Our September campout was fun.  We arrived to a light sprinkle but it went away shortly after setting up camp.

​Mr. Turret told us we had to get a lot of fire wood before anything else.   After we scavenged for wood we hung out and talked and ate and fished. We also had fun tubing and swimming in the lake.  

The cooking was excellent and in the evening we had a huge campfire. The scouts prepared skits and had fun performing them.   Staff stayed up late watching the fire and singing songs.

​The morning meals were well prepared with more than enough to eat.  Some Scouts got rank advancement and others worked on cooking merit badge.
Jack B. & James S. 

This year, our Summer Campout was in Elbert Colorado at the Chris Dobbins Scout Ranch. 

On an early June morning, our troop left in separate vans and drove all day until we got to Amarillo and stayed at another troop’s scout house where we played volleyball, “Nuke ‘Em”, and Gaga Ball. We all slept on the floor or on a couch. 

Once we arrived at camp in Colorado, we all began choosing tents and setting up cots. That evening, we ate dinner in the dining hall, and later the camp provided ice cream which we ate outside in the cold weather (yep, COLD weather in June – not something we see much in Houston). 

Monday morning we woke to a 39 degree low and started merit badge classes and later played games with our camp host, Sterling. In one of the games, we had to find Sterling and other counselors who were hiding in the wooded area on a hill behind our camp site. A lot of us were climbing trees and jumping on the rocks. We had a really good time doing all sorts of silly things while looking for the others.

During the nights, scouts would play games in their tents. One night, Jude P. introduced us to Dungeons and Dragons. It started out with only a few people, but then, many others joined because it was very warm in the tent where we were playing. We all enjoyed Jude’s storytelling. 

The camping merit badge group and the Cool Cima Dudes hiked Castelwood Canyon and Pike’s Peak which began on one day and overlapped into the next day. There was a chess merit badge class taught by Mr. Webb where we learned how chess originated and other interesting facts. The orienteering merit badge class did “The Big Race”. The Big Race involved them hiking across the CD Scout Ranch finding points using only their orienteering skills (map reading and compass use) in order to win the Golden Compass. 

On Friday morning, we packed up, said good-bye to Colorado, and drove our long ride back home to Texas.

Everybody had a good time and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and weather.

We held our Summer Camp Court of Honor two weeks after returning home.   At this Court of Honor Troop 642 Scouts earned 226 Merit Badges and 52 rank advancements including 3 Scouts earned their Eagle rank.
 
Auden G.