Tenderfoot
scouting
Promotion
Saturday
Camp Visit
Rainy Prep Day
Today we spent most of the day getting E ready for Scout Camp this week. Clothes, rain gear, miscellaneous supplies all packed into a big trunk. He went last year with a different troop because his uncle's family was coming from Poland during the week his troop was scheduled to go. But this year, this year will be great, he assured us. Last year was great, too, but this year...
Once we were done and could do something fun, the rain started...
The Boy Returns
Our first camping trip with scouts was exactly six years ago this weekend -- I didn't know that until I checked the way-back machine at the bottom of the page. I was with the Boy during that trip, and I made sure he kept warm. And there was no rain, so keeping dry was a simple issue.
This weekend he was alone, and I had no idea how it would go. We went about our weekend, including a lovely walk this morning, as if everything had gone perfectly.
Still, the questions from Friday's post lingered in our heads:
Did we prepare him well enough? Is he going to keep warm and dry this evening? Will he accidentally put his pack up against the wall of the tent and get his stuff wet? There’s no way to know until Sunday.
"Camping"
And so today, we found out.
"Did we prepare him well enough?" No, not really. We didn't send him with a tarp to put under his tent, so he had to bunk with two other boys, crammed into their tent.
"Is he going to keep warm and dry this evening?" Most definitely not: the tent leaked.
"Will he accidentally put his pack up against the wall of the tent and get his stuff wet?" No, he didn't do that, but the tent leaked badly enough that almost all his clothes got wet, so he was stuck with one tee-shirt and a pair of shorts for the rest of the trip.
But did he have fun? Most definitely.
"Did you want to give up?" we asked him.
"Yes, that first morning." But after he and the boys he bunked with hiked back to the cars with one of the adults to get a spare tent and take back all their wet stuff -- which was almost everything -- things were fine.
Fine, but tiring -- which you can see from the picture of his return:
Once we got home, and he took a shower and had some warm, tasty home cooking, he settled down with a cup of hot tea to relax for a couple of hours.
Camping
The Boy has headed off on his first solo backpack camping trip. They left today at four, with the plan of hiking about an hour to their first site.
Tomorrow morning, they pack up and head further into the Foothills Trail, camping one more night before heading back Sunday.
And of course, it's raining there right now. If it's raining like it is here, it's a light rain that shouldn't cause too much trouble.
But it's rain nonetheless. Did we prepare him well enough? Is he going to keep warm and dry this evening? Will he accidentally put his pack up against the wall of the tent and get his stuff wet? There's no way to know until Sunday.
Getting Ready for the Trip
The Boy is going on his first solo camping trip this weekend. He and seven other scouts are hiking in to the first site Friday afternoon, getting up Saturday, hiking most of the day, then setting up another site for the night. Sunday, they'll head back out.
This is not the camping he's used to, with a car nearby, potable water on tap within walking distance, and the ability to carry whatever kind of food one wants. It's all dehydrated meals and the like, and filtration for water after his initial supply is gone.
He's very excited about it.
Scout Family Campout Day 2
Scout Family Campout Day 1
