Camping
Camping Trips:
Camping Trips:
- Typically 1 per month, dates and locations to be determined. The Troop typically leaves Friday evening at 6pm from the Natick VFW parking lot unless otherwise noted. Adult Leaders and parent volunteers do the driving and we try to carpool as much as possible. We usually get back to Natick on Sunday, late morning or early afternoon, a group email gets sent out as we get closer to Natick. All Scouts MUST arrive on time and be wearing hiking boots and have a safety whistle on them. ALL Scouts are expected to help pack the Troop equipment van Friday night @ 6pm and to help unpack on our return Sunday before heading home.
- On most trips, the Scouts are divided into patrols, which plan and execute their own menus for the weekend, which consists of 3 meals Saturday and Sunday breakfast. Friday night Scouts bring a bag meal or eat beforehand. Each patrol assigns a Shopper who purchases the required items for the menus, within a budget of $15 per Scout in that patrol. Adults on the trip are in their own patrol and will cook and clean separately from the Scouts.
- On a few select trips during the year, due to the activities planned, we will cook as a Troop, in which case the adult leaders handle the planning, purchasing and cooking for the Scouts. We’ll let the Scouts know when those are.
Equipment:
Equipment:
- Tents are provided by the Troop, usually with two Scouts sharing a tent. All cooking and cleaning supplies, lanterns, tarps, and other, larger camping gear is also provided by the Troop.
- See the Personal Camping Gear Checklist in Forms & Downloads for what each individual Scout is expected to bring but for starters you'll need a sleeping bag, hiking boots & a safety whistle and while not required a decent, appropriately sized backpack is recommended.
Summer Camp:
Summer Camp:
Typically the Troop attends a weeklong summer camp at a Council resident camp, Camp Resolute in Bolton MA at the end of July and/or beginning of August each year. We usually have approximately 75% of the Troop attend and the Scouts all have a great time doing all the typical summer camp activities like swimming, boating, archery, climbing, hiking, etc. They can also earn up to four Merit Badges over the course of the week. While participation is not mandatory it is highly recommended as not only is it usually the highlight of the Scouting year, it has been found that Scouts who attend summer camp are much more likely to stay with Scouting.