BSA Summer Camp 2026

My youngest son went on his first summer camp with his Scouting BSA troop. I went as an adult leader to help supervise and keep things organized (and have a little bit of fun too). We went to Broadcreek Memorial Scout Reservation. The reservation is divided into three different camps. Ours was Camp Saffran, also home of one of the lodges for the Order of the Arrow.

Camp Saffran welcomes you!

We had a typical camp site with a bunch of tents. The site (called "Conowingo") also has a cabin with a kitchen, tables, and bunk beds. The scouts all slept in tents. The adults had the choice of tent or cabin. I opted for the cabin. 

View of tents from cabin

The cabin had a little more temperature control than the tents. The first night's temperatures fell into the 50s so the tent people woke up cold. The cabin didn't get as chilly. Later in the week the daytime temperatures skyrocketed into the high 90s and low 100s, turn the tents and cabin into ovens. The tents cooled off more quickly at night. I never slept inside my sleeping bag (on the bunk bed) after the first night. The cabin retained too much heat! One ceiling fan and open windows did not provide enough circulation to make it comfortable for sleeping.

The camp ran the usual schedule. Morning and evening flag ceremonies were followed by breakfast and dinner, respectively. Announcements were made after the flag ceremonies and after lunch. Our scouts participated in one of the evening flag ceremonies, retiring the colors for the night. That happened later in the week, so the scouts were not required to wear Class A uniforms--the brown shirts and green pants that can get warm. Class B involves wearing a more casual Scout shirt, typically a t-shirt with the troop information or from a summer camp or other Scout activity. 

Refreshing on what to do for the flags

About to lower the flags

The flags were at half-mast while we were there to commemorate the death of U. S. Senator Lindsey Graham. 

The troop usually brought its own flag to the ceremonies. A scout then had to carry it to the meal. Hopefully someone would remember to take it back to the camp site at night.

My son with his troop flag

The camp director presided at the flag ceremonies, though she was open enough to allow for troops to do silly things when they reported their status. The typical report would be, "Troop 1250, Conwingo, reporting all present and accounted for, ma'am." A humorous one would substitute something, like "...reporting all present and happy as ducks," with the scouts quacking like ducks. Once, our Senior Patrol Leader (the scout in charge of the troop) traded duties with the camp director, leaving the director holding our flag while the SPL finished the roll call.

Promotion or demotion?

One of the big things at summer camp is working on merit badges. My son took the classes for First Aid, Communications, and Camping. The Communications badge requires participation in a debate, which happened after dinner one night, so I attended. They debated whether the water front or the pool was a better location for aquatic activities.

My son makes a point in favor of the water front

The camp grounds includes a climbing tower, a rifle range, an archery range, and a shotgun range so scouts can work on badges which they may not have the resources for back at the troop's sponsoring organization.

Climbing tower

Those locations also had "open hours" during the week where anybody could come, though priority was given to scouts working on merit badges who needed to make certain achievements that they didn't have time or the practice to complete during class. I went to the archery range to try it out. Archery is fun but not a core skill of mine. 

Bow and quiver of arrows

My first set five arrows (only 4 hit the target)

My second set of arrows (still only 4 in the target!)

I also did the "polar plunge" at the pool. A couple of mornings the pool was open before breakfast for early risers. Morning flags were at 7:45 and the pool was open from 6 to 7 a.m. The pool water was already quite warm, like high 70s or low 80s, so the morning air temperature the first morning was colder than the water! Maybe it was more of a "safari swim" than a "polar plunge."

The food was typical for camp. That's not the focus of the week, so they provided just the basics. The camp counselors would form up by the lines of waiting diners (sometimes long lines) and sing camp songs while the campers waited to get their food. 

Pasta and meatballs with sauce only on the meatballs!

Pulled pork sandwich with 4 fries (but also ice cream)

The camp didn't restrict its activities to the scouts. Some classes were offered for adults. I took IOLS, Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills. First Aid was also available. Two social events happened too. First was a "beer and brats" afternoon gathering where the chief executive for Broadcreek gave us a pitch to come help out or donate. He also asked for feedback on the campgrounds and the program. 

