Pack 432 goes Camping

The weather and the leaves are turning... that means it's the perfect time for a campout! Pack 432 gathered for our October Pack Meeting at Patapsco Hilton Area for some campfire safety lessons, den skits, and playground fun! Unbelievably, we also managed a group picture! Disclaimer, as you can see, not all were happy about the pause in playground festivities.

Soon enough, it was back to fun on the playground. We had scouts running across the bridges, checking out the insect life, and trying to squeeze as many scouts as possible into a tire tower. Spoiler alert, it's 25.

It was a beautiful day for some time outside.

After playing around, the Scouts gathered back at our campsite for the close of our Pack Meeting. Despite the wet wood, our Scout parents got the fire started. We closed out with joining the ashes from our last campfire with the initial sparks of our new one. Another Pack Meeting in the books.

In case you missed our announcements, our Pack is in desperate need of new volunteers. Cubmaster Dave is in his last year as Cubmaster. We need someone to volunteer now to be his assistant and be ready to take over as Cubmaster for the 23-24 school year. Also, Miss Kate will end her run as Committee Chair at the end of 2025. Our Pack cannot exist without both a Cubmaster and Committee Chair. Our Pack has been active since 1950 - we need you to keep it going for years to come!

If you can volunteer to assist Cubmaster Dave (now is an especially good time as the Annual Pinewood Derby will be held in January and it's time to start planning!), please email Pack432.Cubmaster@gmail.com. If behind the scenes is more your style and you are good at keeping track of events, setting up meeting times and places, and herding kittens, assisting Miss Kate in her Committee Chair role may be more your style. Miss Kate also brings the silliness to many of our Pack events, and she is always looking for help for such a crucial part of the Cub Scout experience (its not really part of the Committee Chair role, but it's her favorite non-part). If you are interested in helping Miss Kate, email her at Pack432.Committee@gmail.com.

Back to kid-stuff... many families stayed after the conclusion of our official Pack Meeting. After some down time to toss around a football and finish painting kindness rocks, Cubmaster Dave led a group of Scouts and parents on a "short hike" down to the river. The quick trek turned into a 3 mile journey, but our Scouts powered through! The hills are no match for Pack 432.

Three miles makes for hungry Scouts and Scout-parents, and everyone was happy to see Miss Kate prepping dinner when the they arrived back at camp. We feasted on burgers, hot dogs, grilled vegetables, and fruit. There was dissension in the ranks when Miss Kate declared no s'mores without first eating three vegetables! In the end, we all had s'mores and some Scouts discovered that grilled vegetables (especially those yellow bell peppers) aren't so bad after all.

It was a full and wonderful day, but before we said goodnight and zipped up in our sleeping bags, there was one more special event for the day. The next morning would be Cubmaster Dave's Birthday! We threw some magic on the fire, sang a glorious rendition of Happy Birthday, and bombarded Cubmaster Dave with some Scout-hugs.

Cubmaster Dave had family plans for the next day, so he didn't stay the night with the Pack. So we said goodnight and settled by the fire for some silly games to finish the day.

The next morning was a fireside breakfast then time to pack up, clean up, and say goodbye to camping for 2023. Before leaving the campsite, Scouts collected some ashes from our campfire to keep the Spirit of Scouting continuing into our next Pack 432 adventure. We might be done with camping for the winter months, but there could still be some Pack campfires on the schedule. And don't worry if you couldn't make the campout this time, Pack 432 Family Camping will be back in Spring of 2024! We have camping adventures scheduled Patapsco McKeldin Area, Assateague State Park, and Calvert Cliffs State Park - you won't want to miss it!