campout from hell
 

Me and asst. and three boys camped this weekend. Fri. night was bad weather and it was POURING when we arrived at the site. I had to get out and unlock and open the gate, and got wet even though I had an umbrella in the truck.

There was a respite, so we got our tents up. Built a fire despite wet wood. Drizzled some more. Pants were soaking wet due to the wet tall grass.

Told the boys we were getting up early so we could get pack up and get going on our nine mile hike.

At about 4 or 5am I hear the boys outside their tent milling around. Turns out it was too hot for them to sleep, so they never went to sleep. First time ever they were all packed up before me.

We went on a nine mile hike with all our crap, still wet, some drizzle, neighborhood dogs following us. Most of it on country roads, but we had to some bushwacking at the end.

We were hot and exhausted. With all the rain, the humidity was 100%. Mosquitos "the worst it has ever been" according to the guardian of the land. I believe him, they were bad.

We came home filthy and happy. Campouts from hell are the best kind.

Bear Grylls would have eaten the mosquitos for protein.

Would have been self-cannibalism. Eating your own blood.

When I pissed after the hike, I thought to myself, I'm glad I'm not drinking this. Came out dark and burned.

that sounds like a lot of fun sort of... i really haven't been camping since my scouting years and my family didn't do a lot of camping, so i'm excited to do it more often with my own little family. as far as the mosquitos go, my wife attracts them like nobody's business so we have to buy some special 'jungle juice' from REI. i'd like to run for assistant scout master as an excuse to acquire more camping gear and to get more experience. any suggestions on how to win the nomination?

Volunteer yourself to accompany the boys on camp outings. Donate generously to Friends of Scouting. Ask your Bishop. Ask your Scoutmaster if you can help. I am sure he won't reject your services.

A woman in my ward today gave a talk and made the mistake of saying that she and her husband like to watch Man Vs. Wild.

Now he is on our radar.

All great suggestions. The scoutmaster lives in the home behind me so I could just start setting up all my camping gear to try and impress him... or I may just rely on the Lord inspring the Bishop. :)

ha ha!

On a more serioius note about the campout....it really is a milestone for me. When I first became scoutmaster I thought we would be able to do this in our first or second campout.

But to actually be able to camp in bad weather with a 9 mile hike with packs the next day, and them cooking their own food? Unthinkable 1 year ago.

So it actually means something to me that we were able to do this, even if there were only 3 YM. It's tough when you are in an urban ward, none of the fathers with scouting/outdoor experience, almost all of the families with modest means.

that's really cool. that's why i think being the assistant scoutmaster would be fun. i really enjoy being able to overcome the elements... and to learn and teach skills like that to the kids and to watch them mature and grow like you are able to do would be rewarding to me.