This summer, due to COVID-19, the BSA cancelled all scouting events so unfortunately that left Troop 99 with no summer camp options. Even the awesome weeklong troop camp that they planned at a private property in Vermont, affectionately called "Wells' World," was cancelled. With summer camp being such an integral part of the scouting experience, it was a reluctant decision to make. Still, the Troop took it upon themselves to craft their own local day camp experience that was certainly a memory maker. The Jamboree, as it was called, was five days of outdoor scouting skills and competitions, held right here in Goffstown. All covid precautions were taken including mask wearing, daily temperature screening, and waivers every day.
Days 1-3: Shelter Building, Lashings, Rope Skills, & Cooking
The first 3 days of Jamboree were held in the woods, working on a variety of scouting skills. Most notably, Scouts worked on shelter building and lashings and rope tying skills. Each patrol built a variety of structures including tables, chairs, tripods for cooking over fires, and shelters. They cut down their own saplings from the property, cut off the branches, and used a variety of rope skills to fashion the trees into structures. One day focused on a cooking competition, so the tripods which held the cast iron pots over the fires were important.
Cooking- Scout style!
Days 4-5 : Rafting
The rope skills were important for the second half of the week, because that part of the Jamboree focused on raft building, with the ultimate goal of rafting out to the island in Glen Lake. The scouts spent their day cutting down dead saplings, and tying them together in order to fashion a raft to float out to the island.
All the scouts made it to the island, so the rafting trip was a success. Luckily the water in Glen Lake was in most spots shallow enough that they could walk and push the rafts.
Congratulations to Troop 99 for finding a way to safely participate in the Jamboree even during the 2020 Summer of Covid!
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