Totally overpacked for summer camp!

[Scoutfish]

Yesterday afternoon, we met up at our scout building to load up our trailer for summer camp .

 

I'll call it a learning experience!

 

Up til now, all the packing I did for camping was always for a 3 day/ 2night duration.

 

Set out with what you were wearing and 2 changes of clothes.

 

So going to summer camp, I geared up for setting out in my class A and bringing a change of clothes for each day of summer camp after arrival. two extra pairs of footwear ( sneakers and a pair of shower shoes ) to go along with my hiking boots. Brought one towel for showers and one for swimming. Shaving kit and toiletries. First aid kit and "old people" kit ( TUMS, Tylenol, muscle rub,etc...).

 

Bought a brand new mini mag flashlight and taking one lantern style battery operated campsite light. T

Got my hammcok, ground tarp, extra rainfly tarp and an extra bag of rope, tree straps, etc.....

 

 

Guess who had the 5,000 backpack?

 

 

So please advise me here if what I plan to do NEXT TIME will be better:

 

Wear class A going in, take 2 changes of clothes only to rotate out during the week.

 

Take enough socks and underwear to have a clean pair each day.

 

Take one or two towels?

 

Again, I have no doubts I overpacked. Not even gonna argue that.

 

Guess I'll chalk that up to " getting experience" and keep that in the mental file!

 

[kbandit]

Taking 2 change of clothes to rotate during the week. Ok are you going to wash them at camp? If not please stay down wind of me. LOL Where we goto summer camp usually high humidity and warm temps. Shirts tend to get ripe in one day of wear.

 

Suggestion try just wearing 2 days worth of clothes and see how it will work. If need be you will have the extra clothes with you this time.

 

Have a great time!!!!!!

[CCbytrickery]

Our ACM is involved with our troop, and he swears by swimmers towels...the moisture wicking ones. He says they dry very quickly and get the wet off with minimal fuss and are lightweight. Skip the towel for after swimming--air dry in the summer sun!

 

Skip shaving--you're at camp--heck, I'm a girl and I don't shave at camp. Buy travel sized toiletries and medicines(deodorant, soap; if you must have your hair cleaned, you can get the spray in shampoos and they work just fine). Skip the hard sided first aid kit; you can get a small pouch and stock with a couple band-aids, alcohol and iodine pads, gauze pads, paper tape, tweezers and folding scissors, and maybe an ace bandage.

 

Don't skip the extra footwear--your feet will thank you after being in hiking boots all day...change socks twice a day/ and underwear once. You can wear one shirt during the day for hikes (change daily) and another at night (wear all week) once you clean off; shorts can be worn at least 2 days (get zip-offs).

[Scoutfish]

Well, I will always bring extra footwear. My boots definantly need to be air out by the end of the day during a normal day, and if I have been hiking, they really, really , need to air out.

 

As far as just two pair of clothes, well, I'l have to make an old fashioned washing machine: 5 gallon bucket with 2" hole in lid, and a toilet ( that isnew, clean) plunger.

 

I don't think having 4 or 5 shirts is necessarily a bad idea, but I also have 5 extra pair of shorts.

 

If I was hiking with this...man oh man ... it would be a long backbreaking hike.

 

Granted, this is basically a week of "plop" camping at summer camp, but I still brought alot of stuff to camp.

 

I need to learn to pack lighter.

[Eagledad]

>>If I was hiking with this...man oh man ... it would be a long backbreaking hike.

[Twocubdad]

We take everything and the kitchen sink to summer camp -- and I just bought a new portable water heater to go along with the sink!

 

I want our campsite at summer camp to be the house in the neighborhood where all the kids want to hang out. So we take all the toys. We haul tons of leatherwork and carving tools, last year we built our own tamahawk throwing range, this year we're adding a slackline. Our guys hang around camp playing cards and other games every night, so we take every Coleman lantern we can find. We've got a half-dozen solar landscape lights we poke around the campsite, a couple near the latrine, one outside my tent and the SPL's). And tiki torches we ring the campfire with tiki torches -- how can you vote anyone off the island without tiki torches.

 

We get squares of discontinued capet samples so every tent has one (I like to brush off my tootsies before getting into the rack). I've got a 12v battery system for my tent that runs a string of lights and a couple fans. Last year the boys gave me a set of fuzzy dice that light up, so now I use them like porch lights.

 

Every night one of our ASMs drafts whoever is working on Cooking MB and they make a batch of cookies, brownies or cobbler for the troop, so we have our a full camp kitchen. And a separate setup for coffee in the morning -- we're not waiting for the chow line. We also run our own first-year program in-house, which means we bring all sorts of program stuff for ropework, ax yard, cooking, first aid instruction, etc. That's a pretty good pile itself.

 

It's all about having fun, being over-the-top and a little silly. Enjoy!

[Eagle92]

BUCKETS?!?!?!?!?!?! PLUNGER?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!

 

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BUCKET AND PLUNGER!

 

Gotta try the "Brownsea Washing Machine." Go inot the shower with all your dirties on, lather and scrub, remove once clean, and repeat on the next layer.

[Eagledad]

>>I want our campsite at summer camp to be the house in the neighborhood where all the kids want to hang out. So we take all the toys. We haul tons of leatherwork and carving tools, last year we built our own tamahawk throwing range, this year we're adding a slackline. Our guys hang around camp playing cards and other games every night, so we take every Coleman lantern we can find.

[Twocubdad]

Thanks, ED, that's a great compliment coming from you. In fact, we've got two Scouts going for their SEVENTH year! Last year we had six of eight guys on our Philmont crew get home from the airport at 2am and were at the Scout House nine hours later to go to camp. Of course they slept most of the week! But they had fun when they finally got out of their hammocks.

[shortridge]

I was one of those Scouts who always overpacked for summer camp, mainly in the clothes category. Then I realized taking two aquatics MBs meant I could just wear my swimsuit and walk around as it dried, swapping out only my shirts and socks. Worked for me!

[rjscout]

I thought about taking tiki torches next week, but wondered about the citronella oil being allowed. Thoughts?

 

[Stosh]

Those perfumed tiki torches are a lifesaver!

 

It kinda reminds me of National Jamboree when a couple of the other leaders came to me with a concern that they hadn't seen me take a shower all week long and they were concerned the example I was setting.

 

I told them that at age 60 men have a tendency to get up at 3:00 am for a trip to the Kybo. Heck, as long as you're up, head for the showers. At 3:00 am, one has the whole shower tent to themselves even at National Jamboree! And all the hot water heaters had time to recycle, too! I told them that if any of the boys were that worried about me, I'd be happy to get them up at 3:00 am. I got no takers!

 

3 uniforms, 3 pairs of socks and underwear, and laundry detergent. Got by all week long! It is a hassle to do laundry all the time, but even more of a hassle to drag along all that extra clothing. At Philmont, that got cut to 2 of everything. Wear one, wash the other. It was a problem at only one dry camp.

 

Stosh