Virtual Campout

Our scout troop had a campout planned for this last weekend. It was going to be a district event at a BSA camp. It was cancelled, but we decided to hold our own event anyway. Some suggestions in BSA's weekly newsletter were to have each scout help cook dinner at home, hold a virtual campfire program, and then have everyone sleep in their own backyard.

So that's what we did.

We planned in our regular virtual troop meeting on Thursday, through Discord, what the campout would look like and made assignments for the campfire. We decided to let everyone plan their own menu based on what individuals preferred and had available at their houses to cook. We cooked hamburgers at our house. We also planned what time to meet.

At 8:30, we jumped online and had a pretty good turnout of people calling in. One family actually had a campfire in their backyard and showed it on video, while another turned on their fireplace inside, so that was nice. It started a little slow, with nobody really sure who was doing what. But once they got going, telling jokes and even one funny skit from a family who had enough people there to do a full skit, we went through 45 minutes like it was nothing. It was honestly a lot of fun, just sitting there in the dark, looking at the glowing lights of a campfire in someone else's backyard, a few moments of silence where people just sat there waiting as you normally do around a campfire, and other moments of laughter and fun as we shared funny stories. It was just nice.

I slept in my hammock and my son on the trampoline. He had a closed cell foam pad and a mummy bag and stayed warm. I had my underquilt wrapped around the hammock which made it nice and toasty. It was a fairly warm night, although I think it did get into the upper 30s for a low. I unzipped my sleeping bag about 3/4 of the way and turned it 90 degrees so the end formed a footbox and the unzipped portions just laid around me like a blanket. It was not constricting light a tight sleeping bag can be. Usually the bottom of the hammock will be cold, which is nice on a hot summer day, but not so good on a cool night. I was able to move around without having to worry about keeping my pad under me or getting all twisted around in the sleeping bag.

This week, there is a national virtual campout with some merit badge classes taught through Facebook on Saturday. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to being able to camp for real again, but this has been better than expected.