Camping & High Adventure
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LATEST POSTS
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By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
We have a summer camp in the area that flooded badly last weekend called Bear Creek. The only people up there were the Ranger and his family, because the camp is shut down for repairs this summer with all Alamo Area Council activities moved to McGimsey Scout Park in town (and a lot of folks going out of council this year). The eponymous Bear Creek is a tributary to the northern fork of the Guadalupe and it did flash flood, but in the wider context the camp just needs some cleanup. Images council sent out attached. Debris in the Order of the Arrow ring (amphitheater-style seating for campfires) and on the wires for the slides. (We have a swimming area in front of the boathouse (on Bear Creek itself of course) with waterslides and zip lines and a floating dock, but the water slides themselves are only on the river during camp sessions, so they weren't in the river when the flood came.) Our floating dock has been lost. Water entered the Dining Hall from runoff coming down the hill; cleanup will be required. (The dining hall is pretty high up on a hill, where the campsites are also located, and it's a pavilion with rolldown closures of openings rather than real walls.) The Eco Pavilion appears unaffected, and all canoes and kayaks remain in place. The road below the Dining Hall has been washed out, exposing a water line and currently preventing vehicle access to the Valley View campsite. Water also entered the Main (storage area behind a novelty facade of an Old West town at the entrance) and the Ranger’s porch, though thankfully not the Ranger’s home itself. Some fencing is down, including a fence belonging to a neighbor near the rifle range. (The rifle range is located in the creek valley.) I think a lot of us in Alamo Area can't help but put ourselves in the shoes of the parents who lost campers on and off. And in those moments, other than working with other unit leaders to make sure we're Prepared(TM), I often become very proud of Scouting America and scouting. As you may know by now even if you're not in the area, Hunt is geologically very prone to flash flooding and is part of an area colloquially called Flash Flood Alley. Just like heat, severe flash flood risk is baked into the experience of camping there. (This is not the first time campers have died in flash floods outside Hunt.) So, this requires Being Prepared. And all the campsites as well as the staff housing is located near the tops of the hills. The entire valley below would have to fill for campers to be washed away in the middle of the night. That's good, because cell phone reception at Bear Creek ranges from none to text messages only at the hilltops. Had Bear Creek itself risen as much as the entire Guadalupe did at its worst, scouts camping at Bear Creek would probably have had their camp week ruined but they would be alive. Camp Mystic (not accredited) had cabins in not just floodplains but floodways, and we have no people sleeping in even floodplains other than (for some inexplicable reason) the Ranger's house. Source: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2025/texas-camp-mystic-guadalupe-fema-floodplains/, for reference Bear Creek is really close to Camp Waldemar which is marked on the map. The floodway that goes upwards to the left left of Camp Waldemar is Bear Creek the creek.) Apparently FEMA and Camp Mystic argued about flood plains and cabin locations repeatedly, including when they last expanded Camp Mystic in 2020. (Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/12/camp-mystic-flood-plain-FEMA/) And we didn't even get close to needing to do anything like that - we just put our campers well away from flash floods and make them all hike up and down hill instead. Good for the folks who planned this camp! Is it irritating to have to hike up and down steep hills in the heat when you're down in Program Valley and realize you forgot something you really must have at your campsite? Yes. Does "Cardiac Hill" deserve its nickname? Maybe not. We are in the physically fit business, after all. But is all the up and down worth knowing that you and your scouts aren't going to die in a flash flood? Absolutely. Safety rules are written in blood, let's not forget. May we all learn to respect the power of nature and be mentally awake enough to recognize when advance planning is the difference between life and death. -
By RememberSchiff · Posted
Timely article: https://gazette.com/news/local/southern-colorado-boy-scouts-camp-survived-terrifying-flash-flood/article_78a58953-e44e-48a3-90d1-58f144d59da0.html I did not know that Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch was sold in 2023. -
By HashTagScouts · Posted
Don't disagree with you on when they could have messaged. Does seem to be desired to use NAM as the showcase the past few years- but that could be self-serving trying to get more people to attend ((BSA makes $ off the registration fees for NAM). -
By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
Maybe I'm just overly cynical, but that sounds like someone in your council fighting the success. It could just be poor job performance, of course. But the kind of stiff, emotional resistance to girls and women being a full, authentic part of Scouting America that some people in the organization have doesn't just evaporate in a year or even in the face of evidence. For them, it's not about success for the organization, it's about forcing the world to be a certain way. In this case cooties-free. It could definitely be that your council's policy is a result of an internal struggle between people who wanted coed and people who didn't. Did you see Scouting Maverick's take on postponing coed in Scouts BSA earlier? https://scoutingmaverick.com/2025/01/21/celebrating-a-sexist-scam-linked-troop-wood-badge-highlights-sas-cultural-rot/ Your example of a CC who is so invested in no girls that he's going to de facto let his unit die rather than go coed isn't the only one I'm sure. Actually, you mentioned several such units, so... They're going to keep shrieking until it stops working, which seems to be roundabout now or soon. But some won't stop shrieking because they realized it's actually fine, they will still sabotage what they can. Meanwhile in my corner of my female-friendly council, many leaders are working together to build out a coed pipeline from Cub Scouts into Scouts BSA. Not coincidentally we're about equal numbers of men and women. And it's working - all of our units are growing. If we keep working, Scouting America is going to come back from cultural oblivion in a decade or so. -
That's exactly where we are right now. Most of the adults in the troop were not Scouts. They took the youth lead concept to an extreme and now we have a patient that is sick. I'm trying to avoid getting to the life support stage, much less CPR. The oldest Scouts have succumbed to sports and the fumes. Half the troop is under the age of 13 and a quarter is under the age of 12. We are going to have to actually teach the PLC, such that it is, how to do the skills and then get them to retain the information long enough to teach it to their patrols.
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