BALOO Training!

As part of my Woodbadge ticket, I took BALOO training hosted in the Baltimore Area Council of Scouting BSA. The name stands for "Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation" and is meant to mimic the character from The Jungle Book who teaches Mowgli the law of the jungle. We learned the law of the outdoor camping, which was fun. The camp site is just outside Poplar Springs Park in western Howard County.

Park entrance

Pretty sure this is the Poplar Spring

I already have some camping skills, like setting up a tent. They encouraged small tents since each of us had our own tent and the campout was only one night.

Our 1-2 person tent

We have a smaller tent but I didn't take it since the forecast had rain and drizzle. The one-person tent does not do well in the bad weather.

The scout campground is right next to a residential street. My nearest neighbors were chickens!

In the coop

The course started on Friday night. We had a campfire program as a model to show the elements of a good campfire. They described and then demonstrated various components of a campfire, including songs, skits, walk-ons, and ceremonial bits. We didn't do any cooking, i.e. no smores!

The campfire

The guy managing the fire did a great job and was able to extinguish it easily thanks to a good set-up. He said that he puts an unburnt stick in the middle of the campfire remains to assure the fire is completely out. 

The fire ring extinguished

Saturday morning we had a model flag-raising ceremony. My den was selected as the color guard, meaning we had to raise the flag. I attached it to the rope and pulled it to the top!

Later in the day

We learned a lot of other skills throughout the day, including knot tying, whittling safety, first aid (a natural follow-on after whittling), aquatics (though no actual swimming or boating), cooking (thanks to Covid, we didn't do any practical skills), hiking, geocaching (a nice add-on to a hike), and other topics. The group had three dens so we rotated through three stations. Some people got their first aid before their whittling!

The campground

During the geocaching rotation, we found the Poplar Springs Cache in the park. I already had the app loaded and led the way.

It's in there somewhere

One of the final rotations was through Large Group Games, where we were taught games appropriate for a whole bunch of people to play. One team game was taken from the recent Klondike Derby. Two scouters had to stand on a pair of planks and walk across the field. It's much harder than it looks! But also fun.

Tools to cross the field

The final ceremony was the awarding of completion certificates. The organizer made one long tube out of the certificates and made them into Kaa the Snake, another character from Jungle Book. Participants went one at a time to get their diploma and to announce the next recipient. 

Can you spot the snake?

The course is a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend it and I am now ready to help the pack go camping.