Troop 804 - Summer Camp 2015 Camp Mountaineer, Fairmont, WV

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

Home!

Well, everybody is home now and we're sure most have already taken a nap. Scouts (and Scouters) were even more tired than expected thanks to an overnight thunderstorm that came through starting about 3:45am and lasting over an hour. It brought lots of thunder, some spectacular lightning, and periods of impressive downpour to help keep the mud in ample supply. Only the deepest of sleepers could sleep through this storm.

The official wake-up call was 6am. Scouts were told to pack all of their gear and to disassemble their cots before leaving their tents. Once the tents were squared away, including tents being swept, everyone piled personal gear on a pair of tarps and then set to taking care of shared areas. Several enjoyed watching a very spunky mouse poke around in Ted Durig's tent without seeming bothered at all by the big bipedal primates (ask first-year "Mammal Study" Scouts what that means!).

Once all the gear was piled on the tarps and the public areas were cleaned (and, sadly, the "lost-and-found" was overflowing), the gear was loaded onto a camp truck for transport to the parking lot where the bus was to pick us up. The Troop hiked for the final time to the Dining Hall, got breakfast, and started waiting... and waiting... and waiting... Eventually, we hiked up to the parking lot and waited there some more. While there, Nathan Gregory led about half the Troop in a series of increasingly bizarre chants that started with things like "8-0-4", moved on to "Zur-Bine, Zur-Bine", and eventually included chanting a near-random assortment of words having nothing to do with anything. All at full volume!

Finally, the bus arrived. It was loaded, boys piled on, and away we went. We arrived back at Severn Run church about 45 minutes late but at least the weather was great.

It was a great week at "Camp Mudineer"! Final statistics are not yet compiled, but we may have set Troop records in merit badges taken and completed. We'll know more at the Court of Honor. At least two dozen Scouts participated in one or more daily runs. 20 first-year Scouts earned their first merit badges. Adults took over 2,600 pictures (of which just under 700 were shown on the blog), recorded 33 video clips, got approximately 120 naps (mostly by Armando Morell), and got a cumulative total of about 20 hours of sleep. Most were pretty loopy by bedtime each night and it was very entertaining to listen to them talk about things that made no sense and punctuated by head jerks and snorts. We will rehash the week at both Tuesday's "Post-Summer Camp Party" and the September Court of Honor. In the meantime, many thanks to all the adults who took a precious week of vacation and gave it to the boys and to the families at home who let them go roll in the mud.

See you next year!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/18/2015 10:35:31 PM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  

Packing Up To Return Home!

Our last day began with a great morning - warm and clear - and about two dozen boys and adults woke for the final daily run. The breakfast of french toast sticks was popular. Many merit badge stations were mostly completed yesterday so today was just wrapping up some details and having fun. All week, the boys have been responsible for setting tables, serving food, and cleaning up - so don't let them tell you that they can't do those things at home!

Afternoon classes were not held, replaced by "Camp-wide Games". One of our Patrols, the Astro Vikings led by Ryan Carney, was the overall winner! Another achievement for the day included the completion of the mile swim - for the 4th time - for Scout Aaron Carlisle.

Also in the afternoon, the senior leadership - SPL Brandt Kindness and ASPLs Zach T Alexander, Matt Morell, and Tim Shade - were taken out for an ice cream after working very hard all week. While they were gone, PL Andrew Lukas served as "acting SPL" (and last night, the PLC - "Patrol Leaders Council" - was run by the Assistant Patrol Leaders, giving the Patrol Leaders the night off).

At the closing campfire, the Troop offered 3 presentations, including a great story told by Josh Saderholm. Today was also Josh's 18th birthday, and so this week also marked his final activities as a Boy Scout.

The weather today was fantastic but we hear that we may get rain overnight and perhaps in the morning. That's good, because approximately 1% of the mud has started to dry so more rain is desperately needed lest walking around become clean and easy. The boys have had a great time but are VERY ready to come home to soft beds, great meals, clean floors, and sleeping late! They are tired, smelly, and mud-covered - but also accomplished, successful, and walking just a bit taller.

