Fall Season Badge Report

The Carlisle and East Burlington Troops decided to have a beginning of the year outdoor skills camp for 2009/2010 Scouts in Blue Springs Scout Reserve near Acton Ontario. This camp was loaded with fun ways to learn and experience new skills.

We arrived at Blue Springs around 8:00 but our tents didn’t get there till around 8:30 because of traffic. Then the Carlisle patrol went back to their shelter and started to unpack their equipment and set up tents. Shortly after getting everything ready we had mug up and a campfire. After the fire we made a duty roster and decided who would be in charge of each meal and who would do dishes. We were in bed shortly after 11:00.

When we awoke the following morning at 7:00 sharp we had a quick and messy breakfast (pancakes) ready to start learning lots of new skills. The Carlisle patrol headed over to the Burlington campfire and Scouter Al explained the setup for rotations. The senior Scouts were in there own group to learn about: nature, leave no trace camping, map and compass, and shelter building. The first year Scouts learned about safe equipment use, fire starting, axe and saw safety, and they also went for a nature walk and learned how to use a map and compass correctly. After activities we used the camp programs and went and experienced the thrill of archery. After a long day of activities the Scouts went back to their campsite and built shelters out of staves and twine to use for lashing while other youth prepared dinner or went geo cashing. The Carlisle patrol had Pepsi chicken a Troop favourite. After dinner the youth played a game of manhunt and then the senior Scouts played a game of capture the flag and had to answer trivia questions about leave no trace camping. After the trivia Scouter Al arranged a survivor fire lighting challenge and the Carlisle patrol won by 40 minutes! After the challenge everyone had mug up and was full of knowledge and had a well-deserved sleep in the shelter that they had made earlier that day. We were in bed by 11:00.

Once everyone was up we all helped to cook breakfast and started to pack down camp and take the tents down. After that we loaded everything in the trailer and headed over to the Burlington shelter for a Scout’s Own and then we had free time to do what we pleased until our parents arrived to pick us up. We had all left the campsite by 12:00.

I think the camp went amazingly well and everyone left enthused to try out the new skills they had learnt over the course of the weekend. The menu plan went well but next time we should not cook pancakes for breakfast.

Yours in Scouting,

Mitchell - APL Whaley Wonka Patrol

Fall Skills Camp

Fall Skills Camp
November 6- 8, 2009 - Camp Blue Heron

Fall Skills was our 3rd camp of the year, the 1st solo camp for our Troop. Each patrol planned their own menus for the entire weekend.

FRIDAY
We got to the camp and had 2 shelters to cook in (one for 1st Carlisle and one for all the Burlington groups). We set up a small unique kitchen for each patrol while the 1st years helped with campfire. We made mup-up, set up tents and went to bed.

SATURDAY
Woke up. People on cooking duty made breakfast, ate, finished dishes, and got prepared for activities. The seniors went on a nature walk, and completed some badgework involving plants and trees. We organized and activity of "leave no trace" invovling recycling and water. The Activity went okay. We had lunch, and did afternnon activities including geocaching, compass work and archery. Later that eveing we had a campfire.

SUNDAY
Ate breakfast and packed up gear, tents, kitchen, etc.; packe up the trailer, did a garbage sweep, and went home.

Overall it was a good camp, although I had to go home early.

FOOD
Went well - everyone participated evenly and the food was edible!

TEAMWORK
MY APL did very well.

- by Bailee - PL, Bat Patrol

EBScouts In The News: IT’S IN THE BAG

BurlingtonPost.com: News: Story: IT’S IN THE BAG

EBScouts In The News: Scout prepares to serve as Queen's Park page

BurlingtonPost.com: News: Story: Pineland P. S. student prepares to serve as Queen's Park page

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EBScouts In The News: SIGNPOST - ALBERTA

BurlingtonPost.com: News: Story: SIGNPOST - ALBERTA

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Elora Gorge End of the Year Camp 2008-09

I planned an End-Of-The-Year camp for the East Burlington Scouts, for 2008-09. This camp was not all what I thought I would be but it turned out to be really fun and entertaining considering we had so much free time.

