Sleeping in Cars

[resqman 108]

MLK weekend council camp along the North Carolina coast holds a 3 day mini-summer camp style merit badge weekend. Typical evening temps are under 32. For southern lads who may see couple inches of snow once every 5 years or so, that is cold weather camping. Troop arrived on Friday night with temps expected to be in the teens. Camp Staff offered to put the troop in the mess hall for the evening if we felt it necessary. Scouts had packed and prepared for cold weather camping. They declined the camp staff offer. All scouts and adults slept in nylon 3 season tents all weekend. 12 degrees Friday nite. Doubled to 25 degrees Sat nite. Badge of honor for the scouts. Troop policy is the adults are expected do everything the scouts are expected to do. No special priviledges for adults other than coffee. Any adult sleeping in a car would be laughed at by rest of the troop.

[Renax127 70]

My first year with the Cub Scouts the pack went on a cold weather camping trip to a state park that had a heated dining hall. We slept in unheated (built in the 40's) cabins. Over night the second night it got down to 20 degrees, me and all of my Tigers stayed in the cabins all night just fine. One of the adult leaders (an Eagle)slept in the heated dining hall, I lost a little respect for him.

 

That sad even when I go with Boy Scouts if it's a car camping trip I take me cot, still sleep in a tent though no matter what.

[Gone 435]

That sad even when I go with Boy Scouts if it's a car camping trip I take me cot' date=' still sleep in a tent though no matter what.[/quote'] Your boys plan car camping trips?!

[Renax127 70]

Your boys plan car camping trips?!

 

Well not regularly, but in North FL there are only so many places to weekend camp where you can hike/canoe in so 2-3 times a year end up being car camping. Summer camp tends to be HA stuff.

[packsaddle 753]

I slept in the back of a Ford Pinto with a girl once back when I was 20-something. Can't remember sleeping in a car since...ok, the sleeper car on the Southern Crescent but I'm guessing that's not what this is about.

The whole car thing can be avoided if you hoist your gear on your back and leave the car behind, miles behind. Rain, under those conditions, will also teach boys about being prepared. Adults too.

[Gone 435]

Well not regularly, but in North FL there are only so many places to weekend camp where you can hike/canoe in so 2-3 times a year end up being car camping. Summer camp tends to be HA stuff.

Wow, really? No state parks or scout camps nearby? No national parks? No military property? Private property?

 

I feel lucky having so many national and state parks nearby, as well as local private land we can use. I would have though FL would be teaming with places to go. Or at least head over the border to GA or AL to see what they have. Or maybe that's too far.

 

The only time I could see my unit in cars was in case of lightning with no better options for shelter...or in the event of emergency.

[LeCastor 641]

@mozartbrau, I don't think @Renax127 is referring to "car camping" as sleeping in cars. Rather, "car camping" is driving to the camp ground and pitching tents, cooking with Dutch ovens, etc, as opposed to packing everything in and leaving the heavy stuff behind. Or am I mistaken.? There's definitely plenty of good places in Northern Florida.

[Renax127 70]

Wow, really? No state parks or scout camps nearby? No national parks? No military property? Private property?

 

I feel lucky having so many national and state parks nearby, as well as local private land we can use. I would have though FL would be teaming with places to go. Or at least head over the border to GA or AL to see what they have. Or maybe that's too far.

 

The only time I could see my unit in cars was in case of lightning with no better options for shelter...or in the event of emergency.

 

Not sure we are speaking the same language, car camping means driving right up to the camp site, not sleeping in a car. And there are plenty of places close by to camp but only so many that hiking in is really an option and are clos enough to be a real option to make on a Friday after 8 hours of school/work.

 

Yeah they could hike into one of the scout camps along a paved road or the other close one on a dirt road but why other than to prove you can walk a couple miles on a road with a backpack. It doesn't offer any particular challenge or anything interesting to look at.

 

Not to mention even boys on occasion like to take it easy.

[Gone 435]

 

Not sure we are speaking the same language, car camping means driving right up to the camp site, not sleeping in a car.

ROFL...you had me worried there. I was picturing an troop camping in cars every month.

[King Ding Dong 540]

Now that could be different. Junk Yard camping. Bet the GTSS hasn't thought of that one yet.

[LeCastor 641]

Green Bar Bill said hitch-hiking wasn't "real hiking". Can you IMAGINE what he'd say if he read the OP?! From the stories I've heard about Hillcourt, he would have been the first to sleep out in the meadow even BEFORE JBlake47 got there--all the way into his 80s. In fact, there was one story where he went to a jamboree and stood in the rain with the Scouts while the executives stood under a tent. Get out there and do what the Scouts are doing!

 

(Now I do understand that there are going to be exceptions, sure. But we know when to make that call and when it's just refusing to be one of the Scouts...)

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Thanks for sharing, Packsaddle.

 

The one time I remember an adult leader sleeping in his car, it had nothing to do with cold or rain. Apparently, the other adult in the tent was snoring SO LOUDLY and incessantly that this leader fled from the tent and found quieter pastures in his car.

 

I only found out about this incident the next morning when I woke up in the tent and found my tent-mate missing, and put two and two together.

 

(Get it? And what made me feel really bad about it was, we were both using HIS giant-size air mattress, and I ended up using it by myself.)

[packsaddle 753]

Have to say that was pretty clever, NJ, don't feel bad about it. FWIW, that wouldn't work on me. I can sleep anytime, anyplace. It really irritates my wife...she'll be in the middle of a rant and then...zzzzzzz. Like I said, clever.

[Rick_in_CA 401]

The one time I remember an adult leader sleeping in his car' date=' it had nothing to do with cold or rain. Apparently, the other adult in the tent was snoring SO LOUDLY and incessantly that this leader fled from the tent and found quieter pastures in his car.[/quote']

There is a reason I don't share my tent with anyone else. Unless they have really good ear plugs.

[Oldscout448 697]

OA ordeal 1978, it was a clear October night about 45 degrees, we bedded the candidates down, and in the morning we were one short. Counted 'em again, still one short. Searched the trail, then the whole area, nothing. Sent back for more people, and the list of names. While the advisers did a roll call, and found that it was a scouter missing, we found the flattened leaves where the missing candidate had been, but still no sign of him. Calling his name, about 25 of us formed a search line and swept the hill top north-south, then east-west. Still nothing. Other scouts checked every building in camp without results. We were getting past concerned and into scared. Do we call the police? or his wife? About then someone got a bright idea " Check and see if his car is still here." We ran for the parking area to check. It was and guess who was sleeping in it! Some how he made his way about half a mile off the hill to his van in the wee hours of the morning, because he was getting a bit cold, and the van had a heater.