See you soon!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/17/2015 11:46:37 PM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Winding Down!

The weather tonight was very nice - sunny and warm (but not hot) all day. More than two dozen woke at 6am for the daily run. In many summer camps, Thursday is an evening off for the dining hall staff, with Troops cooking in their own campsites. This camp does this one better: they close the dining hall all day! But, we made special arrangements to be able to have breakfast and lunch in the dining hall (which we had to ourselves). We did cook our own dinner ("sliver turtles" - foil packs with meat, carrots, onions, and potatoes cooked in the fire) and it went very well.

Many merit badges finished classes today, so there was a flurry of activity trying to finish things up. First-year Scouts completed all three of their merit badges, and many other Scouts are also completing badges. There will be classes tomorrow morning, but tomorrow afternoon there are no classes and instead there will be "Camp-wide Games."

The Troop was given a special session on the zip line - very cool - with more than half the Troop participating.

Every boy has been to the showers at least once, although the mud seems to attack them the minute there is a clean spot. The mud is still everywhere (the picture above is a sample of nearly every square inch of our camp). Otherwise, we are beginning to plan for departure and are eager to get home!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/16/2015 11:27:34 PM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  

Finally Saw The Sun!

It rained pretty steadily overnight - following yesterday's rains - leading to enormous amounts of mud pretty much everywhere. Most of the younger Scouts seem to relish "falling" (although the falls always seem to be preceded by "Watch This!" so "diving" or "sliding" might be better terms), and so they are probably bringing home several pounds of West Virginia soil in their clothes. A careful outdoor hose-down might be prudent before letting them back into your home!

The rain did put a bit of a damper on the early part of the day. The morning run had to be scrubbed because of thick fog, mud everywhere, and too little light. Morning assembly was done in raincoats, and a few morning classes had to change plans (ie. can't shoot rifles at paper targets in the rain). But, the boys' spirits were fine and the rain ended by mid-morning. We saw the first direct sun in a few days about 2pm, and it actually got downright pleasant in the late afternoon. The clearing skies also meant that it would get colder at night and the predicted low for the evening is about 52 degrees.

First-year Scouts continued working on skills in the morning - more knife safety, some additional knots, and another cool game ("the stick game"). In the afternoon, they worked of food chains, rock identification, and staining of a leaterhwork craft. A big highlight was a special session on the rifle range where they each got to take some shots at paper targets. One Scout got a bullseye (sorry, I don't remember who it was! He should be the one to report it anyway!).

Tonight was also a special camp-wide campfire that included a "call out" for the Order of the Arrow (OA). OA is often called Scouting's "Honor Society" and the boys are elected by their fellow Scouts. Tonight, the Troop elected Ryan Carney, Josh Dempsey, Ben Gardner, and Matthew Morell. Congratulations to all of them!

We are looking forward to some more sun tomorrow - and maybe some drying of the mudholes. More tomorrow!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/16/2015 12:46:51 AM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Doing great at Summer Camp!

It rained - heavy at times - overnight last night. But - for the first time - all of our tents are brand new and did extremely well. In fact, not only do we have new tents, we also have aluminum frames (as opposed to the crooked creaky wood frames we've always had before). So, although the sound of the rain woke many up at 4am, nobody got wet. The rain also interfered with our morning run so we had to cut it a little short, maybe a half-mile.

We also experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms later in the day but luckily it was during dinner and we didn't have to walk through the rain at all. We did stay in the dining hall (with a movie) after dinner for a short time waiting for the storm to clear, which it did by about 7:30. Unfortunately, the rain interfered with the delivery of mail to the camp, so our mail call today was very small. It should a huge mail call tomorrow!

Some of the older boys taking the Cooking merit badge cooked some interesting things for lunch today - including some interesting deep-fried dumplings seen in one of the pictures (tasted by one of the adults, who declared them very good).

First-year Scouts learned some knot skills, practiced with a map and compass, and got some hands-on with an axe. They also played a cool game called "Helicopter" (seen in the pictures) that they will be thrilled to tell you about when they get home. In the afternoon, they worked in Mammal Study (including learning the classification system for animals and debate about whether humans are in the Order of placental or non-placental mammals); Nature, in which they had to find evidence of many different kinds of plants and animals; and Leatherwork, in which they began work on a wristband. More importantly, they are really bonding as a group and continuing to learn the Scouting way.

