Campfires, Merit Badges, and Late-Nights. These were some of the great aspects of this year's summer camp at Beaumont Scout Reservation. This year's camp had it all!

On June 22, 2003 at about 11:00am, Troop 810 finished packing up the scout gear and we headed for the Reservation where we were going to be spending the next 6 days. We arrived at about 12:00-12:30 at the Reservation and we were assigned a site (Wolff) and we began to unpack. The first night, we rested up for tomorrow and were eager to wake!

We woke up the next morning at 7:00am for breakfast and for reville. The day started off with a nice, warm breakfast. Then, everyone went where they needed to be and the day officially began. This year we had an "open schedule" where we could go to any merit badge on any day at any time (this was new to troop 810). At Beaumont, the reservation offered a total of 34 merit badges and a COPE course. Also at Beaumont, they had a climbing and rapelling tower and a lot of the scouts did this. The first night ended with a campfire and we went to bed.

The next day was great! We began with our normal routine and we went off to our merit badge stations. We then came to the mess hall for another GREAT lunch by Beaumont's great chefs. After lunch, we all went back to more of our merit badge stations. We came in for dinner and we ate like wild savages (because they had BROWNIES!!!!). After the flag lowering, we retreated back to camp and began resting. In about an hour, we went to our first camp-wide fire and watched the acting and singing begin.

After being up late last night, some of us were tired getting up, but that was soon worn off because it was family night! This was one of the best days at camp (food wise). We did our regular routine and we got through our day. We then went to a small mass in the chapel and then we were sent to the mess hall for dinner! We had steak, hot potatoes, A-1 steak sauce, sherbert, and milk! It was great! You then could show your family around camp and then said your goodbyes. We ended Wednesday with a small campfire on our site and then hit the hay.

In my eyes, Thursday night was a memorable one! Again, we did our normal routine throughout the whole day and after dinner, we went back to camp. We were all in our tents because it was raining when Alex came out in his swimming trunks and threw a big glob of mud at Kyle S. This started what is known as the "mud war!" Some of the scouts joined in as the pelting of mud came to be more popular. All the scouts who participated were in the showers after that! But then, some other scouts came along and we began to play dodge ball! Then, it became a huge thing. We all played in an "extreme, world-renowned, life or death," game of dodge ball. To make it harder, there were 5 or 6 balls flying around at once! We ended the night in our tents sleeping.

The last day was nice. AGAIN, we did our daily routine and then we went back to camp. At camp we all got changed and then we went to the final campfire where we would all produce a skit or a song. Our troop had to do a song. We decided to do "the Froggy" song. In the middle of the song, it pretty much all fell apart! that was okay though, we had fun. The end of the ceremony was where an award for Chaplain's Aide (by Joey J.), and other miscellaneous awards given out by the camp. Some scouts (none from our troop) got to get a special award called the Pioneer, Mountainman, Frontiersman, and Woodsman. We ended the night with a sleep and then sadly left camp the next morning and arrived back at home at around 12:30, all tired out from the fun!

Attending summer camp at Beaumont this year were Alex, Daniel, David, Erik, Jared, Joe S., Joey J., Joey P., Justin, Kyle K., Kyle S., Matt Kl., Matt Ko., Nathan, Philip, Ryan, Mr. Makowski, Mr. See, Mr. Svihlik, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Ulintz.

Beaumont Summer Camp Photo Album