Having Fun, Despite the Rain

The drive to Many Point (MP) went well. We made a quick pit stop in Sobeka and drove on to Park Rapids for lunch. The Scouts scattered to the four winds (or at least Burger King, McDonalds, Subway, and Pizza Hut), got lunch and got back on the bus for the last hour drive into Many Point.
We arrived at Ft. William at about 1:30. After we got the bus unstuck from between two trees (pictures later), we unloaded the bus. I headed north to admin to get us checked in, while everyone headed on down to swim qualifications. The boys are divided into Learners, Beginners, and swimmers.
After swim quals they headed back to camp and finished setting up their camp sites. Tents must have been wet when the previous troop checked out, because some tents were still standing around the camp site. We got things set up just in time for dinner: cheese burgers, chips, drink, and Little Debbies. There was a camp wide tour at 7:00 while the Scoutmasters met with camp staff. At 9:30 we had the camp wide welcome campfire (pictures on the website); songs, intros, and skits. After that, we headed back to camp and the Scouts headed off to bed, while the adults and leadership had a TLC (Troop Leadership Council) to talk about how things went, and what was happening on Monday.
Monday morning we were going to call revelry at 6:00, but for some reason, that didn't happen until 6:20 or so. Everyone got up and got breakfast going. Wayne the food delivery guy has retired, but Little Joe has been taking good care of us and we got trays of Granny Rolls with our usual food delivery (the rolls are a treat given to troops that help unload the truck). Breakfast was pre-cooked waffles, sausage, and juice.
Two of the second year scouts had a tent set up near a raccoon nest, so they had quite an adventure with the raccoons Sunday night, and ended up moving into a spare tent for the rest of the night. To hear them tell it, the raccoons had glowing red eye, were chasing them, and had knives. We're pretty sure there was some exaggeration in the description.
We had a troop assembly at the flag pole and headed up to the Voyager Lodge for camp wide assembly at 8:30. After more introductions, songs, and announcements, the scouts headed off to their merit badge classes. The first year's had Fish and Wildlife Management & Mammal Studies (two merit badges, one class) and the older Scouts had various other merit badges. During first hour, Mr. Fischer and Trevor (our SPL) met with our commissioner to get some of our troop activity assignments and our Flintlock (older Scout high adventure) activities.
Second and third hour, the new scouts had First Class Adventure (where they work on Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class requirements), while the older scouts had various other merit badges. That took us up to lunch; hot dogs, beans, fruit cocktail, and drink. After lunch, the troop split into two groups: one group did Ethics (group dynamic class), while the other did Outdoor Cooking. After an hour, the swapped places. At 3:00 they came back together for a big game of Greasy Watermelon (kind of like water polo with a watermelon covered in Crisco). After playing to a surprisingly (not) tied score, we all cut up and shared the watermelon.
At 4:00 was fourth hour merit badge and swimming classes (the first years had First Class Aquatics).
At 5:00 they headed back to camp to get ready for dinner; ham slices, mashed potatoes, green beans, cookies, and milk.
The leadership supervised the scouts performing clean-up of their sites before they were allowed to go to free time. At free time, they can visit the trading post, or most of the activity centers around the camp; the beach, the archery range, the climbing tower, the rifle range, etc.
At 9:00 it was back to camp, a closing troop assembly, and off to bed for most of the VERY tired scouts. The scouts that had raccoon troubles the night before, moved their tent and had a much better night. The adults and leadership had a TLC and headed off to bed also.
It was a very active night. The raccoons are very big and very active this year. The were crashing around and talking to each other most of the night.
I have to head back to the camp for lunch, so I'm going to sign off now and I'll try to pick it up again later from camp via my Blackberry.
For now, that's all from Many Point Scout Camp. Be sure to watch for pictures on the website. Jon Yearous