Practice Camporee (Rancho Laguna Park) - March 25-26, 2023

Practice Camporee (Rancho Laguna Park) - March 25-26, 2023

• Attendance: 42 Scouts; 10 ASMs

• Location: Rancho Laguna Park in Moraga

• Description: Practice Camporee consists of multiple Scouting activities and areas of expertise, including lashings, knots, first aid, orienteering, fitness, log lift, and fire building. Practice Camporee is an opportunity to learn and hone skills ahead of the actual Camporee and inter-troop competition. Patrols compete to get high scores at each station, to hopefully have the highest score overall. 

[Troop 402G’s knot board is the best in the business.]

[Ranch Laguna Park and the surrounding hills.]

This year we arrived at Rancho Laguna on Saturday at 8:30 am. Scouts dropped their packs on the picnic tables and assembled to discuss the day’s activities. Patrols broke off to practice each of the Camporee events, at the various stations with Uniform Leaders who know their stuff, before being scored on Sunday. 

[Mustang Patrol knows their lashings - their flag pole topped 25 feet!]

[Honey Badgers deep in discussion regarding wilderness first aid scenarios.]

[The Nature practice station covered plant and animal identification.]

[Red Panda Patrol priming for Camporee success.]

Activities lasted until evening. We then set up tents and the patrols cooked dinner. We ate in the picnic area by the playground. We climbed into bed as temperatures were falling. It got down to the 30s overnight and we could hear nearby coyotes. 

[Dinner setup!]

The next morning (Sunday) scouts got up and packed up tents while others made breakfast for their patrols. All of the patrols went through each Camporee station again, this time being scored. Pickup was around 11-11:30. 

[Close-up of the Mustang patrol looking fabulous.]

Tips for next year:

• Overnight temperatures dropped to the mid-30s. That’s cold! Scouts need to remember that their sleeping bag rating should be 20 degrees lower than the overnight low. So if temps could drop to 35 degrees, you need a 15-degree bag (or a sleeping bag liner and/or thick layers to wear to bed with a 20-degree bag).

• The dog hours were quite intrusive. In fact, there were a few dogs that actually ended up eating some of the scout's breakfast food, and the dog poo was a bit of an issue. UGH!

• Rancho Laguna is a convenient location for Scouts who had conflicts and could still enjoy participating when they were able.

Blog post written by Finley Cattell, 402G Troop Scribe