By Cameron Beem
This year’s first time campers was a blast! We started welcoming campers at about 8:00 to 9:00 am. Some of the volunteers had camped out the night before and planned, others were helping set up bright and early. We took all of the group pictures first, and we had a new patrol of campers this year, the orange patrol! While we took the pictures, the campers were learning about a new way to carry their water bottle, a jug knot! A jug knot is a knot tied just below the cap of the water bottle, and has a larger loop that can be worn around a campers torso. Next, we walked them down and helped them set up. I took some pictures here as well. Once they were set up, they enjoyed a lunch of burgers and hot dogs, while some of the scout volunteers started to prepare Dutch oven dinners. After lunch, campers were told about their super activities that they would be doing. They were birdwatching, gardening, archery, fly fishing, and new this year, a climbing wall!
The stewards (people who distribute food and take pictures and handle trash, etc.) took a lot of pictures of these events. The campers enjoyed all of the activities, and this went until about 5:00. During this time, I helped with lighting the Dutch oven dinners, and getting charcoal and matches. When the campers came back, they made small foil dinners, which had potatoes, vegetables, and different kinds of meat. They also had stew, (Because the foil dinners were small) which they really enjoyed. Then, I was just walking around, taking some pictures, and I saw Katie Feng, one of the leaders of this program. So, I went up and asked her if I could be the MC (Master of Ceremonies) for the campfire that evening. She said yes, because she knew that I did a lot of acting, and had a pretty loud voice. So after dinner, I announced the skits and quieted down the campers, and I think I did pretty well, even though the campers were quite a rowdy bunch, and I had to quiet them down often. So after the campfire, which of course had marshmallows, I sat down in a circle for cracker barrel. Cracker barrel is when all of the volunteers go and talk about things that went well, didn’t go well, and things that they were looking forward to, or were waiting to see improved. After the cracker barrel, I went up to the big tent and slept. And even though there was a lot of thunder, I slept like a rock.
The next morning, we went to get breakfast ready for the campers. They had all noticed the pouring rain and lightning last night, but it didn’t seem to affect that they slept well. After breakfast, they did more super activities, which were all based on the trail. While they were gone, we cleaned up trash and got ready for lunch, which was sandwiches. After lunch, everyone enjoyed a closing ceremony, and we took closing group pictures, and the campers left. It was a great event, and a great cause!
