Heading to Boy Scout Summer Camp aka the Heart of Darkness!

"In and out of rivers, streams of death in life, whose banks were rotting into mud, whose waters, thickened with slime, invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us in the extremity of an impotent despair. Nowhere did we stop long enough to get a particularlised impression, but the general sense of vague and oppressive wonder grew upon me. It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares."
- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1

OK, well Chief Logan Reservation, the locale of this summer's Boy Scout Camp is not quite as bad as Joseph Conrad's tale of the Congo River, but I did get an e-mail confirmation that the trail to our campsite was "ankle deep in mud and standing water."  That is pretty gruesome for a bunch of suburban adult leaders used to "drive in camping".  I can't tell you that I am looking forward to the mud, but I am already proud of the scouts that are there and are going to overcome any weather related obstacles to have a great time at camp.

Not to sound too corny, because I was NOT a boy scout as a teen.  (I was more of a Viking - looting and pillaging to the dismay of the law) I spent much of my formative years in the woods, in a creek, turning over rocks and generally getting dirty in the outdoors. 

As a family, we camped and canoed and fished and spent some time outdoors, but I was not going to put on the uniform and get merit badges.  It wasn't my thing.  As an adult, however, I find the BSA program to be the best thing going for many of our kids that don't know anything but video games and soccer practice.  BSA is a great opportunity to get into the woods, learn some outdoor skills that would have been considered essential 100 years ago, but are now novel and share some experiences with peers.   I challenge anyone to find a downside to that.  

I am heading into the mud, gladly, to spend a few days in the humid, insect filled summertime with my son and his friends to learn how to live in the woods, learn about ourselves and have fun doing it.  Jealous?  You should be!