Camping Merit Badge - Nights requirements

[CBrock]

Question on the camping merit badge, I am the MB counselor for this, helping out, and the 20 night requirement says that you may use a week of camping; the question is, if a scout, has gone to three summer camps, lets say 6 nights each, can he only use one of them in the 20 night calculation, or is the book just saying that you may use a week, or several weeks of camping to accumulate the 20 nights? I would think every night on a scout sponosored event would count. It doesn't say you may use only one week, thanks for the input.

[wagionvigil]

only One Week of camp counts all the other nights must be patrol or troop camping

[evmori]

Ditto to what wagon posted!

[smtroop168]

This has got to be the number #1 MB requirement that people either don't get or want to work around.

They completely miss the point of the requirement which is to have multiple camping experiences to meet requirement 9 and to hone the camping skills needed to meet the rest of the requirements.

[FrankJ]

Pretty much the same as Wagon. One week is seven nights so if your summer camp is six nights, like most of them, the second summer camp can count as one night for a total of seven nights.

[wagionvigil]

I know of no BSA camp that runs a 7 night camp. SO that being said A week of summer camp! ANd that is Sunday Night through Friday Night

[Fibonacci]

wagionvigil ~ sometimes our Scouts choose a camp that is so far away that we drive there a day before. So we arrive on Saturday, sleep in our assigned camp unit, but don't see any camp staff until after the 1:00 check in time on Sunday. We are at camp for seven nights, tho' only six of them are for the traditional Summer Camp; Scouts count this toward the Camping MB as 7 nights.

I have never heard of anyone counting one of the nights of another Summer Camp toward a total of 7 nights of Summer Camp. Our Scouts are told to count one Summer Camp only.

Last summer we had a Scout who really wanted to finish the Camping mb but needed two more nights before he left for a long family vacation. He organized two separate camp-outs geared toward the new Scouts with particular skills being taught. This boy is our ASPL now, is working on his Eagle project, and is a small 8th grader. The high school Juniors who are Life Scouts and not working on their projects are starting to think about making progress!

[Bill Pitcher]

CBrock: Ditto with everyone else, only ONE week of Scout Camp can be used. The rest are Scout sponsored camping nights w/patrol, troop, crew, etc. with 2 adult leadership coverage. And, one of those adults is a Scout trained adult with FA/CPR, etc., etc. Anyway, there are plenty of other requirements in #9 that need camping nights to do them on.

[FrankJ]

Funny how something as simple as this can have more than one interpretation. Just goes to show how difficult it is to write clearly. I will continue to count 7 nights of summer camp for the camping nights requirements.

[scoutaholic]

I know of no BSA camp that runs a 7 night camp. SO that being said A week of summer camp! ANd that is Sunday Night through Friday Night

Around here, the standard camp schedule is Monday morning through Saturday morning (5 nights, 6 days). By special request, you can arrive on Sunday night if travel plans make it difficult to arrive early enough on Monday. Nobody leaves Friday night, but I've seen some leave very early Saturday. My troop has often been one of the last ones there by 10-11:00 Saturday, and the staff if hurrying us out so they can go home too.

[kwildman]

the 20 nights of camping should not be a big deal for any scout to meet that is working on an ER MB. If you do one campout per month and assume only 1 night that is 12 nights and the 6 you can use from summer camp = 18. Any scout should have his 20 nights by the second year and remember that you need to have your special camping requirements met as well. Our troop has averaged 30 nights of camping per year for the last two years and we have about 80% attendance for each outing.

Why would it be necessary to count an extra night of a second summer camp? Its only one night and if a scout is that close I would encourage him to participate in the next camp out to get the night. I think counting summer camp at all is pretty lenient since you don't have to worry about meals, etc.

[SMTroop240]

I know of no BSA camp that runs a 7 night camp. SO that being said A week of summer camp! ANd that is Sunday Night through Friday Night

Narragansett Council's Camp Yawgoog runs 7 nights. Sunday to Sunday

[cballman]

If you read the requirement that is in question it says you can use 1 week of long term camping. For most of us long term camping means summer camp. You dont have to use that week just says you may use it. I think if you read the requirments look at them and decide from what it says. Dont read into the requirments and nit pick 1 part and use it read the WHOLE req. and then make a call from that. If you still dont understand then make sure you post on this forum and ask questions. Some are Black and White and then some are fuzzy grey. If I dont understand a req. I make sure that I ask for help before I get started.

[FrankJ]

I do not think anyone was questioning what long term camping was, just what a week meant. I must admit that the 20 nights is generally not the last requirement to get signed off on most of the scouts that I counsel on this merit badge.

[kwildman]

The camping merit badge would be more interesting if we combined some of the requirements. Such as "canoe 20 miles in the snow while gaining 1500 feet of elevation".

[FrankJ]

The camping merit badge would be more interesting if we combined some of the requirements. Such as "canoe 20 miles in the snow while gaining 1500 feet of elevation".

That would add a new meaning to white water. Just think of the down hill run. Sound like fun.

[Quailman]

My first thought on reading the original question was how does a scout get to three summer camps without having enough weekends to add up to 20 nights way sooner. Then I remembered my youngest son who went to an extra week one summer, and he met a boy in the extra week who was going to his fourth week of camp that year. So I guess it's possible under normal circumstances to at least start your third week of summer camp before you get six other troop camping nights in. And I know there are boys who attend none of the weekend campouts - just summer camp.

[Cowboy]

Time for another polecat in the stew pot:
Long term camping? For our Troop, most camp outings are 2 nights. Friday and Saturday, come home Sunday. However: If you throw in High Adventure (4-5 nights) and Low Adventure (this is when the older boys prepare the younger ones for High) 3-4 nights. Summer camp (S-F) 5 nights. Our boys can get in 14 nights in one summer with Long Term. What about NYLT? I haven't been involved with that yet, but my understanding is that the boys "live" under the same conditions as the summer campers. Including tents, cooking and campsite maintenance. How about CIT? That is a two week course for our camp. My son will be at Summer camp for 3 full weeks, High Adventure (Kyaking on Lake Superior 5), Medium Adventure (Canoeing on the Boundry Waters 4 - 2nd class & Above), Low Adventure (Hiking at the Audobon 4 - All Troop) Which ones would be considered long term, and which ones wouldn't? not that it matters to him. He has the Camping MB and just goes to have a good time.

[ronin718]

I know of no BSA camp that runs a 7 night camp. SO that being said A week of summer camp! ANd that is Sunday Night through Friday Night

Goshen Scout Reservation (National Capitol Area Council camp and the newly-named home of the National Jamboree) has seven-night camps. You go in on Saturday and you come home on Saturday.

[wagionvigil]

I know of no BSA camp that runs a 7 night camp. SO that being said A week of summer camp! ANd that is Sunday Night through Friday Night

Goshen Scout Reservation (National Capitol Area Council camp and the newly-named home of the National Jamboree) has seven-night camps. You go in on Saturday and you come home on Saturday.

Do the Boys Have Program on Sunday or is this a convience night due to long travel? I am trying to figure How summer camp and the Jamboree are going to coincide.