The troop had a very successful campout at the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge this past weekend. The boys from the crossover, here after referred to as the Lizards, made their first campout with Little Troop 5.
It is always interesting taking boys camping for the first time. I don’t know them, they don’t know me and most importantly their parents do not know me at all. What added to this apprehension was the fact the good folks at weather.com had called for rain the whole weekend. Probably unknown to the parents of the Lizards we were going to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, a four hour drive including pee stops, for the first time.
In usual Troop 5 fashion we got out of town later than I wanted on Friday night. I take much of the blame for the lateness this time. I did not know the location of the permission slips/health forms for the Lizards. I am sure I was instilling confidence in the Troops new parents. Once found, we were on our way.
Being late actually worked out for us. By the time we got to our campsite, the rain had stopped and by what I am sure was divine intervention; we never saw rain for the rest of the camp out until the drive home.
The plan for the campout was to get the Lizards acclimated to the ways of Troop 5 and all the boys to backpack on Saturday. In addition to my usual adult leadership, of the 17 boys on the trip, three of them were 17 year old scouts. Nothing makes a boy led troop run better when you have 17 years old scouts at the helm. You add the fact that these three were on the last Troop 5 Philmont Trek, life was good for the Scoutmaster.
The Lizards were welcomed into the troop with class by the older boys. They made sure they got their tents set up and every turn the Lizards found an older scout helping them on their way. Two adults stayed with the Lizards to work on their understanding of the patrol method so I could go backpacking.
What was more interesting was the backpacking experience of the Scorpions and The Dudes. They have made the shift from being a first year patrol to a year of scouting under their belt. Therefore they are experts and don’t need guidance from older boys or adults. I predicted little failures or as Scoutmasters like to call them learning opportunities.
They did not fail in providing themselves learning opportunities. The Scudes (Scorpions and Dudes combined) could not find their food that was purchased for dinner, even though I know it was purchased. This problem was solved by a trip to Wal Mart.
Once the Scudes had a dinner, those going backpacking got ferried to the trail head. As an aside, this is where I had to explain to a member of a church group that was picnicking, that suspenders and backpacking shorts were in fact not lederhosen. The Scudes launched on the trail and within 100 yards were already adjusting backpacks and gear. The trail was not very friendly or groomed, the boys continued at a blazing speed of ½ mile an hour. The joy or bane of scoutmastering is that this is not the first time I have participated in a backpacking death march, so I was prepared. My 17 year olds were champs. Encouraging and prodding the boys along.
The next learning experience came when we stopped for lunch. That is when the Scudes realized that they had not packed their lunch. I had to shut down the Lord of the Flies moment as those that were carrying dinner began to break into their food to address their hunger issue. One of the advantages of overprotective parents, the boys had enough “extra” food that they should not have needed in their backpacks to get lunch covered.
The rest of the backpacking trip was the standard first time backpacking trip. We had a really cool river crossing that we had to use a rope to get across. I bowline was used that was tied by one of the boys. There is a video of me out their somewhere doing the river crossing. I must confess, after viewing the video, the river crossing did not look nearly as treacherous as I felt it was. But in my defense (or excuse) I have twisted a knee on a river crossing and the last time I was near a river with the troop I broke my thumb. Just saying.
We ended up getting about four and half miles in for the trip. I enjoyed the hike to the pickup point Sunday morning the most. It brings me joy to see the step of victory in twelve year old scouts after they have accomplished something.
I think the lesson the Scudes took from the trip was they have more to learn, so it was quite successful for them. The Lizards all came home wanting to go to Summer Camp. A scoutmaster cannot ask for more.
For those that care: We did 4, crossed the river and sayed south on 5 to the road. Camped at that little loop you can see to the west of the road.. We got picked up Sunday morning at at about where the 7 arrow is pointing.
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