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Like all Boy Scout Troops, we like to camp!

On the Welcome Page, it shows how many nights this year our Troop has been out camping. On the Past Events Page, there are links to pictures of some of our camping trips so you can see the great times we've had.

Much of our camping is done at Camp Wilderness. This link opens a new browser window and goes to the Northern Lights Council page for Camp Wilderness. There will be information there on upcoming schedules and events, and maps and directions.

Here are some quick links (the first two are .PDF files):
• Map and directions to Camp Wilderness
• Map of Camp Wilderness in MN
• Directions from Grand Forks AFB to Camp Wilderness from Google Maps
• Directions from Grand Forks AFB to Camp Wilderness from Yahoo Maps

It's funny that the computers tell us to go south on I-29 and then east on route 200. Generally, we always travel east on Hwy 2 all the way to Bagley MN. Then we turn right on 92 and go left (east) on 200. From there, the directions are similar... Stay on 200 east until it turns into 71 east, and at Lake George take a right on county road 4, and then a left on county road 24. Your last turn is another left onto Jewell drive and then into the Camp which is located on Bad Axe Lake.

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Legend of the Ashes

Legend has it that Lord Baden-Powell would always get up in the morning and take a small amount of cool ashes from the night's campfire. He would then spread them into the next campfire as part of its opening. This tradition began during his days in the British Army, and with the first gathering of scouts at Brownsea Island in England in the year of 1907. He did this until his death on January 8th, 1941. The purpose, he said, was to bring all scouts and scouters into the international circle of the world brotherhood of scouting. How true this rings! There is nothing like sitting around a campfire sharing the day with the youth in your unit. You can't replace this experience with a movie or a TV show, there is just something magical about the campfire. So how does it work?

Scouts wishing to start in this tradition bring a stick to the campfire and burn it along with the ashes of other Scout campfires. When the ashes are cold the next morning they are stirred and each Scout takes some home to mix with his next campfire. If more than one Scout brings ashes to the same campfire, the lists are combined; the dates and places of all campfires are recorded and passed on. Only those present at the ceremony may carry ashes from the campfire.

This excel file is a list of all of the campfires that our troop fires have been a part of.

See you around the campfire!

      Scoutmaster Bo

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