Alternative Summer Camp

[wagionvigil]

We are in the process of long term planning on Camp use. What would you think of a camp that offered no Merit Badghes per se. you could arrange a counselor for certain MB to come to you. Your troop would be responsible for their own program and traditional camp facilities would not be used except the COPE Course. The camp would not cook for you but would provide your ingredients for your in campsite meals. the camp would provide rangers to assist in your program and limited transportatiion to local high Adventure areas where you could Cave,Whitewater raft etc. This is being looked at for troops with older scouts or for troops that just would like to do their own thing for a week.

[WVBeaver05]

I'm sure that there are Troops that would go for this type of camp, but it wouldn't be what we would look for.

A few years ago we had about a 3 year gap with no new Scouts, so we had older Scouts (mostly Star and Life) and brand new ones. The older ones wanted "something different" and the younger ones needed T-1st Class. They chose a camp that let the older boys do a week of "Mountain Man", but had a T-1st Class program for the new boys. Worked great. (The older Scouts got no Merit Badges - BTW.)

For a well spread out Troop, I would worry that the older Scouts would want to focus on the "high adventure" type stuff and there would not be anyone left to work with the younger ones.

Might be a really good option for a good sized Troop that could "split" and send the older guys to this camp while the younger and middle Scouts went to a traditional one.

Just my thoughts, I'm sure there are other situations that don't come to my mind that it would work well for, too.

YiS

[scoutmasterbob]

If you check with your Council, I think that you will find that they have camps as you describe.
They are High Adventure Camps that cater to the older scouts and dont build thier program around merit bages but High Adventure activities.
The most popular one we have here in the Great Salt Lake council is the Teton High adventure Base.
It has canoeing white water rafting and kyaking and there is no emphasis on MBs.
We have another 3 day camp at Bear Lake Aguatics that conentrates on firearms and firearm safety. For 3 days all the boys do is laren about firearms and practice shooting.
Your summer camp experience should be tailored to your troop and your troop members needs.

[wagionvigil]

In the original post I might have not said it But meant it I am on the Council Committee that is planning the long term use of our camps. the camp we plan on changing was at one time this type of camp and later it was converted to a cub camp when troops decidd they wanted all the comfiorts of home. Now there seems to be a swing back to the outdoors and traditional scouting activities. Fire Building, Cooking on a fire and not a gas stove, lashing orienteering etc.

[Mrw]

I think it sounds great myself. But then again, our boys have been paying lip service to wanting to do more high adventure type stuff without actually any follow-through at all.

I even said I would go weekend back-packing with them if they needed additional old folks to make it work! (And if you knew me very well, you would know that is a bit out of character!) Never actually been inclined to do that myself, but if it gets them going I will try it and pretend to have fun, even if I really hated it.

I get teh sense that our older boys are a little bored by traditional summer camp, but if there was a better option closer to home than Tinnerman or the like with a somewhat planned program to help them out, they would be more likely to do that. Since you are not all that far from us, make sure you let me know if this works out and maybe I can push them to do something a little different for once.

[pipestone1991]

We go to our own.

[mhjacobson]

When I was on camp staff years ago, we had a program called the "Lone Troop" where one section of our camp was for troops who wanted to do exactly what you want to do. We even had a program where we would drop off the food for the troop to cook. The rest of the camp facilities were available for the troop (had to do some pre-scheduling for that) but the troop was on its own for the rest of the time. Some troops cam and went on a canoe trip for the week, some went on a hiking trek, and some split their time between canoeing, hiking, and pioneering.

It became one of the more popular programs for seasoned troops in the council.

p.s., the camp liked it as the program needed little staff.

[Mad Dog]

I think our boys would consider using a camp like this to augment the "traditional" camp experience. I can see them doing this every 2 to 3 years.

[WeeWillie]

Mad Dog

The traditional summer camp was open scheduling not fixed merit badge sessions. I don't when fixed sessions became the norm. Open scheduling allows more flexibility for activities such as backpacking, hikes, fishing... If done right, it also give older scouts an opportunity to actually run their troop. The trade off is lower lower merit badge production.

T480 goes to Camp Geronimo (fixed) vs Camp Raymond (open) because most of our older Scouts take HS Summer School and Camp Raymond shuts down before Summer School is finished. (Our Scouts go to Summer School to take PE and core courses so they can take electives during the school year.)

[coneyraven]

I personally see merits in both typs of camps....as mentioned in an earlier post....the younger scouts do need the structure to get them up to 1st class, while the older ones easily get bored unless they do more hard-core stuff. Our local BSA Camp....Camp Potomac near Cumberland, MD can accomodate both....Most campsites are within walking distance of the Dining Hall, Program Areas, etc, but then there's the campsite known as Hawthorne......definitly a little more than a stone's throw from the rest of the camp....but I like that it's there so that if you do want to have things a little more secluded and rugged...they can accomodate it. It can be a tough balance when you're dealing w/ boys of different age groups and ranks.

CR