Summertime and Scouting

For Boy Scouts and older Girl Scouts, summertime usually means scout camp. All the work and fundraising and learning they've done goes into a week-long (or longer!) adventure, somewhere out in nature. Tucson has in-council camps, but remember there are also some great Grand Canyon Council camps--not to mention, all the great places in AZ to get out there and have a great time!

For Cub Scouts, Daisies and Brownies, summer means a break from pack and troop meetings, and usually some more casual summertime activities. In Tucson that often means some indoor activities. Here are some fun ideas:

• Bowling (don't pay full price, there are too many coupons out there to count!)
• Roller Skating
• Gymnastics (check with the gym--many are swamp-cooled and are a better choice for early summer when it's dry)
• See a play at Gaslight Theatre or Live Theater Workshop
• Indoor Rock Climbing (yes, this is OK per G2SS)
• The Mineral Museum at the U of A
• Flandrau Observatory is also open this summer
• Biosphere II
• Bookman's and the local libraries have some fun programs

Keep an eye on Tucson Kids and Tucson on the Cheap for some good deals on all sorts of activities. Many of these are appropriate for a den or a small troop, even if you can't take a large group of kids.

More later on outdoor stuff! Enjoy the summer!

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.

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.