Troop 804 - Summer Camp 2019 Camp Bashore - Jonestown, PA

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

So, camp is over! It was a fun week with many highlights. A sampling:

• John Danner showing incredible range and volume as the Troop cheermaster
• Logan Newland sporting the awesome pink wrap
• The Scalliwags winning the camp-wide games
• The "Princess Patrol" proudly showing their tiaras
• The Blue Mountain Men completing a great week - and their first of many Summer Camps
• Matthew Dantinne successfully navigating a last-minute stint as Senior Patrol Leader - and (like John Danner) showing surprising vocal range
• Half the Troop getting up early each morning for either the "fun run" or the "Polar Bear Plunge"
• Watching six Scouts (C Aten, R Clough, C Crisp, J Rykiel, L Simoncic, and M Urbanas) get "Called Out" for Order of the Arrow
• And, of course, Jacob Zotter leading the largest Troop in Camp and showing exactly how it's done!

None of this would have been possible without a great group of adults giving generously of their time:

Carl Aten, attending his first Summer Camp and leading the Cooking sessions and helping at the Climbing wall

Jake Cameron, who was out and about all day, every day, helping our Blue Mountain Men have a great first-time experience *and* coordinating the daily administration of nearly a hundred medications to dozens of Scouts

Kendall Crisp, watching over Shooting Sports and Geocaching, helping Scouts all over Camp, and still finding time to sleep 18 hours per day

Pete Daly, who co-led the double Cooking MB sdession, watched Camping and Environmental Science areas, and found time to help in virtually every possible way

Jennifer Dantinne, watching and helping dozens of Scouts in the Handicrafts area during her first Summer Camp

Andrew Huppert, who helped with some Aquatics badges and most of the Nature and Science classes while also helping make some giant waves in the Scoutmaster Splash contest and bringing Scouts to the Polar Bear Plunge; and

Shane Keating, who basically did it all, working hard since last fall to bring Summer Camp together, spending all week supervising most Aquatics classes while also coordinating many day-to-day logistics *and* keeping the Troop on track in every possible way

Numerous other adults helped bring this together (thanks!) with a special note for Mary Nolte who took on the tough task of wrangling and organizing all 62 medical forms.

Well, that's it until next year!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/21/2019 10:30:32 PM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Today was an excellent day!

The day started pretty much as the others - with nearly half the Troop getting up early, either for the daily "fun run" (about a mile) or the "polar bear plunge" (early morning dip in the pool). Even some first-year Scouts participated. There will not be a run or swim on Saturday morning but many of the Scouts participated all five days.

The weather was hot but tolerable and we did not have any problems handling the heat because the Scouts did a good job of drinking water. Dinner tonight was not in the dining hall but instead was eaten picnic-style in our campsite... pulled pork sandwiches, corn, potato salad, italian ices.

After dinner, the Troop attended a closing campfire which included a "Call Out" ceremony for the Order of the Arrow (Scouting's honor society). The Troop elected six Scouts for possible inclusion into the OA - they'll be thrilled to let you know tomorrow.

The Scouts were up quite late since the fire ended at 9:45pm and there was still plenty of packing and cleaning up to do. They plan to get up at 6am and hope to be done breaking camp before breakfast. As long as the bus doesn't get stuck in the driveway, we hope to get on the road about 9:45am, with an arrival at Baldwin about 12:15pm. We will be unpacking and distributing a few things and expect to dismiss the Troop about 12:45pm.

We are eager to get home!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/20/2019 12:47:33 AM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  

Today started cloudy with frequent periods of light rain and occasional periods of heavier rain, but the skies cleared about 2pm leading to a very hot and very humid afternoon and evening.

For many classes, today was the last real day of instruction - lots of courses do not plan new material on Friday. There are plenty of places where the boys will have earned what is called a "partial" - a badge with a few requirements not yet completed. In nearly all cases, the Troop will have a plan for how boys can complete those badges (some badges can only be completed as Summer Camp and so those will have to wait until next Summer).

Tonight, the leadership met - as they do every night - in the "Patrol Leaders Council". However, on Thursdays, we have a tradition of having the Assistant Patrol Leaders (Michael A., Carson C., Zeke K., Ben N. and Marc U.) and the Assistant Quartermasters (Adam A. and Lou S.) execute the planning. They discussed the waiter schedule for the last day (the Troop has to assign "waiters" to each meal to serve drinks and to clean-up after the meal), and most importantly the procedures for packing up and getting out on Satruday morning. It will be a challenge!

