Location - Camp Roy C Manchester,
Sunrise into the camp on Thursday morning.
Troop 215 prior to departure for camp.
Entrance into the camp
Troop 215 shared campsite 1 with Troop 4 out of Paducah Kentucky.
Group photo with both troops that stayed in Campsite 1
Campsite 1 from the head of the bay
Weather - Heavy Rainstorm only on Wednesday. It was 87 in the afternoon on Wednesday, and a heavy rainstorm that brought .54 inches of rain in an hour arrived at roughly 3 PM. Following the rainstorm, the weather dropped significantly. The rest of the week was ok. Sunday 93, Mon 95, Tue 89, Wed 87, Thur 95 (hot) with heat index at 109 at 4:30 in the afternoon, Fri 84, Sat 86 (although we left camp at 8 AM.
during the rainstorm
In the picture are the two scoutmasters of Troop 4 making sure their tents didn't fly away.
The reason we chose Camp Roy C. Manchester is because of the High Adventure Sailing program that they have at the camp. Every odd year our troop chooses a camp that is out of council. In 2014, we went to Camp Friedlander in Ohio. On the way home I talked to our Outdoor Chairperson about camp that takes place on a boat. I think that was all we knew about the camp up to that point. It sounded great. In 2015, we went to Camp McKee, which is our council camp, and we will return there in 2017.
We had 6 scouts from Troop 215 participate in the High Adventure Sailing at camp this year. My oldest was one of them. He has done high adventure camping for the past 5 years instead of regular camp. Last year he went to Philmont Scout Reservation. This year he spent Monday through Friday on a 25 foot Catalina Sailboat with 3 other scouts. No adults on his boat. They trained on Sunday and Monday morning, and returned to camp on Friday afternoon. I would have given anything to be able to do something like that as a scout. That sounds like quite an adventure. Thomas said that is was as good as Philmont.
These are the sailboats that the camp uses for the High Adventure Sailing Program
This is a picture of two of the sailboats returning to camp on Friday afternoon.
Clothing - Shorts and tshirt. I brought my raincoat, but I take my raincoat on every camp out. I wore it only for a few minutes on Wednesday afternoon.
Shoes - Keen Sandals. They seem to be my camp shoes. I wore my tennis shoes when I decided to take a hike around the camp on Tuesday afternoon, and I wore another pair of shoes when I was walking around the muddy campsite on Wednesday afternoon, but other than those two times, I wore my Keen Sandals all the time.
Camping Style - I slept in my Slumberjack Trail Tent 4. I put my cot inside the tent. I put down my inflatable camping pad on my cot. At night I kept my camp chair inside the tent. I slept in my underwear and a tshirt since it was hot. The first night I slept without my tshirt, but I couldn't slide around easily on top of the sleeping bag, so I put a shirt on for the rest of the week. Friday night I rolled my tent up and put it away since we were leaving early Saturday morning. I slept in my hammock.
Inside my tent during the storm. It stayed bone dry!
My hammock rig.
Hammock City on Friday night.
Sleeping bag & Sleeping - Summer bag. I used it as a blanket on Wednesday night when it dipped down into the 60s over night, and also on Friday night when I slept in my hammock.
Main Activities - On Sunday at the Scoutmaster meeting, I volunteered to help teach Pioneering Merit Badge. I thought I was volunteering to be an assistant to a camp staff person. I showed up Monday morning, and discovered I was the only teacher. I was given an outline of what I was supposed to teach, and through it, I figured it out. After the class on Monday, I would work on my lesson plan every morning before class to make sure I knew what I was teaching, and how long it was supposed to take. I don't think I would have gotten through the merit badge if I hadn't done that. Tuesday thorough Saturday I had help from Don LaFollette, who is the Scoutmaster of a troop from Madisonville.
Prior to camp, Tyler said that he didn't know anything about knots and he didn't like to tie knots. Now he's excited about knots, even though his strongest knot as of now is the bowline knot. A hitch is a knot tied around an object like a tree, and a knot is a knot that is tied around the rope.
Tuesday I decided to take a walk around the camp. I went from one side to the other to look at where the merit badges were being taught and to see if my scouts were in class. It was early afternoon. I showed up in the Aquatics area around 3:15. That morning Tyler told me that he was bored with Motor Boating Merit Badge. I wanted to find out why. When I showed up in Aquatics, the merit badge teacher, Patrick, was telling the class that he had to take the class out on the boat, but he had too many in the class to be able to do it all in one day. I volunteered to help. For the rest of the week I was at Aquatics at 3:20 to help teach, and I was on the water teaching motor boating to Scouts on three of those day. Tyler ended up loving the class after that.
Pioneering Merit Badge on a completed project
Climbing on the project
On Thursday we worked on the scale model requirement of the merit badge. The scale model part of the merit badge should take each scout a few hours. I had 50 minutes to teach it to 13 scouts. We knew that the only way to finish the final merit badge requirement (project) was to set up the main project of the merit badge on Thursday after class. Tyler and Robert (scouts from 215) didn't have a class at 10:20, so they stayed around to help. I talked them into working on the base of the project, and they worked on it for about an hour. This enabled them both to finish the merit badge one day early, and it also made them teachers during the class on Friday. It was fun to watch the scouts get excited about the project once it was finished.
Tyler and Robert on Thursday.
Prior to camp, Tyler said that he didn't know anything about knots and he didn't like to tie knots. Now he's excited about knots, even though his strongest knot as of now is the bowline knot. A hitch is a knot tied around an object like a tree, and a knot is a knot that is tied around the rope.
bowline knot
Tautline hitch
I had a lot of fun teaching Pioneering Merit Badge. I can't wait to teach it again!
Tuesday I decided to take a walk around the camp. I went from one side to the other to look at where the merit badges were being taught and to see if my scouts were in class. It was early afternoon. I showed up in the Aquatics area around 3:15. That morning Tyler told me that he was bored with Motor Boating Merit Badge. I wanted to find out why. When I showed up in Aquatics, the merit badge teacher, Patrick, was telling the class that he had to take the class out on the boat, but he had too many in the class to be able to do it all in one day. I volunteered to help. For the rest of the week I was at Aquatics at 3:20 to help teach, and I was on the water teaching motor boating to Scouts on three of those day. Tyler ended up loving the class after that.
Extra Gear - Swimming trunks! I swam Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. It was weird at first getting used to fish bumping into my legs as they swam around in the swimming area. I also went canoeing with one of our scouts on Thursday.
Tyler working on cheering up some of the younger scouts.
Tyler and MacKenzie the camp nurse.
OA members of Troop 215 (without the two adults who also were in camp at the time).
Night time volleyball fun.
2016 Camp Roy C. Manchester Staff at closing campfire.
Prior to Sunrise Monday Morning.
Monday morning sunrise.
Monday morning sunrise.
Nights Camping - 6
Total nights camping so far this year - I now have 13 nights camping in 2016
Next Campout - I think the next scheduled campout is Summer Ordeal at Camp McKee in August.
This was the last summer camp that Dad and the Baker Boys will be at together with the boys as scouts. Next summer Thomas will be 18, and also next summer, Tyler will be Counselor in Training at Camp McKee (if he is hired). It is something I'm not really ready to think about!