We arrived at Elora Gorge conservation area around 7:00 and everyone else started to arrive around 7:30. We put our shelters up and our tents quickly and easily. We made a duty roaster including who’s doing dishes, getting water and cooking for each meal and what time of the day that meal would take place. We soon had mug up and went to bed soon after, around 11:30.

We woke up the next morning, some of us pretty early, and got breakfast going. After breakfast we talked about what our boundaries were in the park and we headed off and began our free time. We played volleyball and went for walks around the park then came back for lunch. After lunch we went to the swimming area and swam for a good 3 hours straight then groups started coming back (whether for first aid L or getting tired ). Scouter Brian also came over to visit at the campsite so the youth who were going to Alberta the following week could know how to put up and down the shelter we were going to use there. Then we started to prepare dinner and made pizza’s over the fire in tinfoil plate and got very many compliments other then the burnt bottom, which was to be expected. We played games of cards and a few games of Man Hunt in the dark till it was time for mug up. We eventually went to bed after the exhausting day of running around and swimming.

It was raining most of the next morning, we had a quick breakfast and starting packing down camp. We got all the gear, shelters, and tents taking down in a good matter of time and successfully. It was raining but we still managed to do it alright. Everyone got picked up on time and had a good time even though the last day was a bit wet. We handed out badges and everyone went home, somewhat dry and NON-injured, and we were out of the park by 12:30 with the trailer and everything.

Overall I think it was a very successful camp and we all had a good time. The Saturday morning was a bit rough cause we weren’t going swimming but we got to explore the camp and have are own time to do what we pleased. The menu I found was also really good. The pizza did very, very well and the scouter surprise lunches were weird but good at the same time. One of the things I was most surprised about was that we stayed on schedule. Since it was the first time of any camp this year it was pretty surprising. Overall I had a really good experience of running a camp and I enjoyed it at the same time.

Yours Truly,

Bailey T. – APL Gekko Patrol

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BurlingtonPost.com: News: Story: Honoured for achievements

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Competition Camp 2009

On April 24-26 we had a patrol type competition camp. On the Friday night we had to wait until the whole patrol was there before we could register. That didn’t happen until 7:30pm-ish. Once we all arrived we had to take all of our patrol and personal equipment in by hand. We got all of our necessary stuff in by late that evening, our pioneering project equipment didn’t come in until the morning after. Once we were all settled and set up for the weekend, everyone’s spirits rose a bit and we all worked great together.




It was a very hot Saturday. That made it hard to be fully participating. Everyone was tired. By the time we got to the leader dinner, some people just wanted to give up. As we knew we were pushed for time, we did our baking early. We made brownies in a pot. The weather was not on our side that night; there was a complete downpour shortly before the leader dinner was to start. The Venturers confined us to our tents until it was over, but the dinner was still cancelled, although everyone was given full marks anyway. Everyone survived the wet night, during which you couldn’t walk anywhere without getting completely soaked.

We successfully made it through the weekend and even came in 8th place out of 18 groups. That was pretty impressive noting some of the troubles we had. A big factore in getting to 8th was Eggbert. Eggbert was an egg (raw at that) that we had to protect all weekend. We constructed a case for him and he stayed intact until Sunday, when the Venturers came to round up the Eggberts for their breakfast.

Overall it definitely was a great camp!

- by Nicole – APL Gekko Patrol

D.I.B.C. 20

On May 8th-10th i was attending the massive camp Dorchester.I thought this camp was amazing. On the friday night everyone was pitching in to help out get the campsite ready so we can go do our own thing. Even though the weather was really bad with all of the rain it was still really fun. As I went to the leaders meeting we had to walk all the way there in down pour. But when we got there the food was great.

