For our February camping trip, we were joined by Troop 3 Gaspee. The Cub World Castles campsite has three bunk houses; Troop 8 used two bunk houses and Troop 3 used the third and we shared the common area. Troop 3 Gaspee is one of a handful of girl troops (within BSA Scouts) in the area and they have been growing quickly since their inception last year. Ranging from 11-15 years old, with the highest rank being Second Class, these scouts can go head to head with any of the other, longer running scout troops. They proved themselves in the Klondike Derby at Buck Hill on Saturday where they competed against 50 other teams and took home 4 ribbons!
On Friday night, our troop arrived at camp around 6:15p and the boys followed our usual protocol of getting water boiling for dinner and getting their personal gear setup in their bunkhouses. For dinner, we had Ramen noodles and cheese quesadillas. It was a fairly uneventful night with lights out at approximately 11:00p.
In the morning, Troop 8 scouts were up by 7am to start their morning duties, including making breakfast which consisted of pancakes, sausage, and hash browns. At 11:00a, we started the “Troop 8 Mini-Klondike 2020”. As I mentioned in the email leading up to the camping trip, there was a Klondike Derby at the Buck Hill Campground about a mile away. However, since we could not get enough volunteers to create a crew, we decided to hold our own Klondike-like event.
Our “Troop 8 Mini-Klondike 2020” consisted of 5 events. The adult leaders were proud to see every patrol was able to complete all five events… and do them well. Events included lighting a fire using just a striker and magnesium (no matches or lighters), tying five required Boy Scout knots, locating and identifying at least 5 different types of trees or shrubs, demonstrating axe skills by splitting logs, and lastly preparing a meal in a cast iron Dutch oven using all the ingredients provided to each patrol. Each event was scored and a winner was named. I won’t say which patrol came in first, but I will say the adult patrol did not have to do any of the other patrol’s chores .
For dinner, the scouts cooked grilled chicken and rice with vegetables. For desert, we had a cake that Troop 3 made to thank us for sharing our space with them over the weekend.
After dinner, the troop did a full clean-up of the area to make the clean-up in the morning easier. And for the rest of the night, the scouts either stayed inside playing board games, hanging out in their bunk, or sitting around the camp fire until it was time to go to bed.
Troop 8 Cranston, RI 