Roper Lake Pack Campout

Last spring our pack went to Roper Lake for our pack campout. We stayed in the Gila group area. It worked well for our pack, plenty of room for the tents and pop-up trailers. We did have to work with the staff to make sure all the vehicles got tagged.
Some of the kids spent a lot of time fishing. Some didn't fish much at all. We were able to set up a small archery range down a back road with permision, it was several minutes walk from the campsite so a lot of people drove.
There is water available and the restrooms have flush toilets and showers. There are signs in the showers warning that they will be turned off if water is wasted. There are also a couple of outdoor sinks, I am guessing these are intended for kitchen duties.
The cabins surround the group area, so we tried to be considerate with our campfire noise and not go too late. Unfortunately for us there was a concert going on down the road that went on until about 11:30 PM anyway, so I didn't get to sleep until the encore was over (it was Honky Tonk Woman, by the way!)
After the 'official' campout was over we took a couple of the Webelos over to the nature trail. We hiked the loop, it is pretty short. There are labels on it but there were no guides that day, so we had to guess what we were intended to look at. The rock hot-tub there is a very nice way to end the campout--but it only holds a few people so it wouldn't be practical for a large group of scouts.
We didn't make it over to the day use area, it looks like there is quite a bit to do there. We spent most of our time working on whittlin' chips, cub obstacle course and treasure hunts. And fishin'.
Overall a nice camp spot, but not much shade so you may want to avoid this in hot weather. May be closed due to budget cuts this summer anyway, unfortunately!
And make sure you stop to see The Thing? on the way home. Or at least stop for ice cream.

Year of Celebration awards

Our pack has several kids and some adults working on the Year of Celebration awards. In January we tried to pick up our first round from the scout shop, using the form generated by the website that the Boy Scouts of America told us to use.
We were told that it had to be on an advancement report. Now, advancement reports are used for awards that have to be earned, like rank awards and merit badges for boy scouts. The awards can be earned by alumni and leaders as well, who wouldn't normally even show up on the report.
So I called the scout shop to verify, before we go out there again. They said that you either have to do the online form OR the advancement report. They said "only one pack has done it correctly all year." I'd really like to know what pack that is so we can get this right with *one* trip to the scout shop. Driving 15 miles each way is kind of a pain. I can imagine it is even more painful for the packs / troops who are further out and have to add an hour to that drive to get to the service center.
Wish us luck!

Pack Camping - Whitetail Campground, Mt. Lemmon

http://www.astronomycamp.org/pages/bigelow.htmlOne of the things I'm planning on posting about is the places available for camping with cubs in the Tucson area. The Guide to Safe Scouting (hereafter known as G2SS) allows pack overnighters, which our pack usually does on the weekends a couple times a year.

Since it's a weekend thing, we usually don't want to go too far away. About 2 hours of driving seems to be a reasonable limit, so most of the areas I'm interested in covering will be within that radius from southeast Tucson.

We are planning a trip up to Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon. There are 5 group sites, they require a reservation in advance. It is a fairly new site and nice, with paved parking and concrete walkways. They have a large firepit, and a ramada with several picnic tables. There are also bear boxes and bear-safe trash cans, and a few large charcoal grills. There are a couple pit toilets for each campsite and water available with a spigot at the ramada. I'd recommend bringing a large jug unless you want soggy kids every time they go to wash something or get a drink, the spigots are not easy to control! There is also no water at the restroom, so you may want to set up a hand-washing jug there as well.

The campground is on one side of a large ravine. Up the hill on the other side is a fairly large fall of trees, the kids like to use these to make forts and shelters (supervised of course). The site in the back is the largest, there are several pads for tents but you can't drive your car up to the tent site--you have to do some hauling.
There is power but only at the ramada, so to inflate your air mattresses you'll have to haul them around too.

There is some room with a sort-of flat area for games and activities, but I wouldn't really count on playing kickball or football here. The campground is across from the trailhead that leads up to the (lower) observatory, which makes a nice hike but be careful crossing the highway.

The campground hosts are very careful about their campground and will enforce the rules about parking, not using chalk on the ground, fire building, and noise. Which, overall, makes it nicer for everyone.

I've camped here with other groups as well, and it seems that a lot of cub packs use this campground. Last time I think I saw the cubs from St. Cyril's!

Another note: you don't have to buy a Mt. Lemmon pass if you are only going to Whitetail. If you are going to stop somewhere else on the way up or down you should have one, but whitetail-only doesn't require one.

Outdoor Webelos Leader Skills training

Last weekend I took the Intro. to Outdoor Skills for Webelos Leaders class. I'd registered after some mis-communication with the council office and the course leader, so I was honestly a little skeptical. I know that less-than-stellar registration and pre-information doesn't always mean the event itself is not well planned, but it just doesn't give you a good confident feeling going in.

As far as the actual outdoor skills, I don't think I learned much I didn't already know. I re-learned how to tie a bowline knot. Being left-handed, by the way, makes it a little tricky for righties to show you how to tie.

I did learn quite a bit, though, about presentation of the outdoor concepts to scouts. Yeah, we all know, that telling the kids how to do something is the least likely method to get them to remember. But it is also the most accessible, right? Tell them to turn to page 142 in their handbooks and read it.

So, I got some good ideas on how to work on outdoor concepts with the boys. Making animal and plant identification into a game? So much better than flash cards. I think we should have included scorpions, though.