A few weeks ago, Guider Tammy blogged about Urban Guiding and how outdoor camping could be a deterrent for some adults who were interested in leading – but not camping. Today’s post is by Guider Stephanie, who shares her experience camping with her Sparks and with some last-minute guests! This post was originally published on Stephanie’s personal blog Life of a Twingle Gal, June 16, 2011.
A special thank you to Stephanie for granting us permission to repost here for all to enjoy!
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This past weekend, I attended Heritage camp with my Sparks and Guides. This is an annual co-op camp with the Mount Hope Guiding and Scouting units.
The Sparks and Beavers don’t stay the weekend, they just come up for the day on
Saturday; but, the rest of the groups spend two nights under the stars (or clouds).
Leading up to the camping weekend, the weather had been horrible. With a wicked storm that actually had Environment Canada investigating if there had been a tornado. I was worried that we were going to be very wet at camp. The forecast wasn’t all that great on Friday when I went to help the girls set up camp. In fact, as I was driving to the site, it was spitting and there was a 90% chance of thunderstorms forecast for Saturday.
Friday night turned out to be decent despite the slight chill and dampness in the air. The rain blew over and when I got up at 1:30am to use the washroom, the sky was clear! It would have been a perfect time to get my girls to work on their astronomy badge; but, since they were actually asleep (a rarity the first night of camp) I wasn’t going to wake them.
Saturday morning arrived and so did the younger kids. The weather was cool and cloudy; but, again we lucked out and the rain held off…ALL day!
After our days’ worth of activities, round robin style, we had a delicious dinner and sent the younger kids home. My husband, Mr. Twingle, sent me a text later that night letting me know Pretty & Boo had fallen asleep in the van on the way home. A sure sign that they had fun.
While we cleaned up from dinner the Scouters took the kids on a hike to be greeted by a warm fire when they returned. We began campfire singing a variety of favourites from the Scouts and Guiding units. Even after campfire had been “closed”, the kids lingered and continued singing. And here is where the BEST moment ever comes in…
…we divided our campfire circle into two groups and proceeded to do the chant
“There Ain’t No Flies on Us”. We got pretty loud before ending it and were just about to start a new song when over the din of the generator (we use to light the kitchen tent) we could hear a distant call echoing our song. A challenge! We, of course, couldn’t pass it up so we yelled back, as loud as we could, accepting the challenge. Back and forth the two groups went in the dark. When we finally got the generator turned off, we realized just how loud we were and that the other group was getting closer. We got up from our circle around the fire and charged through the bush to meet them. There we encountered another Guiding group who had heard our campfire and decided to join in!
It was totally AWESOME!
I’ve been a Guider for many years, and a girl member for years before that and I have NEVER had such an amazing experience. It actually gave me goose bumps and I’m sure I’ll remember it always.
– By guest blogger Guider Stephanie. Read more by Stephanie on her Life of a Twingle Gal blog.
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Don’t you love this post? Have you ever had an amazing expereince along these lines in a Guiding activity? Do tell!
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