The Scribe's Report:

The February Campout was the first campout for the new Scout patrol. It was raining when we arrived at the campsite and the Viper Patrol had some problems setting up their campsite. The new Scout Patrol performed the flag ceremony and cooked their own dinner. The Viper Patrol made a Polish Sausage stew which Senior and some of the adults went crazy for. The Scorpion Patrol made Fettuccini Alfredo, which reportedly was tasty also. The new Scout Patrol made chili. The new Quartermasters had some difficulty packing everything into the trailer, but with help from the rest of the troop, they finally got it done.

During the campout, we had to practice Scouting Skills, such as knot tying and building a bridge. Assistant Seniors took us on a hike over a muddy road. One of us had to be blindfolded and led by two of our fellow Scouts. Our new Chaplain's Aid, Sam S., gave a scripture reading while it was raining sleet under the trees.

When we got back to Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, it was snowing ... which made it "fun" trying to get things from the trailer to the troop's equipment closet. A lot of us had to take tents and tarps home to dry out.

It was a successful campout and the new Scout Patrol seemed to enjoy their first campout as Scouts in Troop 168.

-- Your scribe, Alex S.

From the Scoutmaster's perspective

In February, we changed our scheduled campout from McMurtry to Kickapoo so that we could better accomplish sending representatives to Pack 98’s crossover and so that some of our visiting Webelos could better come out on Saturday.  As it turns out it was probably a wise choice as Stillwater got hammered with 8 inches of snow on Sunday morning.

Although Kickapoo was pretty muddy, it would have really been a chore to leave McMurtry through the back gate and up the narrow, steep, rough, and muddy road next to Mr. Rose’s house.  The patrols all did a good job of camp activities.  The new scouts, under the leadership of Nick B., and Chris J. were the first to have camp set up and were the first to be broken down.  Scorpions and Vipers – I can tell that you will be pushed all the way from these new Scouts, so you need to step up a notch.

The main focus of this campout was cooking.  All the patrols were challenged to cook a breakfast and dinner that they had not tried before and at least took a moderate amount of thought and preparation.  I got back too late from the crossover at Pack 98 to sample any of the food, but I got reports that every patrol did well on their cooking.

Sunday morning, just as everyone was in the process of fixing breakfast, the Camp Master came by and gave us the news that the northern part of the state was getting hit hard with snow.  He advised us to break camp early.  We were through packing by a little after 10:00 am and Sam S. had a scripture reading while we stood under the trees trying to avoid the sleet.  When I announced that we would go directly to the Church and bypass our normal stop for a snack, I was surprised that all the Scouts chimed in “good”.

 -- Allen