Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Camp

[darboy55]

See that this tread goes back aways and glad I did not read it before going to the camp....Our troop also just returned from MMSR.... 06/22-06/27... and like the last post we had rain every night, some with hale...Now will admitt that I don't a ton of experience at scout camps... been to just 6 in the last 3 years. Yep 2 a year for the most part.... MMSR is a good solid camp. Good facilities, good food, good staff. Yep there were rough edges so for those of you thinking about this camp please consider it one of your top choices. It is good getting better and to get better needs the support of scouting program. And scouts really had a good time which is really important....!!!!!!!

Will also make note here for those Troops in the Black Hills Area Council.... where is your support for this Scout Ranch? It is my understanding that through the summer of 2008 over 90% of the camp attendence is from out of council. It is also my understanding that the camp is staffed mostly by those from out of the council. (Support comes from within..... without it you will loose a good camp sooner or later.....)

However, will give all that are considering the camp and for those attending some advice... The key to a good camp is good communications with the staff and the director, ACE. And it should be noted that communication starts on the day you sign up for the camp not the day you sign in....this is very important....your expectations of the camp can not be meet or exceeded unless those responsible for your satisfaction with the camp fully understand your expectations. So make sure your talking before you start complaining.

Last item, Tiny used this phase, MMSR is a great tourist camp....hmmmmm I do agree... the scouts had a great experience at the camp with the program provided. In addition they had the opportunity to see the sights of America in the Black Hills which included a night blast at Crazy Horse, which only occurs 3 times a year. And if your are planning a pizza night with the boys on your day off seeing the sites would recommend PIZZA Works in Custer. Great Pizza and the owner is scouter friendly.... tell'em Dave sent you....

http://www.custerpizzaworks.com/

 

Hope this post provides the positive feedback is was meant to provide...

 

Happy Camping!!!!!!

 

[nerem]

I've seen pictures that indicate the camp is being heavily affected by the pine beetle outbreak. Can anyone comment on how pine beetles are affecting the camp? We are consider going there during summer 2009. Thanks.

[SoDakScouter]

A lot of the Pine Beetle infections is on the National Forest side of the fence. Since the camp is privately owned, we are able to surgically remove the infected trees.

[crewmom]

Hi,

I'm currently using my mother's login to post this (with her permission!), so be forewarned.

I worked at this camp in the 2008 summer, and absolutely loved it! Due to administrative issues and a tradgedy involving a staff member, council support waned over time, and is now coming back. I personally know of almost a dozen returning staff who are from the local area.

For Venturing:

Is there interest in high adventure/venture advancement programs at camps? I know that SeaBase, Philmont, and Northern Tier all have high adventure programs, but are people interested in places to earn electives/core requirements?

[Gone]

Anyone been to this camp since 2009? Any update on any of the issues raised earlier in this thread?

[btct]

Our troop, from the Kansas City area, of 19 scouts and 11 leaders visited Medicine Mountain Scout Ranch in June/July 2011. We had a great time. We have been looking for a camp that doesn't rely on dining halls but rather provides the food for us to do patrol cooking. We had a great time. Merit badges were fun for all the different ranks-although the lake was very chilly! The staff was wonderful - our scouts really bonded with the staff. We enjoyed having Wednesday to play the tourist card and enjoy all the surrounding sites. Custer State Park, Crazy Horse and the Mammoth Dig Site all gave us discounted or free entry since we were in uniform (more $$ to spend on souvenirs). On Thursday, we were selected by the Park Service to perform the flag retirement at Mount Rushmore. We enjoyed it so much that my oldest son asked for an employment application before we left and is serving on staff there this summer 2012. This is a trip that none of us will ever forget. As a matter of fact, we talked so much about it that this spring we recruited 16 new scouts into our troop.

[scout mom 2186]

My son's birthday occurred while he was at camp so I sent small packages to make the week better. HE NEVER RECEIVED THEM due to the camp staff. Luckily, I had tracking numbers on the packages and the post office had delivered them (on a Tuesday while he was there) and he left camp on a Saturday without them. Supposedly the staff will mail them back.... we'll wait and see.

[buzz59]

^{Our troop attended Medicine Mountain in 2016.  Every adult on the trip was very disappointed.} 

 

^{Some of the merit badges offered when we registered we discovered were cancelled when we arrived without any prior notice.} 

 

^{It was extremely hot, in the 100s, during our stay yet water was not available at several of the merit badges stations until some of our Assistant Scoutmasters made a complaint.  We had 5 Scouts suffer heat exhaustion. One spent the night at the small clinic with one male medical staff.  We found out after our Scout was admitted staff were not following YP two-deep requirements until we found out and again pointed it out to the director.} 

 

^{There was no system of chits at the waterfront to clearly indicate which Scouts were swimmers and which were non-swimmers.  Consequently, there were Scouts who were non-swimmers in the water at the Lake and staff had no idea they were non-swimmers.} 

 

^{The axe yard used for Paul Bunyan was poorly supervised and at one point one of our Assistant Scoutmasters discovered there were 3 Scouts in the axe year trying to split firewood for camp staff (their service project), but the staff member who was supposed to supervise the axe yard was in a cabin out of sight chatting with other staff.} 

 

^{There was no water for showers two of the six nights we were in camp and they ran out of potable water both days at the shower houses closest to the Scout campsites.  The camp is large and it was a 3/4 mile hike to fill up water jugs for drinking and wash water.  Menu options and food was good.} 

 

^{The area is beautiful and the Wednesday tour of the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore was the highlight of our stay.  None of our adult volunteers would recommend Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Ranch.}