Overall, things are going quite well. The boys are having a great time, are well fed, and are sleeping reasonably well. All but the oldest are in bed by 10pm - after brushing teeth - and wake-up time is 6am for runners, and 6:45 for others.

posted by Dave Shade at 7/14/2015 11:40:37 PM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


A great day at Summer Camp!

Today was a day of firsts - first full day in camp, first breakfast, first classes, first mail call, and more - with some great cooperation from Mother Nature. We were prepared for a fair amount of rain and the possibility of thunderstorms, but instead we got only a few brief sprinkles. The day began at 6am with about 25 of the boys rising extra-early to take a morning run (our "Capt. Dan Daily Run" tradition). Many classes begin with reviews of safety and backgraound material, which is not always "fun" but is necessary. Classes tend to become more active after the first day.

A big - BIG! - plus for the day was our first mail call. We completely overwhelmed the Camp's post office - we had so many packages that they couldn't wait for us to pick them up and instead the staff took the extraordinary step of delivering them to our campsite. We make a very big show out of "mail call" - with lots of cheering as each recipient is announced. The boys really love getting mail! Even better, the mice love it when the boys get food!

The first-year Scouts spent the morning working on flag ceremony skills, tent pitching, knife safety, and fire building - and a very good game called "Over the Barrel". In the afternoon, they began working on their first merit badges (Mammal Study, Nature, and Leatherwork). They also got to visit the Trading Post, where several bought t-shirts and some bought small pocket knives. Tuesday's plan includes a nature walk, some hands-on leather crafting, and more Scout skills.

The food here is served "family style" - which means that bowls and plates are placed on the table (by our boys) and then they are passed around. Today's food included pancakes and sausgage patties, subs, and pasta with meat sauce.

Today's blog could not be complete with a shout-out to the Baldwin Hall Mouse. May he or she enjoy the cheese... we sure did.

posted by Dave Shade at 7/14/2015 12:31:01 AM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Greetings from Camp Mountaineer!

After a slightly bumpy start (the bus driver went back to get a second bus after finding that the DVD player was not working on the first one), the trip this morning went very smoothly. We arrived at Camp exactly on time at about 1pm, unloaded the gear, and started touring the camp. The tour included medical checks, swim tests, and orientation about the dining hall procedures.

After the tour, we had our first Camp dinner, went back to the campsite to do some setup, and then went to our opening campfire.

We did get a little rain but nothing too significant. It actually got a little chilly - maybe low 60's - but as they say, it's great sleeping weather.

Tomorrow the boys will start their "classes" and really get into a rhythm. The trading post was not open to our Scouts today but the adults did field about three dozen "When can we go to the trading post?" questions.

So far, things are going great. All of the the boys are doing well - with lots of smiles and laughing and playing. We didn't take as many pictures as we hoped but will try to take more tomorrow!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/13/2015 12:38:17 AM

   
   

(The pictures are from last year. Click on small pictures to see larger views.)

Welcome to the 2015 Troop 804 Summer Camp Blog! It is almost time to go! This year we are taking 61 Scouts and 9 adults to Camp Mountaineer in Fairmont, West Virginia, where we expect great times, sunny days, and no rain! Our trip is being coordinated by ASM Ted Durig.

Each evening we will do our best to post lots and lots of pictures and some stories of the day. We do get busy and sometimes the internet doesn't cooperate out in the wilds so please be patient if postings are delayed.

Hopefully the Scouts are all getting ready - don't forget to help them double-check their packing lists and not wait until the last minute - and make sure they know where things are, especially their swim gear.

Feel free to comment on any posts... but bear in mind that this is not a good way to ask questions of the adult leaders (we hope we will be able to check email, but urgent issues should always be communicated by calling one of the contacts listed on the Summer Camp page on the Troop website).

If you have questions about the blog, ask now - before we are off to "the backcountry"!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/6/2015 1:18:55 AM