Camp Chief Little Turtle

This past weekend, I went on a random impulse to join my little brother Andres, on his camping trip with the Boy Scouts, in the freezing cold temperatures. The campsite was at the infamous Camp Chief Little Turtle in Angola, a place I had not visited since back in 1996. That year I spent an entire week there with troop 19, along with Philip and Jhormy, to partake in a very memorable summer camp. Although I was only in the scouts for 2-3 years, it was perhaps in those days, that I got my greatest appreciation for the outdoors.

So on Friday evening, I eagerly packed my warmest clothes to return to this famed campsite, with my dad and Andres. We arrived to the site, very late, and were faced with the first challenge of setting up our tent in the pitch dark and in the freezing cold. Luckily I had a flashlight, and my dad and I quickly set up our tent. The next phase was to get a fire going. Of course we had to back off and let the scouts take the lead, however in such freezing conditions, we had to take a little bit of initiative. Luckily there was a large pile of firewood, already chopped up in the woods, and all we had to do was make a short hike to carry it.

The fire took a bit to get going, and my dad and I had to do our best to stay back and let the scouts do the work. Once the fire was finally cooking we had spam for dinner. There was also a warm cabin inside, yet the only time I went inside was to say the rosary with the rest of the scouts. We spent most of that night, huddled by the fire, trying to stay warm. Inside the tent, was quite cold, however I had three layers of sleeping bag, which kept me quite warm throughout the night. That night it got to -4 degrees! However I stayed warm inside my three sleeping bags. The next morning, getting out of the sleeping bag, was without question the hardest part of the trip. We stayed for breakfast, and helped cook some sausage and pancakes. (Pigs in a Blanket) as the scouts call it. My dad and I left after breakfast. All-in-all it was a memorable one-night camping trip, and will go down in history as the coldest camping trip I've ever been on.