Troop 99

Aug 12, 20213 min read

Pawtuckaway Summer Camp 2021

Troop 99 had a fantastic week of summer camp at Pawtuckaway State Park. This full adventure week consisted of canoeing, swimming, hiking, orienteering, and lots of games and free time. Rather than attend a traditional Boy Scout Camp, the Troop decided to pursue their own itinerary.

So much planning and preparation went into this camp week. Without our fantastic and dedicated leaders, this week would not have been possible. Thank you so much to our leaders Mr. Wood, Mr. Laurendeau, Mr. Follansbee, Mr. Stockton, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Mailloux, and Mr. Kissell for volunteering so much time this week to make it an unforgettable experience for these boys.

Day 1

On arrival day, the scouts set up the campsite. They unloaded the trailers and trucks, set up tents, and set up the cooking area. The campsite at Pawtuckaway was perfect because it had lots of room to spread out, direct access to the lake, and a great firepit. There were also real bathrooms close by.

Day 2

Day 2 had an Orienteering theme, working on map and compass skills, pacing, estimating distance, and GPS use. In the afternoon there was a short hike practicing these skills and a little geocaching. And of course there was time for swimming and kickball, too.

Day 3: Hiking

The main activity of Day 3 was a big 9 mile hike. In the morning they made ham sandwiches and packed them for lunch on the trail.

As a special treat that night they had takeout pizza! It was nice to relax and play a little kickball.

Day 4: Canoeing

Troop 99 brought this rack of 8 canoes for the week, plus more that other people brought with them.

On Log Cabin Island, the scouts set up the griddle and made quesadillas for lunch. Afterwards, the temptation of the rope swing was too great, so they did some swimming.

The mosquitos could be pretty bad at camp. Sorry, Daniel!

Your trusty webmaster and blogger was lucky enough to attend dinner that night. Watching the whole meal preparation was very impressive, and the scouts even ate lots of fresh vegetables. It was an excellent meal!

Wednesday night chefs Nathan and Sam prepped the veggies. Peppers, onions, carrots, green beans, and snow peas.

Daniel was on fire duty.

Sam was working on his cooking merit badge, so he did a lot of the cooking for the chicken and vegetables.

Meanwhile, Liam and Daniel were preparing and cooking biscuits in the Dutch ovens over coals.

Once the biscuits were done, they started on apple crisp for dessert.

It was a tiring day!

Day 5

The day started out with a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns.

The troop really lucked out with good weather all week, except for Day 5. It was a little rainy, so instead of the Sports Day that was scheduled, it became an extended free time day and the scouts found ways to pass the time in the large pavilion near the campsite.

Personal pizzas were on the menu for dinner. The dough proofed all day, and there was a bit of pizza tossing and dough throwing that went on.

The pizzas turned out great!

The troop held a flag retirement ceremony. Members of the public often give the troop old flags for disposal, so that night they took all the flags they'd been saving up and retired them.

Day 6

Breakfast burritos got good reviews from all.

During the night, a raccoon entered camp and absconded with Parker's backpack. They eventually found it out in the woods near the canoe launch.

The great thing about doing your own summer camp is that you're not held to any itinerary. While Friday was originally scheduled as a fishing day, the troop ended up having more of a swimming and water day. Being the last full day it was fun just to do what the group wanted to do. They spent the morning at the beach at Pawtuckaway. The watermelon football game was a big hit.

After lunch, the scouts hopped in the canoes and went back to the rope swing. Back at camp later that evening, they made the last dinner of the week followed up with birthday cake for Daniel, who celebrated his birthday this week.