Scout Camping At Camp Kingsley

Camping is great.  I’m sure there aren’t many of my listeners who will disagree.  What better place to camp, really, than Central New York and the Adirondacks?

Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to go camping with my son and a billion other Cub Scouts at Camp Kingsley near Ava NY.  We had an awesome time and after it was all over, I would highly recommend, if you have the chance to get your children into scouting and take this kind of trip to a resident camp, you certainly won’t regret it.

Your legs won’t, but you certainly won’t.  According to my iphone, we walked an average of 7 miles per day just going from our campsite to each activity.  The Coughlin family and their staff certainly have their act together running this camp, nestled in the woods near Ava.

My son, with a little help from family, sold popcorn and coupon books in order to earn enough money to go to this camp.  The efforts were well worth it and we hope to go again next summer.

The day started with a polar plunge at 6:00 am for 2 mornings.  This meant jumping into the lake and swimming two laps, then walking back to your campsite to get ready for the day.  I’ll tell you, the walk back was more polar than the actual swim itself.

Next was a flag raising ceremony and announcements for the day.  The boys learned respect for the flag and how to properly raise it to the top of the flagpole.

Breakfast was next.  We lined up to enter the dining hall and waited to be seated.  Everything from pancakes, to eggs, to cereal, cinnamon rolls, muffins, bacon, and more.

Activities were next.  Usually a new activity every hour.  These activities included:

BMX biking

Target Shooting

Rock Wall climbing

Fishing

Swimming

Boating

Scout Skills

Service Projects

Lunchtime was usually a sack lunch to eat outside the dining hall.

Dinnertime was always fun and usually had entertainment such as songs and skits.

Time to lower the flag and pay respects before evening activities and sack time.

Campfire time was an opportunity for the different dents to perform skits and songs.

And so much more!

We were completely exhausted come Sunday and we were definitely ready for a good long rest.  Pretty sure we’ll go back next year.