by Rick Tyler » Mon Nov 08, 2004 12:34 am
Here's a summer camp review I wrote for another Scouter's group. This is what I would like to know before going to camp:
We just finished a week at Camp Black Mountain on Silver Lake near Maple
Falls, Washington. It is a Mt. Baker Council Camp about 1.5 miles from
the Canadian border. The camp can hold 240 campers at full capacity, but
150 is a lot more comfortable. The dining hall is too small if the camp
is full. The camp is pretty big, and it backs up to 3,500 acres of
private forest land that the owners have told the scouts they can use
for the next 30 years. Most of it is steep, but it's nice to know it's
there. The Camp Director is also a District Executive. He is a busy
man.
We took 57 of our 85 scouts to camp this year. About 12 of our 16-17
year-olds attended, which was a special treat for me. It was the last
week of the summer for the camp and there were only four other small
troops there. There were only about 110 people -- scouts and adults --
in camp last week. We were definitely the big fish in the pond.
1. Pre Camp Information and Ease of Arranging the Trip (including the
leaders' guide) - A
The written material is pretty standard in my experience, but the
sign-up was great. We were allowed to pre-register our scouts in merit
badge classes ahead of time -- greatly simplifying start-up and
advice-giving for our scouts. The camp staff was very helpful.
2. Check in/out Process - Arrival & Departure - A/C
You can arrive and setup camp on Sunday, but they do not serve meals or
do any other check-in activity that night. Med checks, swim checks, and
camp tours all take place Monday morning. Regular events begin Monday
afternoon. This gives the camp staff Sunday off. They make up for the
lost half-day by running until about 2pm on Saturday. If you like
Monday check-ins, it was an "A." If you prefer Sunday check-in, it
would be a "C" (or less).
The check-in and check-out was efficient and painless.
3. The Campsite - A
Perfect. Half the campsites are right on the lake, others are within
100 yards. The sites seem to be evenly split between adirondacks and
wall tents. We were in Maple Point and Cedar Cove (both on the lake)
and if there are prettier campsites in all of BSA I would have to see
them to believe them. Mountains, lake, big-leaf maples and douglas fir
trees all around. God really was showing off when He made the Pacific
Northwest. The bald eagles nesting right next to your camp are a bonus.
If you plan a visit to Black Mountain, ask for Cedar Cove. It contains
the camp's original parade ground, so it has a big open area in the
center. Just perfect for frisbees, football, and ceremonies. It is
also right on the camp's best fishing spot.
4. Latrine & Shower Facilities - C+
The campsites have kybos that are your basic Forest Service type --
smelly. In the last three years they have been renovated and doors have
been put on the stalls. They also have running water with new sinks in
the campsites. Not nearly as nice as the new facilities at Camp Pigott
-- running water, flush toilets, and electric lights -- but servicable.
The shower house has two private showers for adults, one for youth
staff, and a shower room for campers. It also has two flush toilets --
one for adults and one for youth. They told us that they are
demolishing the shower house and building a new one this winter. That's
good -- the current one has a leaking roof and rotting walls.
5. Camp Administration - A
Enthusiastic and cooperative. Actively solicited opinions on things to
improve.
6. Camp Commissioner Program - N/A
The "commissioner" just came by in a pickup to bring us toilet paper and
pick up trash. He was a great young man and very helpful, but he really
wasn't what I think of when I think of a camp commissioner.
7. Camp Staff - A-
Overall, very good. We did have some issues with the
Ecology/Conservation group who had an was prone to being easy on MB
requirements. They didn't give them away for free, but I think they
might have been a little more diligent. Same thing for Scoutcraft. On
the other hand, it was just about the best waterfront team and shooting
sports program I've seen. The program director was outstanding.
8. Merit Badge Program - A
This was controversial in our troop. I thought it was outstanding, but
a couple of our other leaders thought that the MB program dominated the
camp to such an extent that it hurt the overall camp experience.
Responding to Scoutmaster complaints that some MBs were being given away
for free in the past, they created four MB periods per day, that each
meet four times (either M-Th afternoon, or T-F mornings) or 1 hour and
15 minutes. This means five hours of class time per period. There are
15 minute "passing periods" between periods 1 and 2, and between 3 and
4. This means that the day starts with Period 1 at 9am and finishes
period 4 at about 4pm. Troop time is from 4pm until evening meal, and
open time (for swimming, etc.) is after dinner at about 7:30 or 8:00.
Fortunately, this far north it doesn't get dark until after 9:00.
Some of the smaller MBs (like Mammal Study) are combined with another MB
in the same period.
