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What Do You Look For In A Summer Camp?


LeCastor

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I have seen camps that have adult-only food and drinks but they never looked like that!  :D   I can see keeping the adults at bay and providing special corners but I like to drink/eat exactly what my Scouts are having, provided the camp uses a dining hall rather than patol-style cooking in campsites.

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@@LeCastor, to be serious for us it breaks down like this:

  • Scouts look for a water front or water activities, MB offerings (either stuff they can't earn locally or well-run specialty badges), training and other "fun stuff". Free time is key. Dinning hall is a big thing. They consider it a break from the usual camping. Nice facilities (toilets, showers, tents) are also high on the punch list. Different locations (e.g., something that doesn't look like home) and travel are also big. Sight-seeing along the route too (Route 66, Mt. Vernon, etc.). Good food!!!!
  • Scouters look for much of the same things the boys do (training, free time, nice facilities). I'd say training is a big one. Having a SM-lounge with WiFi to post pics, update troop blogs or FB pages is important too.
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We went out of council last year, the older Scouts decided on it. All of the Scout that wen loved it so much, they persuaded those who didn't go to go back this year.

 

What the guys who have been to the local council and the OOC camps liked were the nite time activities, bikes allowed for travelling, BMX track, skateboard area, and the waterslide.  All the guys who have only been ot the OOC camp loved the waterslide and BMX tracks.

 

Now what I look for is a camp that doesn't focus solely on MBs.

One ASM looks for a camp with poor wireless reception so work wont try an call him in on :D

The other ASM last year wanted to go to a camp far enough away where he could delegate some duties to his associate pastor.  Alas, he lost out as camp is 50 minutes away. :p

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......

What the guys who have been to the local council and the OOC camps liked were the nite time activities, bikes allowed for travelling, BMX track, skateboard area, and the waterslide.  All the guys who have only been ot the OOC camp loved the waterslide and BMX tracks.

.....

I'm still a Cub Scouter, so I'm just looking at this from the outside, with an eye to the future....

 

I'm curious, what sort of nighttime activities do you mean?

 

I have to add this... I was a cub scout as a kid, then we moved so I was out of scouting a while before getting back in for a short time... I only went to summer camp once, but I remember only 2 things about it

1) a nightime capture the flag event, scouts start in the dining hall and have to go through the scout reservation any route possible to the lodge at the other side....without getting caught by the leaders who are out trying to catch them.

2) Exploits on the sound with my friends in the sailboat... and that is only because one of the boys got knocked out cold from the boom

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I'm still a Cub Scouter, so I'm just looking at this from the outside, with an eye to the future....

 

I'm curious, what sort of nighttime activities do you mean?

 

 

Making sure your unit or the camp has a good set of night activities is helpful to making the whole experience fun. You can see what each camp does and then add your own unit-based stuff (dessert contest, campfire, movie night, etc.).

 

I know a few camps that do night hikes, night golf/frisbee, volleyball or other stuff. Several camps have trips outside the camp (e.g., Mt. Rushmore). Pretty cool.

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Woodruff in Blairsville, GA has a fun spoof merit badge event one evening each week.  Last year it was an Elvis movie and each Scout earned a badge with the King on it.   :)

 

I think it was Alexander or Woodruff that had Citizenship in the Universe one year. MB was Mr. Spock.

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Our local camp, Ed Bryant Scout Reservation, is launching ATVs and Jetskis this summer.  

 

When they say "council use" I assume that means ATVs can only be used at council camps? Or is that by council staff?

 

How's your council getting away with PWC like Jetskis? Did they get "certified" to use them by national? See page 61.

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When they say "council use" I assume that means ATVs can only be used at council camps? Or is that by council staff?

 

How's your council getting away with PWC like Jetskis? Did they get "certified" to use them by national? See page 61.

 

The ATVs, as I understand it, are to be used at our council's camps.  As for the Jetskis, I only know they've been announced.   ;)

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The ATVs, as I understand it, are to be used at our council's camps.  As for the Jetskis, I only know they've been announced.   ;)

 

I found that wording on page 61 interesting. It reads as if PWC are verboten UNLESS the council somehow certifies the program at their own camp. Wondering how that gets done. Having PWCs at a waterfront is dangerous unless they are used FAR away from all other craft.  Accident waiting to happen.

 

Why not allow councils to have go-kart tracks?

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