Campout at Greenbelt Park

Examining Skunk Cabbage

Our weekend began at the church, where the boys' and girls' troops worked together to set up all of the tents and inspect them for missing parts.

After arriving at Greenbelt Park, the girls set up their campsite, while the boys went backpacking -- I believe they covered 3.5 miles on Friday evening. The girls made cozies to facilitate freezer bag cooking, and made their first camp meal (mashed potatoes loaded with all kinds of delicious ingredients -- I am hoping we can get that into a troop cookbook!). They finished off the evening with a campfire.

In the morning, the boys broke camp and departed for 11.5 miles of backpacking (though I hear one Scout went 12 miles), while the girls had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal followed by a 2.5 mile hike. During the hike, they had the opportunity to work on various early rank requirements, and spent a lot of time exploring the environment. Highlights included a stop to look at skunk cabbage flowers, and a lot of clambering through a culvert that went under the trail (after careful consideration of whether this activity was safe).

After a lunch of ramen noodles, the girls worked on rope care and knot tying, followed by intense and difficult work on developing a patrol yell and designs for a patrol flag.

The boys returned from their backpacking adventure in the mid-afternoon. A member of the Troop Committee generously provided pizza and cupcakes, which were shared with the girls.

Once the boys' troop's Senior Patrol Leader was sufficiently recovered from backpacking, he helpfully provided the girls with training on the principles of Leave No Trace, and on the requirements of the Firem'n Chit and Totin' Chip. The girls were thrilled to be allowed to make a fire and whittle with their pocketknives back at their campsite. After a dinner of cheesy refried beans and rice, they enjoyed making and eating s'mores.

In the morning, we woke to discover that the temperature had dipped below freezing, as there was a little ice in the water bucket. It had been hard to imagine how cold it might get when packing in 75-degree weather on Friday afternoon, so we were missing some of the right clothing for the conditions. Fortunately, it warmed up fairly quickly. The boys' troop broke camp early and headed home, while the girls had breakfast and broke camp in a more unhurried way, returning to the church by 11:30.