The College of Wilderness Knowledge

Event: The College of Wilderness Knowledge
Location: Birch Bend Campground
Date: May 16-18, 2008

Having one son in Boy Scouts for just over a year, and a second who just "crossed over" - I have unfortunately been unable to attend any of the monthly weekend camp outs. I was required to, and able to spend 4 days at Tomahawk Camp last year (and will have to again this year), but my schedule & availability has never matched up with the troop's monthly camp outs.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that I was able to attend (as a parent chaperone) The "College of Wilderness Knowledge" camp out at the Birch Bend Campground!

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The main goal for this weekend camp out was to work on the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge. All but one of the scouts attending this weekend did not have their EP Merit Badge, and the one that already had it, worked on his Camping Merit Badge, because - after all... We were camping!

Throughout the weekend, we (our troop, along with several others - broken into smaller groups) participated in many different activities related to the EP Merit Badge... Just some of the activities we participated in include...

- Brain storming and charting different levels of preparedness for a number of different emergency situations.

- For the purpose of emergency communication, we built a signal fire, used mirror signals, and practiced "universal hand signals".

- We practiced several rescue carries including the "litter carry", the "chair carry", and the "fireman's carry".

- We demonstrated how to rescue the victim of downed power wire using a non-conductive item.

- We discussed how to evacuate a room filled with carbon monoxide and with heavy smoke conditions.

- The Stop, Drop and Roll technique was discussed in the event your clothes catch on fire.

- We discussed how to perform a "non-swimming" drowning rescues (including accidents on ice).

- We participated (from within our own troops) in a "mock flooding" of our community, and practiced some "mock mobilizations" of our troop in ways that they felt would best be of assistance to first responders.

- Camp staff "lost" (hid) a "baby" (doll) deep into the forest. The staff staged and the scouts executed a mock "search and rescue line", which resulted in successfully locating the "lost baby" in the woods. (A really cool exercise!)

This was the first event for a couple of new scouts to our troop. It's always nice to see some new faces, and what they can bring to the group! But, sometimes new Scouts are not always familiar with the "pre-established" rules of scouting. As an example...

Ok. As a young man (heck, even as an adult) I found (and still find) campfires alluring... therapeutic... and maybe even hypnotic. What I do NOT remember is "interacting" with the fire as often as a couple of the firebugs (scouts) in attendance did. There was one brand new scout who had not yet received his "Firemn's Chit" (a card indicating that the scout has successfully demonstrated responsibility around fire, and fire building tools), and therefore was not to be participating in the building or maintenance of the campfire. I am not sure the Firemn's Chit rule had yet "sunk in" for this young fella (wink).

After not having set one up in over 15 years, this weekend provided me an opportunity to set up several "Eureka!" Timberline brand tents! Eureka! tents were the default tents we used for camping in the BWCA. After a couple of minutes, the steps came right back to me. I guess it was like riding a bicycle! They (the Eureka! tents) brought back some fond memories for me!

One thing that did seem different than I remember it from my days of BWCA camping... Ground sleeping... Ground sleeping was not as comfortable as I remember it. I did have a foam pad to help cushion me from the ground (as I had used in the past), but 20 years and 100 extra pounds of "me" may have had something to do with the difference in "comfortablity"...

Saturday night's "recreational" activity consisted of an evening (in the dark) version of "Capture the Flag". The scouts used flashlights as the "flags", and in several cases, all you could see was a "bouncing dot of light" as one team captured and took off running with the other team's "flag".

For each camp out, the scouts are to plan, shop for, prepare, and serve a camp out worth of meals. This weekend's Menu consisted of....

Friday

Dinner - taken care of prior to leaving.

Saturday

Breakfast - Pancakes and Bacon

Lunch - Walking Tacos

Dinner - Dutch Oven Chili and Stew

Sunday

Breakfast - Oatmeal

Speaking of Eating (and more specifically - Cleaning up after themselves)... One thing I did notice, was the scouts "lack of enthusiasm" for cleaning up after a meal. I "enabled" the scouts by cleaning up after them. ALL OF THEM. I cleaned up the "Pancakes and Bacon" breakfast mess - partially because they needed to get up to their classes, but partially because that is who I am. I CAN NOT STAND a messy campground. My pack can be a mess, the inside of my tent can be a mess, but my campgrounds need to be clean.

A large portion of the "Dutch oven dinners" ended up not being cleaned... but this time I let individual mess kits sit... They were all told, and they all know that they are responsible for their own mess kits. So I helped clean everything else, and let a number of mess kits sit dirty. When it came time for breakfast, many of the scouts found themselves cleaning BEFORE being able to eat, and then again AFTER they ate...

Make me wash all the dishes once, shame on me.

Make me wash all the dishes twice, shame on you.

My final observations... First and foremost - I HAD A BLAST! I partook in some activities (some of my favorites) that I have not done since I was a young man (aka - before being married and having FIVE KIDS). It felt good. It felt good to do these things WITH my boys, but at the same time, it was fun to be able to take a step back and watch my boys.

Even though as a kid I wanted to be a Boy Scout, I never became joined, and so I am also enjoying the time my boys spend in the Scouting Program. I can literally watch their character and maturity grow - right in front of me.