Joebanker

BrentAllen -

You must be employed by Atlanta Area Council if you disagree with my assessment. It is well documented that they are crooked and care more about money than youth. The entire administration should be replaced by honest people.

As for Woodruff - My entire synopsis is correct.

It's a shame most camps are going to swimming pools over lakes. In my opinion, I think councils should manage their lakes in the off-season to rid them of pollutants and bacteria. I'd much rather see the waterfront down by the lake than down by a blasted pool.

I am an Eagle Scout and ASM and have set up summer camp for our troop now for 5 years. We have been to several summer camps and I'll give you some information on the ones we have been to and rate them from 1 (horrible) to 10 (excellent).

1. Woodruff Scout Reservation 3 out of 10

This is my home councils camp and I give it a 3 at most. As mentioned in previous posts it is the largest summer camp around. Being the largest isn't always best in this case. 750+ campers during the week is extremely excessive. The wonderful (and use wonderful loosely) executives at Atlanta Area Council have one thing and one thing only on their minds and that is money. They cram as many scouts onto that place as they can and everyone pays for it.

If you want to go to a camp that runs out of food every day and let your boys go hungry then sigh them up. Sure they have several merit badges offered but the instructors are kids in most cases and their class sizes are too big to control. In this environment, merit badges are partially complete and most times the requirements that are passed are signed off on just to make it look like the scout actually got something out of it.

One good thing about the camp as mentioned earlier in another post is that everyone takes a rafting trip down the Nantahala River.

Back when I was a scout, our troop went to Woodruff every year. Woodruff is a different place now than it once was. Maybe the executives in Atlanta Area will wake up someday and attempt to make it the camp it used to be and should be.

2. Burt Adams 2 out of 10

Ill mention this next since it is Atlanta Areas other summer camp located near Covington. I have never been here but several troops in my council have. I was talking to a couple of Scoutmasters last week at summer camp that said they would not, under any circumstances, ever go back.

They had several horror stories to share about the place. Ill only touch on a couple. The camp running out of food everyday was a problem but not near the biggest. They let 60+ inner city scouts in free of charge and to put it simply, they were acting like inner city kids uncontrollable. How much do you think your boys will get out of merit badge classes in an environment like that?

3. Camp Blue Herron 1 out of 10

Save yourself the time and anguish and please dont go. I could write a book on how poor this camp is run but Ill leave it at this.

4. Skymont 7 out of 10

This was an overall well run camp and our boys really enjoyed it. We never got any complaints from the boys but the leaders had one behind the scenes issue.

I was the acting Scoutmaster on this trip and the only real problem I had was with the SM meetings every morning. They were counterproductive and basically a gripe session for some other SMs who simply wanted to whine and gripe about something no matter how small. The average SM meeting lasted an hour and 15 min. Im hoping they have cut that back considerably because it was always the worst part of the day. Since all our boys had fun and no complaints, I rate this camp high. Their program was really good and the boys came home with several merit badges.

5. Camp Sidney Dew 9 out of 10

This camp is located near Rome and is run by North West Georgia Council. We have been going here for 3 years now and it is the best run camp I have found to date. Sidney Dew is cheaper than the others and they limit the camp to 250 campers a week. The boys always have plenty to eat and the program is great. The only issue we have (and we are told they are working on it) is the merit badges offered havent changed in 5 years or so.

This is an issue as most of you know because 2nd, 3rd, and so on campers are limited on what they can take. I rate this camp a little higher than Skymont because issues that arise are dealt with very quickly and the program is better.

I could go in to more detail about these camps but this would get lengthy and probably a little boring too. Hope this helps a little.