Summer at Summit Bechtel ReserveSummit summer camp The summit summer camp week was a rollercoaster. Campers were doing many merit badges from rifle shooting to kayaking and there were many more things that made summit an adventure. On the bus ride there, the bus was filled with scouts that were tired due to a lack of sleep but excited to go to the Summit summer camp. Troop 24 was accompanied by troop 8. The bus left St. Sylvester Church at 5 am and as soon as we got on the bus many people went to sleep. Our first and only pitstop there was a breakfast buffet. We were able to get pancakes, eggs, bacon, and other delicious foods. They even served pie! It filled everybody up enough to hold us for the whole trip. Some people fell asleep again but most people stayed awake for the remainder of the trip there. When we arrived at the Summit Welcome Center, we were given wristbands. Our medical forms had to be checked for the last time before being turned in. After about an hour or so of boredom and waiting, we were all told to get back onto the bus to head to the Summit Campground. After arriving at our campsite we unpack everything we had. We pick our tents and,with our tentmate, set our gear inside of the tents. As is tradition at every summer camp, we were told that the cleanest tents get a prize. After that announcement we went to the dining hall for a Summit dinner. The food there wasn’t all that great but we took what we got. The next day (Sunday), we were given a tour of the whole campground. Well, maybe not all of it but just the most important spots like the dining hall and all that other good stuff. Summit supplied us with a variety of merit badges to choose from which you would get done in just one day. Some merit badges were so simple you could do it in half of a day, like kayaking and engineering. You were able to make your own schedule prior to coming to Summit and you would follow it accordingly. We started our merit badges in the morning after breakfast at the dining hall which was surprisingly not that bad. During the week, people were able to go onto the zip line called The Big Zip. The zipline went up to 50 miles per hour and was a minute long ride. On Friday we went White Water Rafting. We were going pretty fast through rapids on the New River and there were a couple times where we went off track but we were able to redirect ourselves and get back on the raft. Overall the summit summer camp week was really fun and I’m looking forward to going back.
Daoud Nejumi