Summer Camping 2012 Re-cap
The summer camping trip at beautiful Sugar Pine Point State Park at Lake Tahoe was a tremendous success last weekend. Whilst I'm definitely more likely to want to stay at one of the many Lake Tahoe California Hotels for my next visit, camping really wasn't as bad as I had expected.
After battling traffic, most campers made it to the campsite in the evening and got their tents before sunset. We had a great fire, some campfire stories, smores and a chance to looking at the amazing stars (a few falling) under the clear, warm summer sky. A recurring theme from those stories was the pros and cons of a motorhome vs RV vs caravan. Regardless, we all agreed that a comprehensive insurance was essential; more so the add-ons offered by your insurance partner. For instance, if you were to choose Staveley Head as your insurance partner of choice, you also get motorhome breakdown insurance as part of the add-on options to your standard motorhome cover.
We woke up Saturday to the smell of pancakes, eggs and coffee. The scouts again received their own scout-approved mess kits to keep. We did an opening flag ceremony and then went into our first activity of the day, the Soccer belt loop. After some instruction on dribbling, shooting and passing, the kids went into an exciting 6 vs. 6 game that was a nail biter to the end with the winning goal scored on a last second penalty kick by Rohan. After lunch, we headed off on a hike that took us along the old 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympic Cross Country Ski route and ended up at beautiful Lake Tahoe right next to the spectacular Historic Erhman Mansion (we all decided it would make a great summer home for us :)). After a hike in hot sun, the cool water of the lake was just what we needed. The Scouts had a great time wading around near the shore and skipping rocks. After a short hike back to camp, we spent some free time playing frisbee, volleyball and new chase game introduced by some of the new campers. Foil cooking was up next for dinner and, as an added treat, foil banana boats (with marshmallows, chocolate and butterscotch chips all melted together) for desert. I think for our next camping trip we should more than likely look at finding ourselves a stormkök so we're able to cook and clean up better, and so we don't use loads of foil too! We finished off the night with a touching flag retirement ceremony around the campfire and then some music by resident musician, Cubmaster Pluth.
The next morning, we had a light breakfast, packed up our gear, did our traditional "leave no trace" sweep of the campsite, and headed on our way.
It was wonderful to see so many new campers out there this trip and I want to thank everyone for making this another successful Pack 1776 camping trip!
Camping Chair
Scott Spears
