Just “camping�

[Twocubdad]

I think qwazse is on the right track. It seems like the older Scouts are much more comfortable with "just camping". It seems to take a little maturity to appreciate just being outdoors, sitting around the campfire or hanging in your hammocks with your mates. The younger guys seem to have much greater need to be entertained -- and I do mean BE entertained. They're not much on creating their own activities.

 

During my time as a Scout, that's the only kind of camping we knew. The only variable was how far off the road did we go. Most campouts revolved around the campfire, keeping it the fire and a pot of chili, stew or spaghetti sauce going and staying up most of the night figuring out the world amongst us. "Active" campouts were the district and council camporees which usually had a theme -- I hate themes -- and a bunch of competitions. Our goal was to make Eagle, at which point our SM allowed us to exempt out of the competitions and stay back in camp.