The beer they served with the brats

Later in the week, they had an root beer float social which was supposed to be followed by a belly flop contest at the pool. By that point the temperature had gotten too high and the smoke from Canadian wildfires had come too far south for the contest to be held.

The other beer on offer

Thursday, the smoke from Canada descended on the camp, making the sky hazy and the air less than ideal. The early sun looked red in the sky, almost as if we were camping on Krypton. A lot of scouts left early to avoid the hazardous heat and air, including about half our troop.

The haze over another campground

I was lucky enough (or vigilant enough with bug spray) not to get any ticks on me. I did catch one crawling up my leg before it put the bite on me. I plucked it off and tossed it away. I guess I should have killed it. Our campground had a lot of insect visitors, including this lunar moth. 

On the white board

The campout was a great experience and I would definitely go again, though the troop tends to rotate through other campgrounds. Look forward to a report from next year, dear reader!

Camp Oest 2017 Part II

A continuation from yesterpost...

The last bit of technology at the STEM demonstration was various explosive substances. The STEM guy combined several of those Fourth of July drop-and-pop fireworks into one big, loud explosion.

A picture doesn't do it justice

He also burned some magnesium and other substances that made bright and big fires.

Burning!

After dinner, we participated in a staff hunt. The scouts tried to find various staff members who were hidden throughout the campgrounds. After a lot of hard searching (and several instances of a scout just in front of us snagging someone) we finally found a staff member who was coming back at the end of the hunt. We scored some points for our team.

After that each camp site held a campfire. The Den Chiefs built the fire and prepped some skits and jokes with the boys. The parents were very entertained. We then made smores and had a good night's sleep.

Prepping the campsite campfire

Getting skits ready

Remains of the campfire the next day

The next morning was open activities. My son wanted to go back to Shooting Sports where we earned the Master Marksman award by learning about the various parts of bows and pellet rifles and sling shots. We also had the opportunity to put our new knowledge to good use.

Archery range

Sling shot range

A special bonus for the Webelos was the Action Shoot, a special range with fun targets. My son like this a lot.

Action shoot--for Webelos only!

Playing cards, cans, and other items

The aiming station

The shooting range was at the bottom of Manor Hill, so named for a house that once stood there. Remains are still visible.

Rock wall from the manor on Manor Hill

A home foundation

We went back up the hill to the pool where they had a diving competition. After the pool instructors taught us a variety of dives, a judging panel was set up and the competition commenced. Two categories were judged--boys and parents. Alas, neither my son nor I won. Swimming on a hot morning was totally worth it.

In the afternoon, we did some more shooting sports and hung out at Scout Craft, where we saw some leather working demonstrations and tried out the dutch oven desserts they had started in the morning. The peach cobbler was yummy but nothing compared to the lava cake. The lava cake was done second and was so fresh that it was still bubbling in the styrofoam cup!

We headed back up the hill for dinner and a pool party. After the swimming, we returned to the dining pavilion for a song and dance fest. Several hit songs from many decades (from the Beatles to   present day tunes) were played and many high energy dances were danced. The big finale was dancing to the song "Y.M.C.A." but singing "O.E.S.T." in its place.

Dancing on the tables

My son in the Minecraft t-shirt and swim trunks

The next day was our final one at camp. Each morning my son and I got up around 6 a.m. The rise and shine announcement wasn't till 7 and breakfast not till 8, so we'd go down to the dining hall for some juice and a cup of tea. Then we'd have our morning gaga ball challenge. I did better than I should have. Of course, each day the boys would play gaga ball after lunch and before/after dinner. Many epic games were played, sometimes with staff and with parents. I became known as Whitebeard or Greybeard, depending on how the kids saw me. Another dad was Blackbeard. We had a lot of fun.

Gaga ball pit, a permanent addition to the campground

The final day's activities were focused on fun. We went to the tic-tac-toe challenge at the archery range. My son beat me but only because I kept hitting the same square over and over again.

