Payne Lake Campout

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Posted by: Samuel Dirr

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Payne Lake Recreation Area Campout

Boy Scouts Looking For Alligators - Click picture for more pics.

Payne Lake was a lot of fun.  We arrived really late on Friday night and had to choose a camp site in the dark.  We found three pretty good campsites.  Two for the two patrols and one for the adults.  Of course the adults got the site by the lake and the boys got the two across the road after we saw the alligator signs.  It wasn’t until the end of Saturday that I found the perfect campsite just down the way from where we were.  We’ll camp there the next time we go to Payne Lake though.

We all had a good breakfast and then piled in the vehicles to head over to the West campground to clean up some debris from the camp sites.  We got to stay for free at the campground since we were doing some cleanup.  That didn’t sound like such a bad idea.  The boys did a pretty good job of cleaning up.  They had to move a lot of limbs and even a few that required some team work.  In the end only one Scout got stung by a bee and required first aid.

Afterwards we headed back to camp to fix lunch.  The adults had hobo meals of steak and potatoes.  I think the boys had sandwiches and something out of a can.  After they walked over and saw what we were eating I believe they were made aware of the training we had provided concerning planning and preparing for  your meals.

After lunch there were a lot of different skills worked on.  Ropes, knots, lashings, flag pole raising, tarp setup and other such activities kept them busy. They then got to go swimming in the swimming area to cool off.  Some of us played a little football.  Then it was on to dinner time and the evening fire.

The boys ate quickly and then began gathering wood and setting up for the evening fire.  The adults were still cooking their Hobo stew.  The boys finally got the fire going and the Hobo stew was finally ready.  The boys had a good time around the fire putting on skits, singing songs and just telling stories.  Far too quickly it was time for lights out and hitting the sack.

Sunday morning we had a good breakfast and packed the trailer for the trip back home.  The boys put on a Scout’s own service, performed a flag ceremony and hit the road for home.  Everyone agreed it was a good campout.

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