Edited March 14, 2017 by RememberSchiff
paragraphs for readability

[Back Pack]

^{Our troop attended Medicine Mountain in 2016.  Every adult on the trip was very disappointed.  Some of the merit badges offered when we registered we discovered were cancelled when we arrived without any prior notice.  It was extremely hot, in the 100s, during our stay yet water was not available at several of the merit badges stations until some of our Assistant Scoutmasters made a complaint.  We had 5 Scouts suffer heat exhaustion. One spent the night at the small clinic with one male medical staff.  We found out after our Scout was admitted staff were not following YP two-deep requirements until we found out and again pointed it out to the director.  There was no system of chits at the waterfront to clearly indicate which Scouts were swimmers and which were non-swimmers.  Consequently, there were Scouts who were nonswimmers in the water at the Lake and staff had no idea they were nonswimmers.  The axe yard used for Paul Bunyan was poorly supervised and at one point one of our Assistant Scoutmasters discovered there were 3 Scouts in the axe year trying to split firewood for camp staff (their service project), but the staff member who was supposed to supervise the axe yard was in a cabin out of sight chatting with other staff.  There was no water for showers two of the six nights we were in camp and they ran out of potable water both days at the shower houses closest to the Scout campsites.  The camp is large and it was a 3/4 mile hike to fill up water jugs for drinking and wash water.  Menu options and food was good.  The area is beautiful and the Wednesday tour of the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore was the highlight of our stay.  None of our adult volunteers would recommend Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Ranch.}

How about the boys? Would THEY recommend it despite what the adults observed?

[Caboose918]

There is so much misinformation in this post from @@buzz59. I was the medic at the camp at the time (and the current medic for the 2017 season) and can point out the inaccuracies (RS): 

 

It was extremely hot, in the 100s, during our stay yet water was not available at several of the merit badges stations until some of our Assistant Scoutmasters made a complaint.  We had 5 Scouts suffer heat exhaustion. One spent the night at the small clinic with one male medical staff.  We found out after our Scout was admitted staff were not following YP two-deep requirements until we found out and again pointed it out to the director. 

In the hills at our location it can get hot, but it will almost never get above 100 degrees, if it does happen it is not constant for an entire week. At our elevation (6100 feet) the air is extremely dry, we push participants to not only drink water but to drink more than they normally would. We were very successful last year and saw only a few cases of dehydration from stubborn scouts. I trained the staff to be extremely proactive with scouts who might be suffering from dehydration and or heat exhaustion. I encourage the staff to call me out for even minor injuries. If this person did have scouts suffering from heat exhaustion then they did not send them to me at the med lodge, get a staffer to call me or in any way shape or form get me involved. On a few occasions scouts did get sick and our quarantine procedures were to spend the night at the ranch house. Also in our procedures is to make sure that 2 deep leadership is covered. Any time a scout had to spend the night I got another scout to spend the night in the med lodge with me. I made sure the door to my room was open and that the door to the room that the scout was in was shut. The bathroom for the scout was located behind the door so they would not have to cut through our room to go to the bathroom. They could easily get a hold of me if they needed me. The only YP violations to occur on camp were between adult leaders and the scouts and even that situation was dealt with to the highest BSA standard. 

 

 

There was no system of chits at the waterfront to clearly indicate which Scouts were swimmers and which were non-swimmers.  Consequently, there were Scouts who were non-swimmers in the water at the Lake and staff had no idea they were non-swimmers. 

Our waterfront staff was very strict with the swimmer tags (chits) and the use of buddy tag boards in the waterfront. Any person who swam in that lake had an appropriatly filled out tag. Our waterfront staff upheld every BSA standard when it comes to waterfront procedures. The lake is no place to play around and the staff were very professional and followed all procedures. 

 

There was no water for showers two of the six nights we were in camp and they ran out of potable water both days at the shower houses closest to the Scout campsites.  The camp is large and it was a 3/4 mile hike to fill up water jugs for drinking and wash water.  Menu options and food was good. 

During one week there was a water issue and our water system did run dry. Due to unexpected water issues and non-conservative campers our 10000 gallon cistern ran dry (keep in mind this cistern held up during weeks of 700 participants and our busiest week was no more than 500 campers and when it did run dry we were no where near those numbers). We brought in two 5000 gallon water trucks to fill up the cistern. There was never any issue with not having potable water. And there is not a single route in camp where any source of water is more than 1000 feet away. The longest walk in camp is about a mile and it is from the front gate to the very farthest campsite in our Back forty. 

Edited June 7, 2017 by RememberSchiff
tone

[RememberSchiff]

Welcome to scouter.com .

[Stosh]

Welcome to the forum.

 

I have had many years of experience in dealing with heat.  I was an advisor for a Civil War reenacting group where the guys ran around in heavy dark blue wool uniforms in 100^o+ heat.  I have attended national summer events were there were 20,000+ participants and one can almost decide before a hot day who's going to go down and who's going stay on their feet.  The "invincible" young un's are the first to hit the dirt.

 

Water can be had through the National Guard who are more than happy to drop off a few water buffaloes in an emergency situation.  I have seen some of the events show up with semi trucks full of water for the participants.

 

Drink, drink, make sure the buffaloes are full and drink some more.  If an ice source is nearby, mid afternoon ice is great.  keep the necker wet and around the neck all day long.

 

We all have great ideas for winter camping, but there are not that many people trained to handle hot summer camping.  Like winter camping, stay at home if one can't take care of the boys, same for summer camping.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Stosh

[Caboose918]

In my previous post I mentioned that I got another clafoutis to spend the night in the ranch house that was a typo I meant to say another stafff member who was my age and of the same gender.