Weekend and Summer Camp Options For Boy Scouts(Post 1)

Well after spending some serious time thinking about the best way to proceed with how to show the various types of outings I have decided that my original estimate is probably going to be a fair amount lower than I originally thought. So to clear up why this is happening I will be spending a fair sized chunk of this post about the various types or kinds of campouts that are available to Boy Scouts. Well to get started I just have to say that beyond Venturing pretty much Boy Scouts has the most different kinds of camping activities a Scout could go on.

Many people think that Boy Scout campouts come down to three basic categories which include weekend camping, summer camp, and high adventure camping. Yes in general these basically cover the majority of campouts Boy Scouts go on I would like to expand upon this idea to help leaders, youth, and parents see that there are many more camping opportunities than you think available for them to participate in.

Basically it comes down to one of the more basic principles that outline what Boy Scouts is all about. This is sometimes referred to as the activity ratio or the word "Scouting Ratio." Basically for our purposes I will be referring to this equation or concept as the Scouting ratio, so here is the definition of this concept that is crucial to how and why we do the things we do when it comes to having a active and large Troop is that Scouts should live outdoors. So the saying is that of:

"The word Scouting is 3/4 Outing."

So thats it thats the saying but now most people would think that this is a stupid saying that has nothing to do with the scouting but the truth is that this saying is one of a small groups of sayings that help youth and leaders to remember the foundations of what Boy Scouts is all about. To further your understanding I guess I should probably fully explain what I am referring to, so heres the actual definition:

"This saying when properly explained is one of the foundation principles that Boy Scouts is all about including the time all the way back to Scouting was first founded in the UK by Lord Baden Powell. Lord Baden Powell when asked about what scouting is all about is that its all about getting young men outdoors and teaching them to be productive active citizens in a time where the importance of being a good citizen was beginning to falter due to world events that were occurring around the year 1910." 

"So basically this saying states that the primary way to help accomplish the aims of Scouting and use of the Scouting Methods is to get boys outside and not just on a occasional basis. When looking at the work theres a prefix and another word that forms the word Scouting which is outing. More of less when looking at the word scouting comes down to meetings and activities."

"Currently the majority of time for Scouts is spent on Troop meetings which is the exact opposite of how Scouts is supposed to be about. Instead the majority of time should be spent on Scout outings. In order to help people come to a good ratio of meetings to outings it was shown that the best Troops that had the least amount of drop-out Scouts is that 3/4 of the Scout program should be spent on time devoted to outings that are in the outdoors not in buildings but truly in the Outdoors. With the remaining 1/4 being spent of meetings."

Well now that we got that out of the way we will return to the primary focus of this post which is showing the major kinds of Scout Outings there are. So heres the list:

1. Weekend Outing  

2. Summer Camp

3. Jamboree's

4. International Camping (Does not include international Jamboree's)

 5. Competition Outing's

6. Other Campout's and Outings 

 Thats it so basically more or less unless one of these six outing types become way to long to be put into one post you can expect that to finish this series of outings there will be at least 6 more posts. But thats not all we have to cover about summer camp, campouts, and Outings we need to cover, so the last chunk of this series of typing campouts will just briefly cover the summer camps and outings available to Venturing Scouts which is one of the two co-ed programs that are part of the Boy Scouts of America.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark West

Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Troop 125

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council

NSJ '05 Youth Participant NSJ '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff NSJ '13 Subcamp Staff

WSJ '07 Youth Participant WSJ '11 International Service Team(IST)

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Honor Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter.