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Scouts and Ventures enjoy weekend camp

Getaway in the great outdoors for local youth done on horseback
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Venture scout Nicole Bellamy with one of the horses used to pack in supplies for a recent camping trip.

Nearly 30 local Scouts, Ventures and their leaders took part in a weekend end of May camping trip to Watson Lake, a trip which was made even more memorable because they were using pack horses belonging to Scouter Mike Dame.

One of the senior Scouts, Tanisha Salter, had the extra task of working with Scouter Mike to make sure the horses were ready.

Boxes used to pack supplies were placed on each side of a horse and each had to weigh the same to provide a balanced load.

“When we got up there we looked for a flat place to set up our tent but there weren’t many,” said Salter after the group arrived at Watson Lake on Friday, May 30.

“Some tents got flat ground while others had a little bit of a slant,” she said.

Dinner that first night consisted of smokies and the fire helped to keep the bugs at bay.

Following breakfast the next day,  Salter and other senior Scouts – Aurora Peden, Brittney Preston, Aiden Gardner and Aiden Archer set up a compass course.

“The compass course is to teach us how to use a compass properly,” she said.

“This took almost all day to set up and to do,” said Salter.

A swim in Watson Lake followed although the water was very cold.

“When I was trying to dry my shorts I accidentally burned the back of my legs from standing to close to the fire,” said Salter.

Supper that night took the form of a camping cook off with the Kermode Patrol making moose meat kabobs with fried vegetables and the Fox Patrol baking potatoes with chicken and salad.

Before breaking camp the next morning, the group took part in what’s called a Scout Zone.

It’s a time when individuals speak about what they liked about the camp with the zoning ending with a song and quote from the Scout book.

“The camp was very fun and lots of us would definitely do it again,” said Salter.

Scout leader Mike Dame said the group encountered more than their fair share of hungry blackflies.

“With a flurry of slapping and loading we were up the hill to the first lake with a trail of sweaty bodies in no time at all,” he said of the group’s arrival at Watson Lakes.

“With numerous red spots on the legs and backs of the scouts we packed up on Sunday and returned safely to the trail head and returned the youth to their awaiting parents,” Dame added as the camping weekend concluded.

“It was a great weekend  with good weather and lots of campfire stories and kids with endless energy,” he said.