It was an excellent fall weekend for camping. We started out by loading up the vehicles with troop and personal gear and then heading over to Richfield Heritage Preserve. After arrival we set to work setting up camp. Everything was in place just before dark. A campfire was built to take away a little chill in the air. It was decided that we would start Personal Fitness merit badge and that evening we went to work completing 3 requirements while enjoying a snack of crackers and cheese. Just before a light rain came we headed off to get some sleep for the big day ahead.

The rain stopped just before morning where chef Tom prepared Eggs, Sausage, Fruit Cups, and Hot Chocolate for breakfast. Cleanup went quickly and we departed for a service project. One of our parishioners asked for help with spreading topsoil into her flower beds. The project took us around 2 hrs to complete and we capped it off with a snack of Dunkin' Doughnuts, Hot Chocolate\Coffee. After returning there was time to work on one more requirement from Personal Fitness merit badge before lunch. Lunch was Philly Cheese steak sandwiches, an apple, and fruit punch. Then it was time to learn some basic map and compass skills. We decided to try our hand at Geocaching with a couple caches located in the camp. This was discouraging since we were unable to locate two caches. The Geocaching expedition turned into a hike around the camp after that. Upon return it was time to prepare a supper of Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, corn and fruit punch. Clean up was over in a snap and we went to do Night Orienteering. Things started off great locating the first 10 controls without too much stress and then came number 11. Everything looks different in the dark and that included the map and terrain. We mistook one campsite for our own and blundered through the woods trying to find the control twice. Getting discouraged we took one more look at the map and discovered our mistake. After that number 11 was ours and 12, 13 and Finish came shortly after that. Everyone was pretty tired after returning to camp we built a campfire and stayed up a little longer before going to sleep. Morning came soon enough and we efficiently packed up all our gear and headed back to Assumption. The happy campers were Cupcake, Sugar, Sprinkles, and Buttercup. You should of been there camping!

Orienteering Photo Album