April 2003 Campout at Phillippo

Photo 1: What a great day for a campout!

          The first Spring campout was a trip to a sometimes dreaded place called Philippo. Everyone was overjoyed this time because it was the first time in years that it hadn’t rained on us. On the contrary it was very warm the first night we got there, and people were wearing shorts instead of three layers of clothes.

          The tents went up nicely, and the first years had lots of help trying to get theirs’ up. In the end they got them up just fine. I remember seeing one first year that had brought a cot in his tent, and his tent mate didn’t have a cot, which made him completely dwarfed by the thing. It was nice to see the first years actually tenting instead of staying in the cabin we had.

          Once all the tents had gone up kids kind of settled down in the cabin and other places. Some were playing card games a few kids playing sequence, and T.J. Styx and his dad were playing chess. A few other kids and I played a star wars role playing game.

          At around nine thirty everyone started packing all their games up and headed for their tents (if they were tenting). Although the day was warm the night was really cold. I remember waking up at 1:30 in the morning freezing in my sleeping bag.

          In the morning it wasn’t that much more warm, and a lot of people came out of their tents wearing sweatshirts. I talked to a lot of other kids and they were freezing that night too. When the patrols got up they immediately started cooking breakfast (must have been hungry). Once breakfast cleanup was finished we all gathered around the flag pole, For the days announcements. From 9:30 to lunch the first years would be having mini classes on how to build fires, Sharpening knives and other important things.

Photo 2: Gabbin' at the Woodpit

After that we all gave the pledge of allegiance to the flag pole for we could not find the flag.

          Once lunch came around I was really hungry and so were a lot of other people. We were having subs other people were having macaroni and cheese, some of the first years were having hot dogs cooked over an open fire.

Photo 3: Just lean right over!                                  Photo 4: Walkin' on down the wall

          After lunch was the climbing tower and a lot of kids went to that.  But A few other kids and me stayed behind. By the sounds of it when they came back it must have been fun. the first years were happy because some had just done it for the first time.

          After that noting really happened for a while then when supper rolled around Nate berkapec was cooking cashew chicken, Mmmm that was good, I remember how some of the adults came by wanting some.

          After supper was the rifle range a lot of kids went to that, so did I. The first years seemed excited by this and were really anxious to get on the range. Mr. Beklund was teaching the basic stance positions and showing kids how to shoot. After that when everyone got back we all gathered around the campfire and each patrol did a skit. The skits were really funny.

          Then we all went out to the field and played a game of capture the flag with troop 499. The game was fun and there was a couple violations in the rules but mostly everyone had fun. After that everyone went to bed.

          The next morning went fast everyone had their tents down and were eager to go home. We did the police line and only had to do it twice. Then we all went home.  

 Photo 5: Ready to Climb

By Taylor B., Troop 449 Scribe