From the Scribe's Notebook:

We were very excited as we met in the parking lot of the IGA store.  Many of the Scouts were going to summer camp for the first time.

We arrived Sunday afternoon, unloaded the trailer and moved into our tents.  We spent some time visiting with friends.

On Monday the camp people told us we needed to make a “troop gadget”.  We decided to make a gate.  Using tent poles and lashings we made a frame.  We hung our troop sign and our flags on it.  Three Scouts were chosen to head this project; Addison H., Jack B. and Gavin P.  All of the new scouts helped with the project.

On Tuesday we got some free time and many of our troop decided to play some tetherball.  Scouts from other troops played too.  We kind of had a tournament, Dustin M. & his opponent played hard during a match that lasted 22 minutes.  Our Sr. Patrol Leader, Nathan H.  powered a fan using a 6 volt battery.

On Wednesday many of the scouts in our troop earned their Firem’n Chit’s by building a “tee-pee fire” at our campsite.

By Thursday we were getting a little tired but David M. was still seen taking lots of pictures.

Friday at summer camp usually we get some free time but our troop usually does a service project for the camp we are at.  We had noticed there would be a better view of the lake from the dining hall if some of the tree limbs were cut back so that is what we did for them.  Everyone helped.  Some of our Scouts also hiked to the falls area.  Ron C. and Josh A. had to make a “tarp tent” and sleep outside for part of a merit badge.  Jack B. and Dustin M. joined them, just for fun.

When Saturday came we had to break camp and load the trailer.  We were all very tired and ready to go home.  We were finally ready to leave Camp Slippery Falls.

From the Scoutmaster's perspective:

SUMMER CAMP WAS A BLAST!!  We had pretty decent weather.  The days were pretty warm, but it cooled off nicely at night.  Except for Thursday evening.  We were getting ready to go to the dining hall when the camp alarm was sounded.  The entire camp squeezed into the dining hall due to some potentially severe thunderstorms.  Luckily all we got was some thunder, lightning., rain and a little bit of high wind.  The wind only collapsed a couple of our tents so we were pretty lucky.  Mr. Brouster, who was coming to camp that evening, had to drive through that mess and try to find us in the pouring rain.

 The boys showed varying levels of increased maturity, and everyone got along pretty well.  We worked on being a “sharp troop” during the week.  Each day we got a little better.  Toward the end of the week, Mr. Pearson introduced the boys to marching.  With only a few minutes of instruction, they caught on pretty fast  and enjoyed it so much that they wanted to do it again.

 I would like to take this time to thank everyone who either drove, camped or both.  I would also like to thank Mr. Luff for driving down on Wednesday, just to bring some refreshments.  To put on the Boy Scout Program, it takes a lot of adults, volunteering a lot of hours.  We can’t do it with just a few.  Between monitoring the swim tests, driving and camping, there were 16 different adults involved.  About 1 for every two boys who attended.  Three of those adults did not have a child attending camp.  While that is a fairly impressive number, there is always room for more.