Planning a Campout: an Overview

I’ve camped with Scouts a lot, and like Court of Honor ceremonies [1, 2] I’ve formed some opinions about what makes them good and bad. It’s tough to turn every trip into a winner but easy to make some parts always work well.

• Make sure the Scouts have input on the trip. Hopefully they’ve indicated some interests to help make the campout into something they want — perhaps by saying they’d specifically like to try a certain activity, or by expressing interest in getting a rank requirement signed off.

• Keep the Scouts involved with the upcoming trip. Scouts should be reminded to sign up, and older Scouts should be consulted about their expectations and ideas to help make the trip better. I don’t think all trips deserve or require the level of hype I created for the Skills Showdown, but some is always good: Announcing the Skills Showdown, Hyping the Skills Showdown and Hyping the Skills Showdown, Part 2.

  I’ve met a few Troops who don’t put Scouts in charge of the menu, and one adult (typically the Scoutmaster) just does it all. I can’t express just how bad of an idea I think this is! At the very least, the Scouts involvement with the trip should include planning their own menu! Similarly, the Scouts should be responsible for cooking, not adults (well, not primarily, anyway — it’s certainly fine to help Scouts with their meal).

• With few exceptions, I don’t like to camp in the same spot more than once per Scout year. We’ve got several council-owned camps nearby, many state parks have youth camping areas, and backpacking across different trails will take you to new spots. Having a new location to visit is an excellent way to get Scouts excited for the upcoming trip because some part of it will be new and different from what they did over the past few campouts.

• The trip needs a purpose and activities. Scouting-related activities are certainly good, but even if it’s just a “fun” trip there should be some ideas of what to do.

  A backup activity (or two) should be handy. Keep a soccer ball or frisbees to the side, or have a planned route for a short hike. There’s nothing wrong with giving the Scouts some downtime to do whatever they want, but if it looks like there will be several hours with nothing to do having something ready is a good idea.

  Having a day filled with activity is more important for cold-weather trips. Being cold and bored while standing around a fire is a sure way to create misery. Staying warm (read: active) is the best way to make a winter trip enjoyable.

• After the trip is over, get some feedback. What did they enjoy? What didn’t go so well? It’s important to collect everyone’s thoughts (Scouts and adults) to assess how successful the trip was, and to be able to make future trips better.

  One great way to do this is to have a “reflection” at the following Troop meeting. During the opening, ask if there are any Scouts who want to share their experience with the other Scouts who didn’t go. It’s interesting to hear what they took away from the trip, what was memorable, and their perspective from such an open-ended opportunity to talk to the Troop because this often yields a different response than if you simply asked “what did you like about it?”