The Great Escape!

The Great Escape!

For this month's campout, we headed to Camp Friedlander to do: The Great Escape!!! The Great Escape is a game that covers the whole camp. Each patrol in our troop competes against each other. We have to go around and collect clues that help us get to other clues, and once we collect them all, we turn them in. Whoever does it in the shortest amount of time wins. Sounds easy, right? Not when you factor in the darkness and the guards (the adults and youth staff). If you get caught by a guard, your patrol has to go to jail: the island in the middle of the lake. Mr. Todd, the jail keeper, makes you demonstrate a Scout skill (like tying a knot) to get out. Luckily, it wasn't that way the whole time. It only lasted for a few hours, on Saturday evening. The rest of the campout was a little more... relaxed.

When we got to Camp Friedlander, we walked in, following the trailer. Then we stopped at the Stewart Campsite, located near the Dining Hall. After unloading our gear, it was time to set up our tents. Then we realized it was going to be tough. It was very windy, with lots of annoying gusts, and was supposed to rain later. It was a three to four man job. Eventually, though, everyone got set up.

In the morning, everyone got up and ate a nice big meaty breakfast. (Most people got up at about 7:30, but Logan S. and I got up at 5:45 to watch the sunrise. Since the sun didn't actually come up until 8:00 or so, we just watched the moonset.) After breakfast and cleanup, we relaxed, looked at other campsites, ate lunch, and whittled. Some people made bows and arrows, spears, knives, and other cool things out of sticks. Then came dinner, and, finally, the Great Escape.

Everyone got their first clue and started off. Soon it was dark. The Golden Eagles, my patrol, had gotten two clues... and then it happened. Some guards came along, so we darted away from the road and dropped on the ground. There was a big communication error, and we hid in two separate groups (they were ten or twenty yards apart from my estimation). After the guards passed, the two people that hid separately took off, thinking that our group (containing the other four) was with them. We didn't know that they took off. We waited another minute to make sure the guards were at a safe distance. Then we all got up and told the others to come along. Well, they had already left. That was bad. Those two had the only flashlight, and now they were gone. Great. So, we did our best to find the place of the next clue, but with no light, we got lost.

After at least an hour, we found the spot where the next clue was. But it was gone, and there was no trace of anyone being there. It was back to the drawing board. We whittled a stick as specified to get a hint. Our plan was to go to the dam so we could hand it in and get our hint. Well, we couldn't even get to it. We blindly wandered until we found a familiar place. We knew how to get to the dam from there- at least, we thought we did. We took a wrong turn and found our selves in Camp Craig: ten minutes away from the dam. When we got there, we asked someone where we were. After that he explained the wrong turn we took and lent us his flashlight. Then we finally found the dam, as well as the search party that was sent to find us.

When we got back to camp, we were all talked to. First of all, we were disqualified for splitting up (though that was the least of our problems). Mr. Zink, who was at the station where that troublesome clue was located, had already left since we took so long. That explained why nobody was there. We were also given a talk from the leaders about sticking together and patrol spirit and settling our differences in reasonable ways. After that, we ate some cookies and went to bed. It was already quite late.

In the morning, we all got up, ate breakfast, packed up tents, and cleaned. Everyone had to work hard to get their patrol boxes C₂O (Clean, Complete, and Organized). C₂O is the new standard program for equipment. Everyone was frantically cleaning, drying, and putting stuff away to prepare for inspection. Not only was it driven by the fact that nothing would be loaded until it was C₂O, but by the Golden Spoon Award. The Golden Spoon is awarded to the patrol (excluding staff, of course) with the cleanest, most organized patrol box. In other words, the patrol who does the best meeting C₂O requirements. It is awarded every campout. It is hung on the winning patrol's box to be displayed.

After the inspections we started taking stuff to the trailer. After that was our Chapel service. Then it was pack, haul, fall in, and go. The Great Escape was a fun, relaxing (well, sometimes), and productive campout.