The first-years worked on additional hitches and flag ceremonies in the morning and then continued on to their merit badges. For their special period, they again split with half doing rifle and half doing climbing. The boys also finished the training needed to earn the Totin' Chip, which means they will be able to use a pocket knife, safely, once we are able to get those cards to them.

We hope all is well at home and look forward to better beds, better meals, and more sleep!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/20/2019 12:52:38 AM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  

We are now past the halfway point.

Today we experienced our first real rain... several bands of heavy showers starting at 4pm, with no rain and sometimes even clearing skys in-between. The rain did not cause any major problems but did give the boys a chance to put on raincoats (or not!).

Tomorrow will mark the last "real" day of instruction for most classes - many areas will just do wrap-up activities on Friday, offer make-up time for Scouts that didn't quite finish everything. As a result, Wednesday if often a day of the most concentrated instruction and so it was fortunate that the rain didn't kick in until relatively late in the day.

This evening, the Troop attended a joint campfire with another Troop from Anne Arundel County (Troop 1214 out of Davidsonville, a group we know very well). There were skits and songs and s'mores and even a little fire in-between the showers.

Mail call today was enormous because we didn't have time to pass things out yesterday... so a double load today.After the fire, the boys had "free time" - which today involved lots of card playing (and lots of noise). They are having a great time.

Boys taking the "Wilderness Survival" merit badge are doing "Outpost" tonight. They are in the woods (and in the rain!) sleeping in shelters constructed by them out of natural materials. They don't usually get much sleep on "Outpost" and we expect they will march back into our camp at around 6am or so.

Food today included eggs and sausage, hash browns, and a blueberry smoothie; both burgers and hot dogs for lunch; and Salisbury steak for dinner. The yogurt bar (breakfast) and salad bar (lunch and dinner) remain very popular. For dinner tonight, the Camp asked Scouts to sit at different tables than usual in order to meet someone new. Unfortunately, not many of our Scouts participated - but those that did found themselves chatting with other Scouts from all over the region.

The Blue Mountain Men (first-year Scouts) continues to work on Scout skills (knots, fire-building, etc.) in the morning and then some merit badges in the afternoon. For their "special" period, half the boys went to the rifle range and the other half went to the climbing wall (they will switch tomorrow). They are doing great and having fun. They are also eating OK!

Jake Cameron has been spending the entire day with the Blue Mountain Men and he writes:
Worked on fusing ropes, trying knots, they were given a demonstration of the “Dragging” bowline knot. (Rope dragging on ground. )
Some of them were summiting the climbing wall and the other group was practicing their Sgt York imitation.
They did the outpost in the rain, had a great meal cooked over a fire and continued to work on their scout skills.

Tomorrow is supposed to be hot and hazy but not rainy. We will look forward to getting home but are having a good time.

posted by Dave Shade at 7/18/2019 12:20:09 AM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  

Things continued to go very well today, despite a little bit of rain in the evening (and the likelihood of more rain tomorrow).

Many classes really got into the meat of things today (often the first day is focused on safety briefings), so boats were in the water, metalworking hammers in the air, and fires on the ground. The boys are a little sleepy but are behaving well and are doing good work.



Today was "Taco Tuesday" in the dining hall and seconds were very popular. This camp also has a decent selection of fruit (not all camps offer a lot of fruit) and the boys are actually eating apples, bananas, and oranges.

After dinner, everyone participated in the "Camp Wide Games" - some very creative "lawn games" such as blindfolded Pac-man, badminton, and pretend tug-of-war (yes, they pretended to have a tug of war with no rope!). We don't find out the "winners" until Friday but it was a good time. Right after the games was the "Scoutmaster Splash" - a combination belly-flop / cannon ball contest. Troop 804 entered two strong competitors, Jake Cameron and Andrew Huppert. We again won't hear results until Friday but we have high hopes because much water (and skin!) was lost in the effort!

It started to sprinkle a little around 5pm, and things alternated between sprinkles, no rain, and light rain until about 10pm. We hear that more rain is expected tomorrow but we are prepared.

