by Scout Adam Roy
During the first weekend in January, when most kids are getting ready to return to school, I went camping with my scouting friends — it was loads of fun! While most Scouts camps are held almost completely outdoors, this one was more of a leisure-filled vacation, since we would bring electronic devices and sleep indoors.
It turned out this was a good weekend to be sleeping inside because it was super cold! We arrived at the chalet in Cobourg on Friday night and it was immediately apparent that this was going to be an awesome weekend — some Scouts had already arrived and were having fun goofing around in typical Scout fashion. After claiming our sleeping spaces and playing video games, we decided to drag our scouters into the bitter cold to go tobogganing in the dark.
Nighttime sledding is an adventure because you can’t always see where you’re headed — it’s a good thing we wear helmets! Our adventure didn’t last as long as we’d hoped, but at least we were able to test out the hill and make plans for the next day.
Since we didn’t have a bedtime, most of us stayed up long past midnight. We were sound asleep when our Scouter woke us up in the morning with the sound of an air horn. HONK! HONK! Some of us were so startled we fell out of our beds. Eventually we all clambered upstairs, some still tired and yawning, to the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking. Like all camp breakfasts, this was a delicious way to start the day!
Before we could go tobogganing again, Scouter Bruce took us on a hike, which was mostly okay, despite it being entirely uphill. Coming back down was much more fun, since we slid down the hill on our sleds, tubes and discs.
Most of the Scouts attempted some wacky tobogganing challenges later that morning. The best one we tried was “Santa’s Sleigh,” which involved one Scout sitting at the front as Rudolph, followed by others sitting two-by-two as the rest of the reindeer and, finally, at the back was Santa. We used ropes to tie the sleds together and held on tightly as we zoomed downhill. I always sat near the back as Dasher, mainly so that if it all went wrong, I could crash into people bigger than me and not break any bones. We all remained intact at the bottom of the hill.
Like most Scout meals, lunch was quickly scarfed down so we could get back to more fun activities. While we waited for our winter gear to dry, we watched movies and hung out indoors. A couple of us helped make dinner (putting our knife skills to work on onions and peppers) and sped up the process so we could chow down sooner.
After dinner was finished and dishes were washed, we trudged downstairs and went to bed for a nice peaceful sleep. Just kidding! The Scouts instead began wrestling and playing Pokémon quite loudly. There was much drama and maybe a few bruises when we finally quieted down but, nevertheless, we eventually fell asleep.
On Sunday morning, I was the first Scout to wake up, and thankfully not to the air horn. It was around 8:00 and it was quite early to be waking up (at least if you’re a Scout who stayed up really late). I made my way upstairs, wanting first dibs on breakfast. Unfortunately, three other Scouts also woke up and were on my tail. They were way less stealthy, so by the time I went up for seconds, almost every other Scout was awake and eating.
After breakfast, Scouter Bruce told us we might go tobogganing if we cleaned up our gear quickly. You would think that would encourage us but Scouts can be easily distracted and it took longer than it should have. We did get one last ride down the hill before we had to leave for home.
While I was excited to go home and see my family again, I will certainly miss the camp life, and I will have to wait a few more months for another great camping experience with my Scouting friends.