Cedarville State Forest, April 2021
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...