Like many troops, our troop participates in a variety of campouts.  Many of them are pretty structured and tend to be jam packed with activities. 

We had a number of Scouts that wanted a less programmed campout (imagine that, boys actually like camping!!). We’ve done CTC and Fort George and Klondikes and District Camporees, etc. They’re all heavily structured/programmed (which is great, but sometimes takes the spontaneous fun out of camping).

So we came up with the Scoutmaster’s Campout where we flipped the script on the boys. An adult patrol did all the cooking (so we could demonstrate service and how an effective patrol can work together), and only had a few organized activities - which were intentionally designed to include the entire troop, so that patrol cliques didn’t take over during the weekend. One of those was a service project. We rented Maxion Lodge at Cutler, and were able to surprise the boys by letting them sleep in the lodge. They all came prepared for tent camping, but the numbers worked to fit both adults and Scouts in the lodge. 

Scouts brought their own games, and there was a nice mix of indoor and outdoor times. We had a spectacular hike to the outlooks, and for me, it was the last campout with my oldest still as a youth. Good memories and times for all.