Webelos Den Overnight Campout in 3 Days (gulp)

[ScoutNut]

A suggestion about the hamburger for the foil packets - use cheap frozen burgers.

 

Easy to portion out (1-2 patties per), and the moisture, and grease, will help cook the veggies.

 

 

[theysawyoucomin']

Foil cooking is great!!! For burgers use onions or cheap zucchini squash inside the foil, it provides moisture. The kids don't have to eat it, but it keeps the burger from burning and gives one a safety factor on cook time.

 

Try ice cream in two plastic ZIPLOCK bags. A sandwich bag contains 1/2 &1/2 , sugar, and a bit of vanilla. You can find the recipe on line. the second bag is a one gallon bag and contains crushed ice and table salt.

 

Hold the bag in your gloved hands(the boys did bring some cotton gloves? gathering wood, holding the bottom of a mess kit containing hot food, handling hot foil meals.) Cheap cotton gloves are worth the weight. Shake ,squeeze ,shake some more (of course you'll try it at home first) until you have droopy, sloppy ice cream. The GS have been doing this for years with two cans with lids. It is fun.

 

 

Cook popcorn in a D.O. most kids have only had microwave popcorn. Once they try real oil popped corn they think it is special. When my son was a DC his cubs thought he was the greatest.

 

Try a banana cooked in foil. Add mini marshmallows and mini chocolate drops top with whipped cream. Cook for 10 minutes (no food poisoning if under cooked)

 

Now FLOTUS would like to send me to a "re-education camp" for suggesting such fattening fair but what the heck.

 

so enough about food.....

 

I don't think 1 1/2 hours is long enough for fishing if you have cooperative bluegills. It could be way too long if there are no fish. The first time you fish with a young boy he better catch something. I know kids need to learn that it is called "fishing" and not "catching". I'm talking first experience here. Explain catch and release, insure the boys respect the fish. If you wish to keep some kill them right away. I cannot stand to see fish help out of water for one moment longer than necessary to properly release them.

 

 

your schedule looks great otherwise and I think you are a heck of a leader to bring the boys on this type of trip. Way too many people are mailing it in these days.

 

 

Remember McKnight's Maxim-"I 'm having fun, the boys are having fun, what the heck is your problem?"

 

My problem was I was wigging out about schedule, perfection and a multitude of other things. Think about safety, comfort of the boys and making sure it is fun for them.

 

Two more things. Bring plenty of trash bags and paper towels.

 

Bring a five gallon pail----fill it--- and explain to the boys that is the first step to building a fire---be able to get water a few feet away to put it out.

 

3/4 of the Earth surface is covered with water ---it sometimes falls on our heads------- what is your rainy day plan????????

 

 

That is 3 things. But you need a rainy day plan.

 

Do all your boys have a whittling chip?

 

Again best of luck and thank you for helping the boys.

 

[Mush]

Well, we're back, and I'm happy to report that we had 7 boys out there, and 7 came back (not sure if it's the same 7 or not...).

 

It went well - I was dreading the worst, but it went over better than expected. We got out there and started getting everything set up. Some of the parents who had everything set up first helped set up the volleyball tent and got some of the boys out there practicing.

 

After all the tents/equipment were set up, we did a short flag ceremony, and I then introduced the Scout sign/oath/law to them. We had a couple of volunteers (and parents) help out with some food prep (we had most of it done before we headed out, but we did have them cut up some potatoes for the foil dinners). We swapped the boys out every few minutes with others who were out doing volleyball. The foil dinners went over EXTREMELY well...many of the parents commented that their sons ate those better than they had expected (and they ate all the veggies i.e. onions, potatoes, carrots too). The Assistant DL brought a digital thermometer to poke in as they got close to being finished. As they ate the dinners, we got the Dutch ovens on/under the coals for cobbler. While they were cleaning up from dinner (and were introduced to the 3-tub hot/hot/cold washing system), I threw out some kindling for them to practice making teepees to start a fire. I have to admit that they made some really good ones! When the Dutch oven cobblers were finished, another parent stopped by from home with ice cream (nice surprise for everyone as it was still in the mid-80s).

 

Our town's troop was in the camp site next to us, and they invited us to their campfire. Our initial plan was to have the boy who made the "best" teepee create/start our campfire. We chose to go with the boy scouts and forego our first den campfire until our next campout (already in the planning stages for September at a different State Park). I made a mortal mistake - the peach cobbler was gone, but there was still some of the cherry cobbler. To finish cleaning up, we threw the rest of the cobbler away and got water in the oven to start boiling. 5 minutes later, the SM/ASMs from the troop camp (who caught wind that we had extra dessert) came over to help take care of the extra...only to find out that we threw it away. I never knew of the unwritten law of never, ever, nevernevereverever, NEVER throwing away any food.

 

Yeah, I was the butt of some of the jokes at the troop campfire (the boys in the Webelos den got a charge out of it).

 

After the campfire (yep, though it wasn't an official campfire program, our boys got to see the Boy Scouts do some skits, games, songs, etc. After the campfire, we corralled the boys and got them in the tents to sleep. Another group camp was a bit loud until around midnight (about an hour after we turned in). They quieted down, and the quiet was welcome...just in time for the local barred owl to fire off about ten minutes of calling out. I fully expected to see all the Webelos running from their tents into their parents' cars. Surprisingly, none of them heard it.

 

All were up and moving before the time I had expected. We got them fed and had breakfast cleaned up (eventually). Most wanted to break camp around then, which was fine...we pushed back fishing a bit and chose a place that was different from where the pack usually throws lines out - the only problem was that the lake was turning over, and the wind shifted so the breeze was in our faces. Nobody caught anything after 20-30 minutes, and they were getting restless (we'll try again in September when it's cooler and the fish might be more active). The trail was nearby, so we did the 1.5 mile hike - showed them how to identify poison ivy and other plants/trees, etc. They were starting to wear down about this time,so we nixed most of the map/campus/rope stuff, with the exception of a planned meetup with the Boy Scouts, who taught our boys (via E.D.G.E.) how to tie a square knot.

 

Quick lunch, finish packing, and Leave No Trace walkaround...end of campout.

 

 

Thanks for the advice/suggestions, everyone!

[rjscout]

GREAT success!!! Good to overplay to have something ready and go with the flow without over executing. I loved it when we got to Webelos den camping. Great benefit having the troop there. Glad you had a wonderful experience for the boys!

 

[ScoutNut]

>>"volleyball tent"

[Mush]

>>How, and why, did you play volleyball in a tent?

[Stosh]

No one said it was a regulation sized volleyball court. Remember, these are little boys.

 

Stosh

[kari_cardi]

I love reading success stories! Thanks for sharing.