Newbie from GA

[ScoutersMom 10]

Greetings All!!

 

I have planned a pack 2 night camping trip to a State Park. I am having a dilemma.

I have been told that Cub Scouts MUST have running water and bathroom facilities (more for the parents than the scouts themselves) HOWEVER, where does Guide for Safe Scouting mandate this? Can someone please point me in the right direction. I have already gone through Baloo Training and I don't recall where the camp site requirements were stipulated.

 

Thank you for all your help

[scoutldr 732]

In our council, cub camping areas are approved by the Council camping committee. See if yours has a list of approved areas. I'm not sure if there's a rule or not...

[packsaddle 753]

I am unaware of such a requirement. However, back when I was cubmaster I never encountered a conflict like that. The pack committee would make the decisions regarding outings - and campouts in particular. The committee was very responsive to parental and familial interests so: 1) most of the decisions were agreeable to most of the parents, and 2) they never opted for 'primitive' camping conditions. We had running water, showers with hot water, and shelters in case of bad storms.

And we always had an absolute blast at each and ever campout, all of them two-nighters.

I love the cub scouts. I'd go back to them again if they needed me.

[FScouter 24]

The G2SS requirement is the pack overnighter be held at a council-approved location. Maintaining and providing a list of approved sites is a responsibility of the volunteer council camping committee. If you want to go somewhere not on the list, it needs to be inspected first to see if it meets the standards.

 

A significant portion of the BALOO training is devoted to health and safety including bathroom facilities and potable water. Water must be available; bottled water may be brought in if water is not available at the camp.

 

Also part of the BALOO training is the council site approval standards. You should have received a copy of the inspection form 13-508 (one of the 27 BALOO handouts).

[ScoutNut 147]

Welcome! And THANK YOU for taking BALOO training!

 

Go pull out all of the stuff you received when you took your BALOO training. In there you should have a listing of all approved Cub Camping facilities in your area. If your planned camp ground is listed you should have no worries.

 

If it is not listed, go back to your pile of BALOO stuff. One of the handouts you received should be the Pack Overnighter Site Approval Form. This is the form you can fill out and give to your council so that they can approve the site for Cub camping.

 

On the form it lists Mandatory Standards and optional Site Amenities.

 

Under the optional amenities (nice if they have it but not mandatory) is -

 

# 15 - Clean and warm showers are available for all campers.

 

Under the list of mandatory things a site MUST have is -

 

# 4 - Drinking water from an approved source is provided at convenient locations and is readily accessible.

# 9 - Each family site is within 300 feet of a sanitary toilet facility.

 

That's it.

 

So, bottom line - YES - Cubs must have drinking water available. However it can come from a well with a hand pump. There is no requirement for a sink with running hot and/or cold water. YES - Cubs must have bathroom facilities available. No back woods, dig your own cat hole or pack out your own poop camping for Cubbies. However, the bathrooms simply need to be sanitary. That means you do not need fancy buildings with flush toilets. Pit toilets are fine.

 

Have a great time!

 

BTW - When you filled out your BALOO course evaluation form, you DID check the box that said - YES! I would LOVE to help staff future BALOO trainings! didn't you!?

[scottteng 11]

Most if not all councils now have a list of approved cub scout camping facilities. This is part of the outing planning of BALOO training.

[ScoutersMom 10]

The park is in the list of approved camp grounds. I was just curious about the camp site itself.

The problem I was facing was that the state park's individual camp sites were $21 per site per night. Couldn't pitch tent on grass but you could on the gravel camper pad. I can only put 6 people MAX per camp site. If I get the numbers I'm expecting to go, then it would cost us a li'l over $200 for the weekend and that's before FOOD. The only good thing was that the full bathroom facilities were less than 10 feet away.

At the 'pioneer' site there is a water spigot and a pit toilet within walking distance and I can put almost 50 people there. From my interpretation of the GSS this was acceptable. So now I'm looking at $80 for the 2 nights instead of $200+. Wonderful!!

Well... as I was talking with another leader from another pack she started questioning me as to whether I was sure I was meeting the guidelines for cub scouts.... I was certain I was, but started to 2nd guess myself.. which is why I came to all of you.

(I would have gone back to look through all my training stuff which was outside in the shed with all my cub scout stuff, but with all the storms and tornadoes what went through here yesterday and this morning.. i wanted to stay inside safe and dry)

 

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU

For all your answers.

[ScoutNut 147]

Foe Pack camping I never use the regular, public campsites. As you have found out, even the primitive sites are WAY to expensive, simply because you are limited on the number of tents and people per site so you would have to have a lot of sites to cover all the families.

 

We always use the Youth Group Camp areas. Lots of room and a lot cheaper!

[kbandit 10]

Always ask if there is a scout discount. Some places have one others don't. Dosn't hurt to ask.

[Karen_216 10]

You may want to inquire if there are shower facilites somewhere in the park. This being a two nighter. The kids may not care but the adults may want a shower. Need not be at the site but maybe in the park somewhere?? An option is set up some type of "shower" hut to at least get a chance to sponge off.

I'm sure many out there have experience w/this.

Just a thought.

[fgoodwin 23]

ScoutersMom, welcome to the Forums.

 

Based just on what you've written here, its hard to know why "another leader from another pack" would think you may be out of compliance with Cub camping requirements. Its usually best to go right back to the source (i.e., the Scouter who raised the question) and ask them to show you in black and white why they think you might be out of compliance.

 

The best we can do is guess at her reasoning; but only she can answer that. Once she gives you her answer, we can certainly opine as to whether or not we agree with her. But short of an answer from her, we are just speculating.

[ScoutersMom 10]

She was under the impression (don't know why) that we had to have electricity, flushable toilets (i know they must be sanitary) and sinks with running water (as far as i knew we needed an acceptable source for drinkable water.. a spigot would suffice). I don't know where she got her information from, but I think she'll be happy to know that she doesn't have to do the 'pampered camping thing'

She said I must be lucky that I have my parents 'trained' that they would accept these conditions. (I laugh inside).

 

And to answer the concern about showers.. there are showers nearby.

Discounts? I WISH. Trust me I asked LOL. From what I can have gathered so far, none of the state parks offer a discount to scouts. (at least none of the ones I've contacted thus far)

 

Anyway.. now that the weather is looking better today, I went to get my Balloo training paperwork.. and I have spoken with our scout exec. I am in compliance with all requirements thus far.

 

Thank you all for helping ease my mind in the meantime.

 

SM

 

 

[Scouter&mom 10]

None of the GA state parks I have talked to have given us a discount either. We usually use the primitive sites when we take the troop (never taken the pack to a State Park). Don't forget to have your parents who have an Annual ParkPass to use them or allow you to use them. When we have been at State Parks, I have gone around to the regular campground showers and used them. Just make sure I have my Annual Pass hanging from mirror.

 

Another thought is check on camping at other BS camps nearby. For example, our camp is less than 100 miles from your location, and we have nice showers with hot water, heat, and electricity and even have electricity in some camp sites (gotta run fans during summer camp).

[ScoutersMom 10]

Scout&Mom...

 

What camp are you talking about? I would love to get more information about it. The only BSA camps we've been to since I've been involved is Camp Ben Hawkins and Camp Oglethorpe. We try to stay away from CBH as much as possible because that's where our pack attends Cub O Ree each year and Day Camp after school's out. We had a blast at Oglethorpe. Our pack parents were very impressed with the facilities there. We will definitely go again probably sometime in the late fall like we did this past year.

 

Thanks

 

[Scouter&mom 10]

Scoutersmom, you get my PM??