La Vida Ropes Course & Campout

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Troop 3 goes vertical - 45 feet up high in the air.

Troop 3 spent the weekend at La Vida - enjoying a 3+ hour long ropes course and overnight camping.

While we were only one town away in Wenham, we hiked about 10 minutes with our packs on to our campsite behind Gordon College and were immersed in woods. A La Vida pick-up transported our cooking equipment, water, food supplies, and tents to the site. While our trees were still bare and the temperatures were in the 50s/40s at night, we had no rain or bugs to fend off.

We started the day by setting up for lunch. We took several stoves with us so that every Scout would have a chance to cook at least one of our three hot meals. Many cooked at least two!  Next we covered how to set up a 3 bin dishwashing station before setting out to pick a site to pitch our tents.  There were small cabins (not insulated, no lighting) but everyone chose to sleep outside. 

Our main activity began mid afternoon. The Scouts were very brave - some climbed up 45 feet in the air.  This activity lasted 3+ hours so everyone had many opportunities to climb different structures. We ended with a teamwork exercise with the Scouts climbing in pairs.

Dinner provided another opportunity to get the Scouts in front of the stoves. Maya, a La Vida employee, joined us for dinner and the overnight. A recent graduate of Saint Anselm College who works at La Vida in the summer, she enjoyed her time with Troop 3 so much she asked if she could become a Troop 3 volunteer! We'll be in touch with her and hope to take her up on her offer in the fall.

No campout is complete without an amazing campfire, some campfire desserts and a great game of manhunt. The adults had a plan for bedtime, but the Scouts beat us to it. With the climbing, fresh air, and running around, nearly all Scouts were in their tents around 10/10:30.

Thank you to our adult leaders Tom Conway, Ashley Ochs and Mark Bruno. The Ochs family, Ben and Lucia, did a great job helping to plan and cook the meals. 

All the scouts seemed very excited to climb, pitch a tent, cook a meal or two, run around with flashlights and even learn the proper way to clean cast iron stoves and wash dishes in nature. Between the cooking and camping, the Scouts made a lot of progress with rank advancement too!