In an effort to differentiate themselves from other camps (like Parsons,
Fire Mountain and Pigott) they have opened a "Scoutcomm" center where
they offered Computers, Communications, Cinematography, Journalism, and
Radio. They even have a low-power radio station in camp, that,
ironically, no one listens to because scouts aren't allowed to bring
radios to camp! Their long-term plan is to add more "non-standard" MB
areas to become an alternative camp to the others in the area. Our boys
thought it was great. (My son produced a video on fancy knot-tying for
his Cinematography project.)
9. New Scout Program - No basis
They have a Trail-to-First-Class program, but we did not take advantage
of it. We have a formal first-year scout advancement program in the
troop which includes a 4-day backpack trip in June. We think our guys
don't need to duplicate our program in camp.
10. Activities for Older Scouts - A-
Good Cope program (there are lots of tall trees at the camp), shotgun
and blackpowder shooting, horsemanship, and a climbing program. The
site is blessed with a real cliff, so they do not have a climbing tower.
They lead several high-adventure programs out of camp, which are not
integrated with the summer camp program, but could be done at the same
time.
They offer leader training: Safe Swim, Safety Afloat, Climb on Safely,
and CPR review.
11. Special Activities - A-
Iron Man competition (swim, paddle, run)
Triathalon (3-scout teams swim, paddle, run)
Really fierce canoe swamp challenge (in which our team swamped two staff
canoes!)
Super-Scout challenge (individual test of scout skills)
Camp Rendevous Game (patrol competition -- test of scout skills)
The trading post sponsors Sobe-chugging and Otter Pop eating contests
(our scouts set new camp records in both areas, I'm sad to say)
Honor Troop program
Adult Leader Challenge (points are given for service to Self, Scouts,
and the Camp)
Vespers every evening
There were some other things I don't remember.
12. Chapel Program (if there is one) - B+
The have Scout Vespers every day 15 minutes before dinner. They are
short, but they are frequent. It is part of Honor Troop requirements.
13. Dining Hall and Food - B
They get an "A" for service and speed, but only a "C" for food. It is
ordinary scout camp fare, with nothing to recommend it. They do have
salad at lunch and dinner, and peanut butter and bread all the time.
Plenty of liquids all around camp. Temps ran from 85-95, which for
Northwest boys is like 110 for Texans, and we had some problem with
dehydration, but it wasn't the camp's fault. They had huge amounts of
juice and water at meals, and water coolers all over camp.
14. Trading Post - D
I don't know if it was because it was the last week of summer or what,
but this is the only part of the camp that has gotten worse since we
last camped there in 2001. Even the junk food had very little variety,
at pretty high prices. They ran out of several kinds of cold drinks by
Wednesday. Their selection of other goods was poor, too. Even camp
souvenir goods were in short supply and limited size selections. You
couldn't buy a coffee mug, ball point pen, or notebook in the trading
post. Really disappointing.
15. Other Buildings/Facilities - A
The dining hall is nice, as is the covered patio the adults frequently
ate at. They are aggressively building and renovating facilities
including a new shooting range and COPE facility. They just added the
Horsemanship area this year. They really need a new dining hall on the
east side of the lake, but I understand this has been a hot issue for
the last 50 years or so.
16. Overall Grade: A
My favorite camp is Parsons, but with this years' staff Black Mountain
would score a tie with Parsons. In my limited experience, I can't give
a higher recommendation.
17. Do you recommend the camp for other troops?
Yes.
18. Special Comments
Black Mountain owns the northwest, north, and northeast shores of Silver
Lake. For some bizarre reason, there are three small houses on the lake
at the northern tip that do not belong to the camp (something about
squatters building homes during a period of the 1950's when the camp was
closed), and the two halves of the camp are connected by a trail. The
western part of the camp contains the ranger's house, shops,
administrative offices, staff housing, and the dining hall. The larger
eastern part of the camp contains all the program areas and campsites.
Every day, the entire camp walks around the north end of the lake to the
dining hall three times a day. From the flagpole on the parade ground
to the dining hall is a little less than a mile. This means that we
aged, sagging Scoutmasters get six miles of exercise a day to get our
meals. I personally don't care, but this is a psychological barrier for
some.
The camp operates a pontoon boat that ferries people across from the
waterfront to the dining hall, but capacity is limited. Each troop can
sign up for trips on the "Silver Queen" according to some arcane system
that I still don't fully understand. If you have scouts or scouters
with any sort of physical disability (we had two scouts in the category)
they automatically get to ride the Queen.
About half our scouts want to go to Parsons next year and the other half
want to go back to Black Mountain. That's a heck of a recommendation in
my book.
Rick Tyler
Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop 575, Chief Seattle Council
OA, Wood Badge, Merit Badge Guy, &c.
