BSA Summer Camp - how old?

[TerryM]

How old were you or your son when they went away to camp?

I actually never did. That was for rich kids. But my son has an opportunity to go to Boy Scout Camp for a week this Summer. Away from mom, dad and family.

He's 11.

What have others done?

 

[Golddollar]

Holy smoke, you're asking me to remember back over 55 years. I think I went to camp in 3 summers when I was in junior high school.

 

[dant]

same here, was 10 and 11 when we went to summer camp , for the Boy Scouts, it was Camp Merz on Lake Chataucqua (sic) been so long I forgot how to spell it.....that was in late 1957-58...had a good time, and sorry NO rich kids amongst us..............first time I ever saw a muskie eat a swimming duck.....yikes !!! POOF , she was GONE !!!

 

[birdshooter]

I was 11when i first went to Boy Scout Camp at Camp Lewallen. It was a tough week. I was young and my Dad was in the hospital and had been for two months prior to me leaving. I wanted to go home really badly but my Scoutmaster would not let me. Best thing that could have happened to me. I grew a lot in that week. Boy Scouts was a wonderful experience. Taught me a loy about being a man.

 

[ColbyBruce]

My son was twelve. At thirteen he went on a Scout trip to the Bahamas. That one bothered me, but he was under the control of good people. I went to summer camp as an adult leader two years myself. My son worked as a life guard his last year; stayed at camp all summer. It was a great experience.

 

[soFlaNative]

I was 11 when the troop helped open McGregor Smith (Lone Oak) near Inverness. We helped roof the mess, bathrooms and cut trails. More like slave labor in the Fla. summer heat being young and dumb I had fun. Couple of us would hike to the mess and haul the food back to camp to prep. I dropped a crate of veggies when I heard crashing in the scrub. When the hog broke thru the palmetto I pegged it with a head of cabbage and it veered off.
Fun times.
Other years Christmas tree sales would finance trips to north Ga. and western NC beginning my life long love affair with that patch of the world.
Unbeatable at any scout type competition we were also a rowdy bunch.
Troop 33 of the So. Fla. Council was banned for life from Camp Daniel Boone. We found out too late we could be heard for miles singing Bang Bang Lulu atop Shining Rock Mountain.

 

[Abbynormal]

1969 at Camp Kikthawenund, I was 12 years old and a Tenderfoot.
4 years later, I was an Eagle and a Life Guard at the camp swimming
pool for the summer.

 

[68Dave]

My 10 year old is going to a week long day camp. He’s not quite ready to be gone every night. Maybe next year?
David.

 

[Muss Muggins]

I was 11. So was my son, many years later. Too bad my potential grandsons won't have the same opportunity . . .

 

[.455_Hunter]

I did the week-long Webelos Camp at 10, a week-long 50 miler in the Tetons at 11. Good stuff!

My son did his first week-long Scout trip this past year at 11, and has another one next month.

 

[Grayfox]

I went once as a young scout (12 I think?) and 8 times as an adult Scout Leader. Both of my sons started going when they were 11.
Let the boy go. Its an experience he'll always remember. BTW: most Troops are happy to have Dads come along too.

 

[adwjc]

How old were you or your son when they went away to camp?

I actually never did. That was for rich kids. But my son has an opportunity to go to Boy Scout Camp for a week this Summer. Away from mom, dad and family.

He's 11.

What have others done?

Been there, done it - 1963 when I was 11- Camp Towadena in NJ. Send him, its a once in a lifetime experience, and these days the BSA looks to be circling the drain, getting all PC, admitting girls, changing the name. Who knows where they are going? The opportunity may not be there too many more years.

My oldest son (started when he was 11) and my grandson (his boy, actually started at 9 with the Cubs) have developed a love of camping from Scouts.

 

[carpriver]

I was not a scout, my boys were, they went every year for 4 years. and did all the weekend camping trips and Klondike derby's I was an assistant leader,so I went to camp and did a lot of camping with the Scouts, acted as a range officer during the rifle training.

 

[FlyTyinFool]

Webalos at 8-9
Boy Scouts for years after

Tough being away from home the first time
I will always remember camps fondly

Wish my son had similar opportunities, when he was younger.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My first year at YMCA camp, I was 6 1/2, My older brother (age 11) was just up cabin row if I needed to see him. (I think 7 was suppose to be the minimum)

 

[hoc9sw]

I must have been 10. JFK was alive, and my troop participated in prep for his visit that fall.

The camp is long since closed an replaced with a "modern" one.

 

[CH4]

Camp Winton ‘79, I was 14.

 

[NYlakesider]

My 2 boys both stated going to camps as a Cub Scout,then advanced to Boy Scout. Both have made the Maine adventure and Sea Base in Florida. Both did a Jamboree and in one of them my son was on the stage as a honor guard and stood directly behind president GHW Bush.

Both went to England as a exchange between our troop and a troop in London.

Of course they both went to regular Boy Scout summer camp for a couple week each summer. I was a firearms instructor at the local summer camp and was also merit badge counselor for both shooting and boating in our area.

I how have a 5 YO grandson and figured he would do scouting, no clue if Scouting will survive much longer!

 

[arjay]

Went to camp at ten and eleven.Learned to shoot a 22 and a bow.That part was a blast.Bible classes?- bah humbug

 

[ChuckS1]

My dad was a Boy Scout Executive in Yakima after he retired from the Army. As one of his duties, he ran the Boy Scout camp at Goose Prairie, WA (Camp Fife). I got to go with him for three summers, starting when I was 6. Learned to shoot on the rifle range from a retired Marine and learned to ride during those summers. I still remember catching chipmunks in Hi-C cans with a mousetrap/wire screen door and some peanut butter for bait.

Both my boys went to summer camps in Goshen, VA starting as Webelos and continuing through Eagle.