Mark's First Scout Camp

The boys stayed in the Ward tent (except for Mark-- he stayed with Dad).

Technically Mark's first Scout Camp was at Camp Floyd with Dad last summer. He had his first campout with the 11 year-old Scouts in March, though. Dad dutifully went along on this one, too. The troop planned to go to Willow Park, which is just down by the river here in Lehi. It's a great place to do some suburban camping, so it was completely full of scout troops.

It had been raining most of the week, and we were hoping for a break in the clouds. Dad had bought a brand new tent just for Scout camps, and he didn't really want it muddy on its first time out of the bag. Luckily, the rain stopped about noon on Friday, and with the way the sun works in March, it was mostly dried up by the time they got camp set up around 6 o'clock. Mark and Dad would share a tent (with cots) while the other boys stayed in a tent and the leaders in their own tents.

The boys had a lot to do a lot of requirements, but they still found time to run around and play. They worked on cooking meals and reading nature signs. Dad enjoyed taking the boys for a walk and finding ten signs of wildlife: tracks, a feather, bird songs and sightings, and even some deer. Just before bed, he even got to teach them about the North Star and show them a few constellations.

The hotdogs were just right!

We had a great morning walk looking for animal signs.

Mark snuggled right in and warmed up.

Mark was a great helper. He cooked and worked on gathering wood. He helped build the fire and roasted his own hotdogs. He was great at setting up the tent and laying out camp, too. Mostly he liked stopping at the gas station for a large red-cream soda and eating any snacks he wanted for one evening!

Mark is good at camp clean up.

The night dropped down to about 40 degrees, but in the little tent with sleeping bags, pads, cots, and extra blankets, Mark and Dad were not cold at all. Even though Dad had to get up and shush the boys in the other tent at about 11:15, everyone slept pretty well. Best of all, no rain fell until the following day. It was a really great campout, and both Dad and Mark (and Dax and Seth, in the future) are looking forward to the next one.

The sunset was much more beautiful than this pictue shows.

Mark had a great first camp!