My Journey to Camp Chawanakee 2021

It was Saturday, I had just finished a hard day of packing the day before. I woke up and did my morning routine. As soon as I got dressed, I went downstairs to get my things ready. When I took them out and put them in my car, I kissed my mom and my Dog (Rex) goodbye. Me and my dad drove to Mr. A’s house. Everyone was already there and getting ready to leave for Camp Chawanakee. Once we finished loading the jet ski, kayaks, and canoes into Mr. A’s trailer, we got in the cars. A few hours pass and suddenly our back right tire pops. It was such a coincidence that I was preparing for my Emergency Preparedness merit badge the day before and learned about “vehicle stalled in a desert”. We called AAA for help to fix the tire and it took them forever to get there. Finally, someone from AAA arrived and helped us replace the tire. We thanked him and resumed our journey. A few minutes later, there was a sudden traffic jam. It turns out a trash truck caught on fire. After what felt like hours, we finally got past the traffic jam. We drove a bit down the valley we were in when we saw a lot of cornfields. We were in the central part of California. We stopped at the auto repair shop. It turns out that there was an In-n-out a few feet away. We then ate there for lunch. As soon as we ate and the car tire was fixed, we hit the road once again. We saw cows and deer everywhere. We went on bumpy roads and drove up a mountain and arrived at Camp Chawanakee.

We always slept in a tent that had comfortable cushions on top of a cot. We would always wake up to a beautiful sunrise. If you were like me who likes to sleep for a long time, Mr. A would put cold water on you if you didn’t wake up, no matter how far away your tent is from his. I was unfortunate enough to get drenched.. almost every day. Once you get up, you must change into your BSA uniform to attend the flag ceremony and eat breakfast. For lunch, if you were a steward, you needed to pick up a small box filled with ingredients to make something such as a sandwich, or a chicken burger. After you ate breakfast, you had to go to a certain place to work on your merit badges, such as Eagle Point, or Scoutcraft. You had to work on them in three to four periods. There was a lot of walking, and we would easily walk over 10 miles every day. Once you were done with your merit badges, you had free periods from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM to work on merit badges that didn’t need periods such as chess, robotics, and leatherworking or you could go to the pristine lake. Near the lake was a Trading Post. The Trading Post was basically a shop where you could buy snacks, drinks, and things you need for merit badges. At 5:00 PM, you needed to go to the flags to do the flag ceremony followed by dinner. Every night, we had a campfire and that’s where all the fun was. From 10:00 PM onwards, it’s quiet time, but we weren’t as quiet as expected.

Camp Chawanakee was an awesome memory that will forever be with me. The food was delicious, the counselors were extremely kind, the lake was stunning, and the view was fascinating. The scariest time was when there was lightning and thunder. We were all doing emergency survival and we had to sleep outside. We all had to rush to the cafeteria because it was a lightning shelter. We had to wait for 30 minutes until the lightning passed. I guess you can say it was a very shocking experience! We made many exciting pioneering projects such as a croquet course, a suspended flagpole, a monkey bridge, and an amazing entrance. I would like to thank the Senior Scouts for helping the younger Scouts with things they found difficult. The Scoutmaster was a wonderful guide, and the Assistant Scoutmasters were very helpful. Overall, the trip was amazing and I will never forget this wonderful adventure. I didn’t want to say this, but I really missed the camp after coming back home.