Holiday-time camping in Beavah-land

[Beavah]

Yah, so as I poll various troops around my neck of da woods, it seems an awful lot of 'em don't run any outdoors activities from early November until a fair ways after new years.

 

Now granted, we are up here where it really does get cold in da winter, and yeh can get some December blizzards . It also can be hard to let a troop full of lads loose at the wrong times in November, eh? Really isn't courteous to the fellows hopin' to find a deer within 5 or 6 miles

 

Still, this seems like a recent trend. I remember active troops used to get out in both November and December for at least one weekend. Now it seems more rare. "Too many things goin' on for the holidays" and such.

 

So I'm just curious: do your troops and crews (and packs) get out camping during "The Season", or do yeh choose not to go out because of the busy holiday season? What's the trend in your area?

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[thriftyscout]

 

Our troop in Northern Ohio camps through the winter. December and March can be unpredictable, January and February are usually below freezing but below zero (F) is rare. We get a cabin for the younger Scouts, optional for FC and up. In January we will do Camp Alaska, which is an overnight, pack in with improvised shelters at our local Council camp.

 

We will be cabin camping the weekend before Christmas. I was a little worried about attendance, a few moms actually seemed excited to have a little more free time just before the holiday.

 

[packsaddle]

Yeah, around here we don't appreciate how cold it gets in other parts of the country - or what 40 below really means. The boys in this unit think it's really something to have even a little snow or a frozen water bottle. Our cold weather campout (once a year) is usually at a higher elevation in the Appalachians near a ski resort so we can double up on the outing. But it's hard to justify the expense of gearing up for serious cold weather camping in this region.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[WAKWIB]

Our troop has a camp-out every month. In Missouri the weather is fairly unpredictable all year-round. Sudden storms in the summer. Mild one day and frigid the next during the winter. For example, yesterday it was nearly 60 degrees. Right now, as I write this, it's 16 with a wind-chill of below zero. The wind is like 30mph and we have snow coming down...well sideways actually.

A kid or adult in Scouting for a couple of years around here usually learns and acquires the equipment for all-weather camping. We'll usually do tent camping in all weather. We have done some cabin camping in the winter, but the cabins were unheated so I don't see much value other than keeping drier.

Next month is the district Klondike Derby. Hopefully we will have snow on the ground....or it could be sunny and 70 degrees. You just never know!!

 

[Nike]

My son's troop generally camps in Nov, has a day outdoor activity or just an overnight in Dec, and heads to the Alps for snow shelter camping one month and skiing the next in Jan and Feb. Most other troops here follow a similar schedule

 

Back in the States, the only months our old troops didn't camp was usually July/August due to the miserable weather, insects, and vacations.

(This message has been edited by Nike)

[Lisabob]

Many troops around here take December off, although they often have day activities, service projects, parties, regular meetings, CoHs, etc. So it isn't as though they aren't already busy. The issue in December is not the weather/snow/cold - it is people's already-packed family calendars. Squeezing in an activity that takes a couple hours, like any of the above, is easier than doing a whole weekend of camping.

 

I'm sure there are some troops in the area who don't do a lot of winter camping, but both my son's former troop and his current troop do camp the rest of the winter, besides December. Realistically, in MI and other parts north, Oct-April are possible snow camping months. Either you teach the boys how to camp in cold weather, or you hardly camp much at all.

 

[jhankins]

One troop I get to work with actually camps over Christmas. It's a family outing and everyone has a good time.

[Eagledad]

Most Oklahoma troops are year around campers. It's real cold today, but the biggest problem here is wind. It's kind of year round thing, so we get use to it. but temps in the low 20s and wind gust in the 40s like today is challenging. We occasionally get NO fire restrictions in dry months, so we have to get creative sometimes.

 

November has always been our most challenging month to plan because of all the council and district stuff going on.

 

Barry

[BklynEagle]

Hey Beavah, I thought "no eponymous threads"...

 

Seriously, though, my neck of the woods, there is generally a hiatus amongst most troops for December, not so much due to the weather but due to the varied holidays. However, just about everybody gets back into the swing of things in January.

[OldGreyEagle]

Some people never learn, then again I do have a sense of humor

[eagle90]

As I watch the snow flying in the 40 mph winds...

 

We outdoor camp April thru November, take December off. In January we do a ski trip, and do cabin camping in February and March.

[NJCubScouter]

Our troop does not camp during December, for the same reason given by Lisabob. Most people are just too busy and want their families together especially during the second half of the month, which is when our monthly camping trips tend to be. (There is a district first aid competition in early December but that is indoors.) It is not a matter of the cold -- and it does get pretty cold in New Jersey, especially in the "mountains" (that's what we call them anyway) in the northern part of the state which is where most of the popular campsites are. The troop does camp the rest of the "winter months" (which for these purposes include November, when it can be very cold and sometimes snowy, though not this year). January tends to be a cabin camping trip, but the February trip is usually in tents -- and in NJ at least, often February is the coldest month of all.

[packsaddle]

Looks like our plans for a December outing are about to be canceled now. Looks like most of the families are traveling over the holiday and re-scheduling the event might move it to January. Most of the families are traveling to the North, go figure. I guess I'm as guilty, another Christmas in NY. I'll be driving right by OGE, let's see, 4 times this season, and flying over NJ twice. Gad!

 

edit for typo(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[Platypus96]

My troop just got back from a snow tubing trip yesterday. Most of the troop stayed in a cabin, but my patrol pitched a tent about 150 feet away(working my way up to 300). Here in NY, cold weather get is pretty easy to come across, and it isn't hard to find snow. It was upsetting to wake up to a rain storm on Sunday morning though:).

[BrentAllen]

We were backpacking the weekend of Nov. 13, in the southern part of the state. We were horseback riding up on the TN/ NC border the first weekend of December, which has become an annual trip. We head north, hoping for some snow, and we have been successful the past two years. Sunday morning temps were 19 last year, and 29 this year. We had a blizzard (by Southern standards) blowing by mid-morning this year, which the boys loved. We don't get many chances to see snow while camping, so it is a big deal to us when it happens.