Impromptu Scout Camp

This year, we were scheduled to attend Maple Dell Scout Camp. We were notified the day before camp was to start that the camp had been closed by the health department due to Swine Flu. Never fear, I like challenges. We put together a week of scout camp with less than 24 hour notice.

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We headed to the cabin in Hobble Creek Canyon on Monday. We started the week by working on Citizenship of the Nation on the drive up. I also made several phone calls on the drive in order to set up the rest of the week.
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The boys planned the menu and cooked all week. The meals were actually delicious and the boys earned Cooking Merit Badge in the process. We also completed Art Merit Badge while we did some of our lectures for Citizenship in the Community and World. We completed Mammal Study Merit Badge by doing a service project to limit the number of rodents in the area and by visiting the Bean Museum at BYU. As a bonus we photographed a deer.
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You can't camp 20 feet from Hobble Creek Golf Course and not try to earn the Golf Merit Badge. The boys did great. One even learned the bunker shot so well that he knocked the ball out of the sand trap and hit me in the forehead. It caused a golf ball sized bump over my eye. Despite the injury, we had a great round. The weather was perfect and the course was beautiful. Hobble Creek is the best value in golf.
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After a long day of classwork we spent Wednesday night earning the Skating Merit Badge. It took the full two hours we were there to pass off the skills required for the merit badge. It's not an easy one. The boys can now do a hockey stop and they all know how to do an ice rescue. "Preach, reach, throw, go."
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The boys observed nature, looked for signs of erosion, and performed experiments in order to complete Environmental Science Merit Badge. While observing nature they caught several snakes. That led us to Pets, First Aid, and Medicine Merit Badges when one bit a scout. In the end no one was hurt, except maybe the snake that licked the dirty scout hand.
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The older scouts worked on Wilderness Survival Merit Badge. They built tepees 8 feet high. They didn't just spend the night in them, they slept in til 9:00 am.
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We went bowling just for fun on Thursday before we went to the art museum and the natural history museum. The boys worked incredibly hard all week. Many also earned Sports Merit Badge and Communications Merit Badge.

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We challenged the boys to earn 100 merit badges as group by the end of the week and as a reward we would go to Seven Peaks Water Park on Friday, we would go to Brick Oven afterward if they earned 120, and they could get dessert if they earned 150. Let me just say, the cookies tasted great. In the end, we had twice as much fun and earned twice the number of merit badges for one half the cost of our original plan. Thank you Swine Flu!
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