Just got back from our council fall camporee this weekend. Decided to have the troop go light on this camporee. We have a troop trailer ( yes we are one of THOSE troops with a trailer) which in the past would have been filled to the roof with gear to attend an event like this. All the cooking would been been done over two burner coleman propane stoves, with a turkey fryer stove to heat water, big pots and pants, etc, etc, etc….you get the picture….
We did this campout on a backpacking style. The camporee was on recreating an indian trading back in 1700 and teaching the boys about the cultural of native americans. So they asked us to not use "modern lighting..i.e. propane lanterns attached to 20 lbs tanks, etc. We used candles and tiki torches. There were some troops trying to abide by this request..but alot of troops were using their propane lanterns. Cooking was with our Reactor stoves using freezer bag cooking style. Everyone was pleased with the results. All but one boy brought his stuff in a backpack. He is new to the troop. Our troop is headed to Philmont in 2013 so we have begun taking shakedown trips, thus the boys in the troop are getting their gear for this trip, including backpacks. This was the first time we only took what we needed for a camporee. It made for a quick packing of the trailer and vice versa. Unreal on how empty the shelves were in the trailer! Normally, every shelf in the trailer would have been filled.
One of the assistant scoutmasters is sold on this type of camping. He said this is SO much easier than how the troop functioned in the past. The boys are getting the hang of it too. He is headed to Philmont in 2013 along with me.
It was fun to look at the other troops with all the tons of gear, stoves, tables, gearboxes, propane tanks, turkey fryers, etc. and just realize how much work and effort it is to go camping using the stop and plop method….
Just want to thank everyone on this forum for their suggestions, insight, white papers, etc on educating on the joys of lightweight backpacking/camping.
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