Saturday morning the cooking preparations were going slow but eventually we got it done and went off to opening. When all of the patrols went off to the activities we all had a lot of fun. But then it started to pour down but my patrol kept going to have fun no rain was gonna stop us. At lunch time the lunch meal went so quickly and got ready so fast plus it was really good. After lunch we headed off to do more activities it didn't rain. After we were all done our activities i think the best activity i did was the axe and knife throwing and the obstacle course even though i was doing them in a duct tape mini skirt. When we got back to campsite dinner was on it's way. Everyone that wasn't on duty could go do whatever they wanted for a bit and maybe find some new friends badge trade all sorts of fun stuff. Dinner was so good and different, Pepsi chicken yummm. That night was really good because it didn't rain or any bad weather. At the concert it was pretty good I didn't mind the band. After the concert we went back to sub camp and had our auction the wild fox did a amazing job we didn't do that bad with 26 points in the end.

On Sunday morning everyone got there gear packed up pretty quickly which was really good. then we got our stuff put away slowly. Eventually we got everything packed up and we were out of one of the most amazing camps. But we got to go home. And we said good bye to those good times.


- Dan H - Hungry Hippos

27th Burlington Camp 2009

Dear Scouter Bill,

This is for my Winter YRC.

On March 27th – 29th there was the 27th group camp. The theme for this camp was Science fun. There was only a small group of people there, including 5 whitetails, 4 cubs, 3 scouts, 3 rovers and 3 leaders. It was a challenging camp, as there was one beaver with a learning disability and one cub with ADHD. This made it just that much more interesting as these two were always so full of energy.

We had a lodge for the weekend with a nice large kitchen in it, a bunkroom, and two bedrooms with 4 bunks each. Also on the site there were three Adirondacks. Two of which had fresh hay and two had new roves. Everybody slept inside on Friday night. It was very warm. On Saturday night we scouts slept outside in temporary structures that we constructed. The girls shelter was like a temporary Adirondack, as for its insulation we used hay. Both shelters allowed for trapping heat and staying dry, while not being very complicated using simple quad designs.

During the day on Saturday, the rovers along with us lead 6 science experiments for the cubs and beavers. Among those experiments were;
1. Lava, creating volcanoes and making them erupt using baking soda, vinegar and food dye.
2. Chocolate dogs, making dog heads out of chocolate and then eating them.
3. Blobber, making silly putty from borax and glue.
4. Sci-ice-ence cream, making ice cream in a can using salted ice.
5. Sticky water, making water run down a string from a pitcher to a cup.
6. Riddle me, solving 6 riddles.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the experiments greatly. Especially the ones that were messy!

On both nights we had campfires. The cubs and beavers were not very enthusiastic singers, so it made for pretty quiet and quick campfires. At the campfire on Saturday we distributed glow bracelets for them to have. Everyone enjoyed those, even the leaders had fun with them. Sunday’s scout’s own also went well; we even had some of the cubs do some readings for us.

The food over the course of the weekend was very yummy and easy to prepare. The rovers and scouts were on kitchen duty for the weekend. We all seemed to work pretty well together except for some arguments, between two people.

Overall this was a very good camp, the rain even held off until Sunday. That gave us all of Saturday in the warm sunshine.

YIS,
Nicole

Yurt Camp 2009

Feburary 28th-march 1st the weather up north was pretty cold but if you dressed for the weather then you are perfectly fine. But if not you are gonna be so sick. Sleeping in the yurts was AMAZING they were so warm and comfortable. With the leather mattresses. The activities we did was a bit fun trying to find scouter Al. And the hike was a learning experience. The food was very yummy the spaghetti was really good. And that we ate inside was a bonus. I felt that if we did a few more activities then it would be much more fun, anyways it was slacking sleeping sitting and playing cards. As we had a few visitors it brought some excitement to when cooking, eating or anything else.


Daniel H.