challenge Unit Award supercedes the National Camping Award now.

 

Scout On

[Eagle92]

MN,

Thanks for posting the requirements. So OA camp staff, etc woudl qualify for the INDIVIDUAL award, not the unit award.

 

 

 

HMMM how far back can I go? 6 years summer camp staff, 8 week long camps, and a bunch of weekend campouts

[ScoutNut]

As mn_scout stated - the BSA National Camping Award has been DISCONTINUED. Once your Scout Shop uses up the patches for camping nights that's it.

 

The new unit program is now the National Outdoor Challenge Unit Award. You can find the application for it here -

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/430-016_WB.pdf

 

Information on the new Individual National Outdoor Badges, and the application, can be found here -

 

http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Home/BoyScouts/Youth/Awards/NOA.aspx