Archery Tic-Tac-Toe

My yellow arrows were no match for his black

We went down to the pier where canoeing and fishing were the main activities. My son and I canoed for a bit on the quiet creek. We discovered how difficult communicating on a boat is. I would tell him to paddle backward if it looked like we'd get in a jam, which meant I wanted him to push his oar in the water toward the front of the boat. The miscommunication was eventually sorted out.

He was in front

Which way did you want me to go again?!?

By that point we were both very tired. Three nights of tent sleeping will do that too you, along with three days of lots of fun activities. So we decided to forgo lunch at camp and the closing ceremonies and head home a few hours early. We had a great time and look forward to next year.

Goodbye, campground!

Cub Scout Day Camp 2016

This year's Cub Scout Day Camp had "Cubstruction" as its theme, so they had a lot of Lego and other building materials throughout the camp. My son is a Bear now and he was assigned to a den that joined a few boys from our pack with boys from another pack.

Den area

Each day started with an assembly followed by the various dens moving from station to station across the Howard County Fair Grounds.

Gathering for assembly on the first morning

I was unable to volunteer this year so reports (and pictures) are not so detailed as last year.

The first day (Monday) had a lot of educational and constructional activities. At the craftsman station, my son made a free-standing book shelf.

Bookshelf

He also made a bird feeder at the science station.

Bird feeder

The geology station was provided by the Mobile Mining Experience. My son panned for rocks on Monday. He had a bucket of dirt that he scooped into a mesh box. The mesh box went into running water, which took away the dirt and left the rocks. He brought home a big bag full of rocks.

Explaining the rocks one by one

Some of the stones

A variety of rocks, minerals, and fossils!

At the health station, he learned to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Judging from the button he received, he only learned the chest compressions, not rescue breathing.

Congrats!

He also went to the BB guns and Archery stations but the first day was safety training--no shooting. And no take home items, either.

Tuesday was an exciting day for the camp because severe weather came through the area. A tornado was spotted several miles away. The powers that be decided to close the camp two hours early. I got the message while having lunch at Chick-fil-A, so we (the toddler and the daughter were with me) left from there. We parked at the fairgrounds just as the worst of the rain and wind hit. Small hailstones hit the car, which was very unpopular with the toddler. I tried to explain to him that it was just like the noise from popping popcorn. He wasn't convinced, mostly because we've never made popcorn with him. The power went out while we waited for the "all clear" from the tornado warning. My son was disappointed to leave early.

On Wednesday, he did one of the favorite activities at the camp--the water slide. The best hill is conveniently located right next to the assembly area. The slide is a plastic sheet with hay bales on the sides.

Location of the water slide

In the craftsman station, he made a Native American talking stick. During a big meeting, to prevent people from speaking out of turn, everyone agrees that only the person who holds the stick is allowed to speak.

Talking stick (also fun to look at)

He learned about the history of the American Flag and the Star Spangled Banner (the American national anthem) at one of the stations.

On Thursday, they finally went back to the BB rifle station where they actually shot the guns. My son enthusiastically told me about it as soon as I came to pick him up at the end of the day--one bull's eye and one in the first ring, along with two in an outer ring. Even his fifth shot hit the target. His performance was a great improvement over last year (without any practice in between!).

His target

Close up of the center

He had his second day of whittling, where he finished a bear. Whittling is not a strong skill for him, though he did make his own carving knife with a clothes pin and a tongue depressor. He had a file to sharpen the edge of the green tongue depressor. If he shows an interest, we'll practice more at home (I have no strong skills either).

Whittling equipment

They had another run at the water slide as well as having water balloon challenges. A dry time was not had by all!

Friday was the final day of camp and had a lot of physical activities--gaga ball, exercise, archery (no target to bring home from there), etc. The last cubstruction project was building a paper rocket, which had a nice result.

Paper rocket

For some reason, they gave out little dinosaurs. Curse their sudden but inevitable betrayal!

What's the new name of brontosauri?

And of course, they gave out a scout patch for attending the camp, along with a nice photo of my son and his den.

Another patch!

My son

His den