A week at Scout Camp

[BamaFan]

I just finished a week at Boxwell Reservation and a week at Latimer Reservation in the Middle Tennessee Council, back to back. Best 2 weeks of my life!

We are thinking of boxwell next summer, do you recomend it?

[Porkroll]

My Troop, 303 out of Carneys Point, NJ, spent the week of July 14 - 20 at Camp Pioneer at Massawepie Scout Camps in the Adirondacks. 7 of us (3 leaders, 4 scouts) hammocked all week. It was great! I usually take a ton of pics, but we were so busy with the Mountain Fox Program and the Trailblazers, I never took my usual pictures of the camp. But I did get at least one. It's a picture of my ENO DoubleNest that one if the scouts borrowed, and if you look real close you can see my son's camo hammock catching air behind it.
Oh yeah, and my son doing tricks in my ENO!

[Cursnfurs]

Just finished my week with my boys at gerber scout reservation. Very fun week glad some of us had hammocks and tarps. As we had 4 days of rain outta 6. Our setup wasn't laughed at this week as our stuff stayed dry while others slept in them old green military tents leaked like sivs

[jameyt]

Just did my last year of Cub Scout Camp (taking a break from Boy Scout Camp this year) at Camp Brinkley in WA. Hammocked of course.

I've found that a hammock is a pretty exotic, adventurous thing for a group of Cub Scouts. It has certainly help attract a few guys to our Troop in the last few years.

[Short White Guy]

I just got back from Camp Cole, CA about a week ago as part of a special high adventure program that included about 60 boys and 20 adults. Out of this group, I counted four hangers: two boys, myself, and one other adult. I was the only one to use a tarp, but then again, the weather was beautiful the entire time, so the tarp was mostly just an exercise in privacy for myself. Here are a couple pictures of my rig while at camp.

[Grt_Ape]

Spent a week at Camp John Mensinger with my son and our Troop last month. Rain showers and lack of a tarp at the time kept the hammock to R&R use only, but there was a WB Superfly waiting for me when I got home for our next trip. Had to hang high due to the distance, moisture, and nylon straps.

[davidmcintyre]

I spent two weeks at Boy Scout summer camp this summer. The first week was at Sabattis Adventure Camp, in Long Lake, NY. This is a patrol cooking camp with adventure treks. That's a 7 night camp. I managed to spend 6 of the nights in my hammock. One afternoon a very heavy torrential rain came up very suddenly, and I didn't have my tarp up. My TQ was safe in a tent, but the underquilt, hammock and bug net got soaked. Although I had a spare hammock, the UQ and net were too wet, so I slept in a tent.

SAC is very, very buggy. Bug net is crucial, and in fact I had to start using a UQ to keep them from biting through the net and hammock where my body was pushed up against them. The first night I ended up with a dozen or more bites on my outer elbows where they were outside the hammock and UQ and up against the net!

Another Scoutmaster tried hammock camping for the first time that week after seeing me at previous campouts. He is a very heavy guy, and was much more comfortable in the hammock. After the third night he packed up his tent and spent the rest of the week in the hammock.

Also joining us on the second night was a former scout who had gotten Eagle and off to college 6+ years ago. He's now a 1st Lt in the Army, and also spent the week with us in a hammock. After the first night we drove into town (a 45 minute drive), and got him some netting at a local store.

The second week of summer camp was at Camp Winnebago, a traditional dining hall and canvas tent on platform summer camp in Rockaway, NJ. I claimed one of the canvas tents to store my gear and change in, but slept all 6 nights happily in the hammock. There was only one other leader that week, and as a much older guy (late 70's) was content on his cot. That week saw three nights of heavy wind-blown rain, but having learned my lesson from SAC I had my tarp up all the time and stayed nicely dry.

I was only woken up once by wildlife at SAC, when bears decided to retrieve the garbage we had (foolishly and against everything we teach) stored on the latrine roof for the night. That was only 20+ yards from my hammock, and the bears sniffling woke me up. I started yelling at them and clapping from my hammock.

It's funny how tent walls are not really any thicker than the hammock and bug net I had, but you sure feel more exposed to a bear in the hammock than you do in a tent!

The second week I was woken up once by deer at the edge of my tarp (deer are unbelievably loud and clumsy), and once by raccoons (or something else similar) directly below my hammock. I ignored the deer and scared the raccoons away with clapping.

Although none of the scouts having starting using hammocks yet, it is clearly changing their perspectives. Bugs were not quite as bad at Winnebago as SAC, but the canvas platform tents are completely open to bugs. The camp commissioner told me that leaving the front and back flaps open would actually decrease bugs, as CO2 wouldn't build up as much, bugs that flew in would have an easier time leaving, and the breeze would keep them moving. I didn't think any of them would do it, but sure enough they were all sleeping with their flaps wide open a few nights later.

-Dave

[EagleScout441]

We are thinking of boxwell next summer, do you recomend it?

Hey BamaFan, the answer is pretty long so I sent you a PM.

[Canoefor2]

Well I spent three day at Camp Danial Boone in NC. It was a good think that the SM and I brought our hammocks as they had not counted right and there was not enough tents for our troop. We hung our HH (both have HHDE) and set them up for rain, not sure if we were to get some or not but, guest what? By the time we got back after mess it was raining and rained all night. However, we both sleep the best of all and dry.

I only could stay for three nights due to work but I did experance a problem with the eno straps that I thought I would use. At 2:00am the sewing came apart on one of the straps and I found my self on the ground. However, a boy scout is always prepared and I had my rope I made and fashioned another sling and had a peaceful night. Since then I have gone to using climbing runners which are rated at 27KN, carabiner and desending rings. Works great and no worry about failure again.

Overall, we had a great week with the rain every day (stayed dry with HH hex trap) and sun out once and a while. We are now up to half the troop taking to the trees.

Canoefor2
Asst Scout Master Troop 87