Camp May Flather Trip Report

Camp May Flather is in the George Washington National Forest just south of Harrisonburg VA in the Shenandoah Valley about 150 miles away.  It was a beautiful weekend.  The leaves turned and the weather was perfect.  We senior scouts received premier berthing.  We were at the end of the camp trail over a footbridge ensconced on a hillside overlooking a stream with 3 other troops in 7 platform tents.  We had latrines and picnic tables and a washstand with running water.  About 150 cadette and senior scouts were there.  We had a wonderful weekend, I think.

  Our campers have made major progress packing more efficiently. (The adults helped a little by ditching boots and pillows while packing the cars).  Mrs. Nathanson offered good advice:  3 small bags are easier to fit into car than 1 large duffle bag.  Backpack is still best! It leaves free hands for carrying troop gear! Next time the girls will bring extra flashlight batteries and watertight bottles that don't leak in car and in platform tent.  Mrs. Irvin will bring a pad for her cot (I used my car floor mats 2nd night after sun drying the leaky water bottle spill.)  They found several ways to sleep warmly: doubling up in sleeping bags; wrapping sleeping bag in poncho/trash bag; putting bag inside someone else's bag.   At least one camper still needs to master rolling her own sleeping bag/mat.  All were very good about carrying their own gear and troop gear.  Thank you.

  We have mostly overcome latrine squeamishness.  The latrine crew really worked to clean out the dead bugs, live spiders etc.  That made it so much nicer.  Ask Lauren about the spider 4 inches across...he was well fed.  Mrs. Nathanson and I saw a web with mouse cocooned in it.  BIG SPIDERS.  We learned about plastic lidded cans in latrine to hold feminine hygiene items and for to keeping toilet paper clean/dry.  We leaders reminded all 4 troops about toilet etiquette...cleaning up after yourself.  Red and green "glow sticks" at latrine at night worked perfectly.  That really cut down on use of propane lanterns (and cost!).  We only used 1 lantern all weekend and that was to light the cooking/dining area.  The girls did a great job setting up the camping area with soap-in-hose at washstand, line for dish dripbags, garbage bag and paper towels tied on a friendly tree, and the escape route marking.  Mealtime cooking, dishwashing, and waste disposal in ecology bag all went very well. Mrs. Nathanson showed the girls how to make a washstation with 8 tent stakes and a plastic bag.  They loved it.  It works if you don't have serious dishes to wash.  It is a little hard on those of us who cannot squat. (Both Irvins this particular weekend.)  We had to remind our girls about lights out/quiet time hours.

  Troop 1499 had major success in cooking.  Everyone was excited about cooking.  Even when ingredients were a surprise or missing, it was solved with enthusiasm.  Was it planned that the eggs would not come?  It was perfect!  It set the stage for the rest of the trip...Improvise to survive!  All the meals were enjoyed.  

  Meals

Saturday breakfast 
Calamity eggs: bacon/hash browns/cheese - no egg

Saturday lunch
Mystery lunch-girls received ingredients and had to improvise

Canned chicken/mushroom soup/rice/pineapple
Graham crackers/peanut butter/chocolate                                   Celery/Carrots/Apples

Saturday dinner             

Taco Soup:  canned tomatoes/corn, hamburger, cheese               Eaten on Tostitos

Puppy Chow: peanut butter/chex/chocolate/butter - bit the dust due to butter left off shopping list

Sunday breakfast            

Bagels and cream cheese

  Mrs. Davis is to be complimented:  she bagged and labeled all the food by meal.  A big help. In the future we will unpack perishables...the carrots and celery froze.  Some of the celery was uneatable.  We ate frozen carrots before bedtime, that lowered our body temperature.  The cooking oil leaked out of its ziplock bag.  We planned too many snacks.  Except for ride home, we didn't need them.  It's hard to beat hot chocolate in the morning.  Many lessons learned.

  We had 6 training sessions on Saturday designed to teach outdoor survival (and earn the IP) as well as an exercise Sunday morning to build a shelter and Saturday to cook the Mystery Lunch.

      1.  Water purification/collection.  Dug hole, put can at bottom with plastic in cone shape weighted by rock; collected condensation water.  Also learned to use clean sock filled with sand to filter water thru several times to purify for drinking.

      2.   Survival kit.  Received plastic bag load of stuff...had to build survival kit from items.  Almost everything had rhyme and reason.  See attached handout.  Excellent session.

      3.  Signals. Practical land signs to use if lost.  BSA leader from Fairfax also taught semaphores.  .

      4.  Mountain Survival Scenario.  Plane crashed in blizzard on snowy mountain top.  Pilot and co-pilot are dead; everyone else is fine. From list of objects each girl was to build a survival kit list in priority order.  Then the girls as a team were to build the kit.  Finally we listened to the text book answer.  Interesting results.  Our girls repeated what they had learned in the morning survival kit session. That 1^st kit was built using a generic hierarchy of needs.  The lesson in the 2^nd session was to assess which needs are already covered and determine what else you need.  The girls felt they had received conflicting instruction.  Nothing we adults could say could convince them otherwise.  Maybe a review of Maslow's hierarchy will better illustrate for them. 

      5. Firebuilding.  Probably the girls' favorite.  Built teepee fires on tinfoil.  Used stick and shoelace bow to quickly twist 2^nd stick to make smoldering spark.  Lucy and Amy particularly enjoyed this. Made firestarters with paper towel rolled tightly, tied with string, dipped in melted paraffin.  Hope they got home for Mom and Dad to see.

  6.  Outdoor Careers. Played What's My Line but acoustics were awful; made session a bummer.

  We enjoyed Saturday evenings campfire and line dancing.  In free time Saturday afternoon, our troop composed Hello, Mother!  Hello, Father. Here I am in Camp May Flather. It was the hit of the campfire.  Ya gotta hear it!  Come to Court of Honor!

  The last task was to make a shelter Sunday morning after breakfast.  It was hard to get gooooing.  The scenario:  we went out too far on hike; we have an injured hiker; a thunderstorm and night are approaching within the hour; build a shelter for the night.

  Prior to the construction phase, we talked through choosing a site.  Avoid lightening: by not being in a clearing, under the tallest tree, or at the top of the mountain.  Avoid water: by not being against the foot of a mountain side, in a gully, or beside the river. 

  The Troop pursued the project unencumbered by a chosen leader or master plan.  They worked cooperatively as the would-be shelter(s) evolved with each new idea.  Their 1^st attempt was an 8' tall teepee that collapsed.  Rethinking how much head space they REALLY needed, they started a 2^nd more reasonable lean-to but didn't finish. We want to repeat this task at our next campout.  I hear that all the troops had difficulty with this exercise.  I plan to critique at TOGA that this should have been a teaching session instead.  Mrs. Nathanson and I discussed at length how to run the session.  We elected to let the girls "do their own thing."  We felt that to really learn what worked and what didn't, they needed to do it themselves.  They all have had sufficient training to be successful. Regrettably, after 2 hours we had to end the session and head home, but we did discuss what went right/wrong.  I think we will demo a one-person debris hut and use of lashing and knots with a tarp at our next camp out and then let them try again to build a group shelter.

  I think we all had fun and learned at least one new thing!