Pack/Family Camping

[sctmom 11]

When your pack goes camping (as a pack overnighter or at a council event), do have your dens camp as a group? Or is everyone on their own?

 

Would like to hear pros and cons of each.

[SR540Beaver 116]

My son just joined the Cubs as a Webelo and we went on our first overnighter this weekend at a Council event. There were only about 8 boys from our pack that attended this event. We were kind of together and kind of seperate. The officials at the camp wouldn't let the campers drive to the campground this time to unload. You had to park in the parking area and they had trucks with big trailers there for you to load your gear on. They drove to the campground and unloaded it while you walked into the campground and found your gear. Since people arrived at various times, everyone set up their camps when they found their gear. We camped with two of the other Webelos. The 4th Webelo camped by a couple of our Wolf scouts. The camp was limited to 300 campers and they said that this campout was a record for them. Everyone camped at the same area, so trying to get packs together and "stake a claim" would have been difficult.

 

It would have made little difference if we had tried to stay together. Registration was from 6 to 8 PM on friday night with a campfire at 8:30 PM. That lasted about an hour. They served refreshments in the mess hall. It was 10 PM before most people got back to their camp site. Breakfast was served at 7:30 AM on Saturday followed by a flag ceremony. Then the day was packed with activities and ended at 3 PM. Between all of that and setting up camp and breaking camp, there was little time for the pack to do anything as a group.

[sctmom 11]

Let me expand on my thoughts a little. Over the last 2 years, few of my Webelos den camped. There was another Webelos den that seemed to camp as a group but they excluded us (fine, didn't really like them anyway). A couple of times I teamed up with the other single mom and we acted as one family.

 

This year I have Bears. We have a council sponsored family campout coming up. The council does NOT provide food. There are some activities. Some of the kids and families have never camped before. Some are single mom & one kid. I'm wondering if we should try camping as a group and having the boys do some simple cooking -- hobo dinners, etc. Start getting them use to kaper charts about some easy jobs.

 

[SR540Beaver 116]

sctmom,

 

I think it sounds like a great idea. With proper guidance, kids will often rise to your expectations. My son had a baseball coach who acted like a drill instructor most of the time. Rather than quit or complain, they learned to love baseball, it's traditions and had a blast doing it. They simply knew the rules, what was expected and followed them. I think that ore often than not the den or pack should camp together and teach/give the boys some responsibilities. It can be fun and work at the same time. Obviously, you don't want the Tigers building fires, but they can tear foil for hobo dinners and place the food in the foil pouch. Any kid can assist in pitching a tent, even if it just to hold it down in the wind while an adult drives the stakes. You can have the formality of camping as a group without being rigid about who pitches a tent next to who. There are always going to be friends and foes in any group. To force someone to camp next to each other only makes everyone miserable. Have a plan, but go with the flow.

[sctmom 11]

Just talked to some of the parents who said they only plan to go for the day. I encouraged them to be sure to stay through dinner and at least "act like camping" while there. I may also take one of my small tents for the boys to practice putting up and it will give them a place to rest and hide out when they need some down time that afternoon. That should ease the parents and boys into camping. I don't want to force anyone to be in "the group" if they prefer to do their own thing that day.

 

[Pack38Scouter 11]

Our Pack has over 120 boys easily ... we peaked at 132 last year. We have two Pack campout a year (Fall and Spring). We usually get about 50-60 families to join us for one night, 15-20 for two nights and several come for just the day trip. Each Den camped together and function together. Each rank got together to do one to two activities together (belt loops and achievements). Sometimes we have a Pack hike. We also ask our local troops to help us with the campout. They setup obstacle courses, whittling chip class, knot-tying class, tent setup class, etc. We were very fortunate ... we have two local troops to ask for help. Well, it may look as if we might have to start a third troop in the community since there are two Packs and both are about 110-120 boys strong, but that's another story. The night the whole Pack pulled together for a campfire and that's my cup of tea. As a Cubmaster, I have this duty. I usually started off with an "instant on" campfire, followed by mix between songs and skits. Our District, Council, and BSA frown upon songs like "God Bless My Underwear" and the likes of them, but these are what the boys like to sing ... however, I do poll the parents before hand to see if there is any objections of course. After 911, we started another tradition that our Pack has never done before (6 years in existence), flag retirement ceremony. We sent out request for flags in the community and work place. We gather 14 flags. I combined three different flag retirement ceremony from different sources on the Internet and added a few twist of my own. Needless to say, the comments from several parents afterward was ... "It was very moving and memorable."

 

One important tip as they say ... plan, plan, and plan.

