September Outing – Canoe Trip
By Jason J. (Bears Patrol Historian)
On an early Saturday morning, we arrived at the church around 7:00 am. It took us a while to get on the road, but soon we found ourselves on the border of Virginia and Maryland.
From our campsite, it was pretty easy to spot the Potomac River. The first thing we did was to get in our swimming gear, and that took us at least 30 minutes. The River & Trail Outfitters helped us get our paddles, life jackets, and our canoes. At the riverbank, the leader gave us a short talk about river safety and river procedures.
We were on the water very quickly, and soon were paddling down the river. There were lots of stops to regroup, and halfway through we had to switch partners to compensate the size difference. Younger scouts had to be with older scouts, and older scouts and to be with older scouts. That way, there wasn’t any group that was far behind or was moving too quickly.
After a few hours, we arrived at our camp. Originally, we were supposed to eat lunch at camp and continue canoeing, but at the camp we were so tired that Mr. Pan said that we weren’t going to do any more canoeing for the day. Nobody objected. After we put the canoes away, we went back to the campsite to pitch our tents and make lunch.
After lunch, there was rank advancement for 2 hours. Then, we had free time. As time flew, we started to make dinner. Soon, dinner was ready, everyone ate and cleaned up to get ready for the campfire. During the campfire, we talked about how we did during the day. Thirty minutes later, we ended the campfire and crashed into our sleeping bags.
The next morning, we packed up and left the campsite. Even though many of us flipped over into the frigid waters, everyone still had fun canoeing.
Canoeing Trip Historian Report
By James Y. (Scorpions Patrol Historian)
On a Saturday morning, September 26th, we left St. Francis Church at around 7:40. After a one hour drive, we arrived at Brunswick Family Campground in Maryland. Brunswick Family Campground is right next to the Potomac River. We stood there for a brief moment before we all headed upstream the river in a bus.
An instructor taught us about safety and lifejackets, and then we tried out lifejackets and paddles. Then, two people, partners, would carry the heavy canoe down a winding, tricky trail, finally ending at a small area of sand. We sat in our canoes as the instructors taught us about many things – what to do if you flip over, how we communicate, how to paddle, etc. Finally, we pushed off and started paddling the shallow water.
Paddling wasn’t too hard for some. However, many got caught on rocks and flipped over, and had to flip over their boat again out of the cold, wet water. After a period of time, the instructors would slow down and we would wait for everyone else, and take long breaks. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind swept against us and some younger scouts had trouble keeping up. We paired up older scouts with younger scouts and continued to paddle three rapids in a row. Some people even tipped over.
We eventually paddled the rest of the halfway until we passed the bridge from where we began, and saw the docking area. We docked and pulled up our canoes and gear up the ramp, finished with our task. We took so long we didn’t have to do the rest of the other five miles.
When we arrived at our campsite, we ate our cold lunch we had brought. However, not only did we need to set up our tents, but also, it took almost two hours! Us Scorpions combined with the Eagles and set up our tents in a row together on one of the far sides. We then began an instructional session teaching younger scouts Fireman/ Totin’ Chip; older scouts did certification stuff. Younger scouts gathered firewood, logs, and kindling for the fire. After we had finished, it started getting dark, so we started making dinner. Some scouts picked berries around the campsite, made themselves look infected with purple stains, and started chasing each other around.
Cooking was good for teaching new scouts and learning how to dig Dutch oven. Not only that, but also, we had a surprise cooking competition. I was surprised that my patrol, with only three people and none of them as older scouts, were able to cook something on our own. We had to do our best: cut tomatoes and lettuce, cook tortillas and ground beef in a Dutch oven, and wrap everything up with salsa. We had so much extras we were able to share with scouts from other patrols. After dinner and cleanup, we sat by the campfire and ate s’mores. When we finished the skits, jokes, and announcements, we hummed scout vespers and went to sleep.
We woke up in the morning around 7:00, and started making a required breakfast. Soon after eating and cleanup, we took down our tents and stowed our belongings away. We did police lines and picked up trash off the ground. We did our Sunday Service and took a group photo. And then we went home to St. Francis Church.
I thought the canoe trip was good for the new scouts and a memorable experience. The canoeing and rapids were fun and the food was great.
