Cub Scout Pack 77 Campout A Huge Success

This past weekend, the Cub Scouts of Pack 77 held their annual camping trip on the Batz property off Mountain Road in Ellington. The event was packed with activities and fun that the boys will undoubtedly be talking about for a long time. 

Activities began with a demonstration on how to safely use and handle an ax.  Some of the older scouts were able to use the ax, and younger boys had an opportunity to contact split wood to be used as kindling.

Later in the day, Betsi Feldman from the Ellington Volunteer Fire Department delivered a presentation on first aid. As a father of a seven year old boy, I know how hard it can be to keep a young child's attention for even five minutes. Ms. Feldman had the boys captivated for 45 minutes with her discussion about how to treat broken bones, cuts, burns, and bleeding. The boys broke into groups and had an opportunity to apply splints and bandages to their partner.

Towards the end of the afternoon the boys watched a demonstration on fire building and campfire safety. There was a lot of excitement around the start of the fire considering the majority of kindling had been split by the boys themselves, earlier in the day.  

After a delicious dinner was served, the boys gathered for campfire activities. New to this year's campfire was a program that included campfire songs, den cheers, and some very funny skits performed by the boys. I still can't get the "Pizza Hut" song out of my head. 

After a few more games of flashlight tag, it was lights out. Back to the warmth of your tent for the night.

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast of eggs and sausage, the boys were led on a hike through the woods to one of the area's geocache sites.

I still can remember many of my scout camping trips as a child, and I no doubts that some life-long memories were made this weekend. I hope readers will take a moment to review the pictures with this posting.

Finally, I want to thank all of the scout leaders and parents who participated in the events success. And I can't forget to thank all of the friends of pack 77 who bought popcorn from us this past year.  Popcorn sales are the pack's primary source of funding to pay for events like this campout.