 

As for individual Dens, they do camp separately by each Den. Last year, I got our 1st Webelos together for a Webelos Overnighter (30 boys in all). I structured a program that allowed them to earn Forester, Outdoorsman, and Naturalist. We had a parent who happens to be a Conservationist working for the US Forestry Services ... He made something like boring the core of a tree to determine its age fun! That's why the "Parent Talent Survey" is so important!

 

Hope that helps.

 

Long

Cubmaster Pack 38

SugarLand, Tx

[sctmom 11]

Pack38Scouter, Thanks.

 

Please tell us what your town does to have 2 very strong packs. You have enough boys for 4 packs! What are you doing? (maybe a separate thread)

 

I'm already thinking ahead to next fall, if I'm the Webelos leader for this group, I will plan a Webelos overnighter in September. We have a good number of council approved sites to camp out, all very nice and within about an hour's drive.

 

I think the boys in this den all get along great together and would benefit from a few small group activities even at the family campout.

 

[ScouterPaul 11]

sctmom

Our Pack just came back from our District's Fall Camporee. We had 92 people from our Pack attend, we 77 camp on Saturday Night. We have at least four family campouts every year. We try to have the Webelos camp on Friday and Saturday nights and everyone else on Saturday. This allows the Webelos to experience the Webelos Outdoor Program and work on their Outdoorsman Badge and on Scout Skills. We have tried to have the dens all camp in the same area but have found it to be easier to have all the dens mixed together. This seems to create a feeling of friendship and belonging. We also utilize Pack Cooking instead of individual cooking. This allows the families to spend time with their sons and have a better experience. This past weekend we were able to provide three meals and cracker barrel(Lunch: Hotdogs, Chips, P-butter and Jelly, cookies Dinner: Chili, Stew, Cheesey Potate Cassarole, Brocoli Cassarole Breakfast: Cereal, Oatmeal Poptarts) we do not provide soft drinks. We provided all of this for only $5.00 per person with an actual cost of $3.25 with the additional money going to cover the existing supplies that we used.

[SR540Beaver 116]

They did a Flag Retirement ceremony at the end of our campfire at our overnighter this past weekend. I'm 45 years old and it was the first one I had ever seen. It was moving. It is a great addition to any campout and an educational experience for the Scouts and their families. Kids know the story of the flag, the pledge and how to show respect for the flag. Few have any idea of how to pay the final respect to the flag.

[Twocubdad 665]

Our Pack campouts are very similar to what Pack38Scouter described. We camped this past weekend and had about 80 boys and 50 adults for one part of the weekend or another. We don't try to segregate by den or rank. The families just pitch their tent where ever.

 

We usually have several formal program sessions -- usually working on beltloop. We try to have one breakout session where the boys work on rank advancements. Our Cubmaster runs the campfire and we try to leave time in the afternoon where the dens or other groups can plan skits. Two rules -- nothing too scary, and no bathroom jokes.

 

Food is a different story. When I joined the Pack they all cooked individually. Although we had significantly fewer campers then, that was a real hassle with mutiple cook fires scattered all over. It's also intimidating for a newby parent to have to worry about cooking. Setting up a tent is one thing, but camp cooking scared a lot of folks if they hadn't done it before. We got a lot of Poptart breakfasts and Beanie-weanie dinners.

 

Now, the Pack provides the food for everyone. This weekend, we charged $7 for four meals. But we're somewhat a victim of our own success. Shopping and cooking all weekend for 130 people is a HUGE job for several people. At our next committee meeting, we're going to have to talk a better way to structure things.

[janssenil 10]

I was getting desparate the end of summer because my Webelo I's were begging to camp. We're a very small, one year old Pack. The council seemed to come to the rescue by offering a campout. As it turned out, my Webelo Den was the only one that showed up!! It was great though! We had a blast. I did plan each meal and signed up each boy for prep & clean up.

 

As for meals, one that turned out particularly good was a breakfast sandwich made in a pie iron. I asked as many as possible to bring pie irons and, as it turned out, all of them brought one. My husband did scramble up the eggs before we left, but outside of that, everything cooked in the pie iron. Bread, cheese, ham and eggs on buttery, toasted bread.

 

Then we used the pie irons again that night for a snack of peach pie.

 

The other fun meal was the good ol' foil packets. The kids piled the greased tin foil high with veggies, pork, potatoes and barbque sauce. I think making them themselves made them taste better.

[sctmom 11]

"I think making them themselves made them taste better. "

 

You better believe it! I've seen my son eat things at campouts that he would never eat if I fixed it. If the toast is not the perfect golden brown at home, it's a big deal. Camping we ate burnt toast, no problem.

I tell parents that it is great to let them cook and you need to sit there and quietly eat what they fix you.