Scouts BSA Troop 1123

This month's campout took us back to Cedarville State Forest, which had many fewer mosquitos in April than it had back in September. Because we knew there would be rain on Saturday night, the troop hung up a lot of tarps to keep things dry, with special emphasis on making sure it would be possible to use campfires for cooking in the rain.  The patrols paid particular attention to cooking on this campout, with dishes such as french toast, foil packet fajitas, dutch oven cottage pie, and breakfast burritos on the menu. A highlight of Saturday night's campfire in the rain was a visit from a Scouter from a neighboring troop, who shared campfire ashes with us. There is a long tradition in Scouting, going all the way back to Lord Baden-Powell's first Boy Scout camp at Brownsea Island in 1907, in which ashes from previous fires are added to a campfire, creating a connection between Scouts of the past and Scouts today. In the morning, the ashes are stirred together and a sample col...

We had a great mini-backpacking trip this weekend along the C&O Canal. The Scouts particularly enjoyed seeing a variety of wildlife, including herons, canada geese, a pileated woodpecker...and some very hungry squirrels! One of the patrols left a closed jar of peanut butter sitting on a picnic table while participating in an activity 15 or 20 yards away, and found that within an hour, an enterprising squirrel had chewed their way through the lid. Fortunately, that peanut butter jar had been used for a meal that had already been served! Other activities included assembling first aid kits and working with a map and compass.

We didn't let the weather keep us from an adventure in the outdoors, despite lows around 22 degrees on Friday night, and snow on Sunday morning.  The campout was fairly relaxed, with lots of time for sitting around the campfire, stargazing, and playing headlamp-illuminated soccer. We did manage to work on preparations for our food drive service project, take a hike down to a stream, and cook tasty food. 

  This weekend, we had a fantastic campout at Serendipity Horse Meadows in Fairplay, MD, and earned the Horsemanship Merit Badge! The Scouts had plenty of opportunity to care for the horses, learn or practice their riding skills, and of course enjoy s'mores around the campfire. 

  The weekend of September 27 took us to Cedarville State Forest, part of our ongoing quest to find camping locations as close as possible to DC. The forest was beautiful, a mixture of mainly holly and oak, and featured an enormous variety of different kinds of mushrooms. We practiced orienteering, and learned to measure heights and widths using our bodies and a compass. There was an unexpectedly large amount of rain, but a few marshmallows were roasted anyway!

After a long spring and summer of mainly virtual Scouting activities, we had our first in-person campout the weekend of August 22! Things were a little different because of the pandemic -- everyone slept in their own tent, we wore masks and stayed at least 6 feet apart whenever possible, and we prepared our food individually. It was great to get together, and we enjoyed working on our saw and axe skills and going for a short hike.