The first-year Scout had a great day with fire-building and knife safety. In the afternoon, they went swimming and then worked on merit badges (Mammal Study and Leatherwork). They have come together as a group and seem to be having a great time.

All is well here and we hope also at home!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/17/2019 12:19:25 AM

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Today was the first full day in camp and things went very well.

To begin, the weather has been spectacular. It has been quite hot during the day but the evenings have actually gotten quite chilly. We hear that there might be some rain - possibly - on Wednesday, but it has been clear skys so far.

Reports from the boys are that the food is actually pretty good. Plus, they have a very good salad bar available at every lunch and dinner (and it turns into a yogurt bar for breakfast). They are also more liberal than most about getting second servings... The boys have to serve as waiters and that has been going reasonably well too.

Yesterday's bus "incident" continues to echo... we learned that the bus idled, stuck, for many hours as the driver didn't want to sit without A/C, and that the bottom of the bus got so hot that it melted the asphalt and a section of the road got heavily damaged when the bus was towed out, so we've seen repair crews out there making a new piece of road. It has been quite the talk of the camp.....

Classes went well. The Camp has both a lake and a pool, so swimming and lifesaving are in the pool but other aquatics (such as kayaking, rowing, canoeing, and sailing) are in the lake. That has worked very well and the boys have already been in the water. Likewise, shooting sports started with typical safety talks but then got right into some shooting, which is unusual - most camps don't do any shooting on the first day. A lot of boys are taking metalworking and so far it seems that it is going to be a very good class.

The first-year Scouts are doing great. We've seen no signs - really none - of homesickness. They have already been working on some knots, flag ceremonies, and fire building, and they started their first-ever merit badges, Mammal Study and Leatherwork. They also got to visit the pool. On Wednesday, they are scheduled to visit the Rifle Range. We have excused first-years from waiter duties so far, but they'll be added to the rotation on Wednesday.

We don't keep track but it seems that everyone has made it to the Trading Post already, based on the number of "Camp Bashore Slurpee Mugs" we see in Camp. After dinner tonight, the Camp had "open program" and many of the Scouts took the opportunity to visit the rifle range or the climbing wall (including the first-years who went as a group to go climbing).

Finally, we again had leaders put on goofy hats to do mail call. We had a true mountain of packages - enough that the local post office had trouble getting them all delivered so the Camp had to go and get them. Mail call is a big deal - we make a big show of it - and it went quite well!

All-in-all, a great first day, and Tuesday looks to be more of the same. No issues, everyone is having fun!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/15/2019 11:17:16 PM

    
   

   
   
   

   
  

The first day is (almost) over. It was quite a day!

The trip was uneventful...until the very end, when the bus got stuck - like really stuck - turning into the Camp driveway. It may be hard to see in the pictures, but there was a dip in the road right where the drive way began and the back end of the bus bottomed out on the road while the wheels were in the dip, lifting the wheels so they no longer made contact with the ground... and the bus could no longer go!

So, the boys have to unload all the gear and the Camp helped us move it to the campsite - but it did set back our day a bit. We later learned it took hours for a wrecker to get the bus out, by which time the idling engine (the driver wanted the A/C running while waiting) melted the asphalt and thus the road was quite damaged when the bus was eventually moved.

The boys did get to do everything expected - pick tents, visit program areas, do swim checks (if needed), eat dinner (chicken pot pie, string beans, good salad bar which many boys visited), and go to the opening campfire (which was quite good).

The boys are doing great, no issues except being tired. Because of the bus issue, we really had to rush to get things done and as a result, adults did not even set up tents until 11pm... so not many pictures tonight. We'll try to upload some more Sunday pictures later on Monday morning.

All is well!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/15/2019 1:12:34 AM

   
   

Welcome to the 2019 Troop 804 Summer Camp Blog! We depart on Sunday, July 14, for what should be a great week in Pennsylvania!

By now, the boys should be excited and just about done getting ready!

We'll do our best to post lots of information - and plenty of pictures - every day. Look for updates late at night (ummm, or sometimes very early in the morning).

The pictures above are from last year. You can click on the small pictures to see a larger version. After camp, we usually make available all of the pictures - in full resolution. Enjoy!

posted by Dave Shade at 7/11/2019 4:23:52 PM