Ideas for Winter Overnighters

[AlabamaDan]

A while back I posted about ideas for Summertime Activity Awards and the response was great. I thought now I'd try ideas for winter overnighters. There are some of the easy ones:

 

1. Spend the night on a Battleship or something, we do the USS Alabama in Mobile

2. Spend the night in an Aquarium, you know like the Tennessee Aquarium

3. Spend the night in some Science Musueam like McWane Center in Birmingham

4. Spend the night in a cave, like the Lost Sea

 

But since we've done all that the last few years then I was hoping to come up with something different. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Danny

[Basementdweller]

those sound like great ideas but aren't they pretty expensive??????

 

Does your local camps have cabins????

 

 

Our most popular cub event is the lock in. We take the pack bowling then pizza and back to the church for a video game fest. We just held it a couple of weeks ago and the boys are asking when we are going to do it again.

[bbender]

Also expensive, but fun, and in your neck of the woods, is Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. See http://www.spacecamp.com/ and http://www.spacecamp.com/details.php?cat=Groups&program=New+Horizons.

 

Agreed on the lock in concept . . . kids having fun is the adventure. Depending on your set-up and weather, you might also be able to have tents pitched outside, since if it is too cold you can come into the gym or whatever space you might use for the "lock in".

 

Also, on the concept of cabins (more rare at Scout Camps, though some might have them), lots of State Parks have cabins, and Pack Families could up and rent them for a Pack Camping weekend. For large Packs, there are "Group Camps" that have cabins (like Laura S. Walker State Park near Waycross).

 

Other Caves include Raccoon Mountain just outside Chatannooga on I-24 (they do Advancement work as part of the overnighter . . . see http://www.wildcave.com/ and http://www.raccoonmountain.com/), and Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, Tennessee (see http://www.cumberlandcaverns.com/tours_overnight.htm).

 

Could be dicey if icy, but the "Hike Inn" at Amicalola Falls State Park in North Georgia would be great, especially if you can book the whole inn. See http://hike-inn.com/default.asp.

 

The Rock Ranch, south of Griffin Georgia, near Barnesville, is a working cattle ranch owned by Truett Cathy, now focused on Family Agritainment. Don't know how "winterized" it is, but I hear it is fun. See http://www.therockranch.com/index_2.htm.

[AlabamaDan]

Those are a little pricy, but we try to do something "big" every once in a while. I was actually hoping to do the Space & Rocket Center but it was booked. I like the idea of a "lock-in."

 

Keep 'em coming!

[Pack212Scouter]

We have several winter activites, although we don't always do all of them. We have a Webelos Winter Camp, were we rent the OA lodge and surrounding shelters for the first weekend in January and do some pin-work and a hike (The lodge has a small kitchen and central heat, the shelters have woodstoves. this one runs about $20pp with all meals included). We have done cave overnighters (we have a couple of caves in the area that have an overnight program and you can sleep in the cave in bunks, the program is around $50pp). We also have done ski trips to some local ski areas, both as a day event and as an overnighter where we rent rooms.( The ski option is a little more expensive, running about $100pp for an overnighter)

[Kudu]

For what it is worth: More than a hundred things for Boy Scouts to do while they are awake:

 

http://inquiry.net/outdoor/winter/activities/index.htm

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

[jamist649]

We do a lock-in (We call it a "CampIN") during the winter months. This year's is scheduled for next month. The county gives us FREE use of the local Farmer's Market (heated,enclosed facility) since there isn't much going on in the winter there. You can also check other city/state owned facilities in you area. We pitch tents and set up "campsites" just like we were outdoors. Once set up, we do activities with Dens then bring the Pack together for a big activity. This year we're building forts and doing "sock wars". After that we're going to do a small carpentry project followed by a late night movie and popcorn. Can't wait!

[Stosh]

I suppose it all depends on where one lives as to what one could recommend. Our council camp has winter quarters and the Boy Scouts host Webelos boys to introduce them to the nuances of the fine art of sledding. Our camp has three nice sledding hills, Hamburger Hill, Killer Mountain and Suicide. All with well-earned reputations. Most of those plastic sleds do not return home in one piece, but the boys usually do.

 

So far the greatest number of injuries have come from the older "boys" trying to relive their youth with their sons.

 

A good snowball fight isn't discouraged.

 

Snow fort building competition.

 

A game of kick-ball is nice.

 

What we normally do for a winter outing in Wisconsin is kick them out the door in dry clothes and tell them to come back when the stink's been blown off. We have snow, remember? That white stuff that falls from the sky when you look out the computer room window!

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh