Welcome to the web site for Boy Scout Troop 516 from Stafford, Virginia. Our troop is now in its 5th year supporting over 50 scouts and offering camping and other Scouting adventures. This past year we spent an evening aboard the USS Constitution as ship's hands in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, slayed dragons during the Dragon Hunt in the Prince William Campground, panned for gold, celebrated Scouting's 100-year anniversary at the Centennial Camporee at Goshen, pedaled 190 miles down the C&O Canal, enjoyed a weekend at the beach along North Carolina's outer banks, headed North to Camp Henderson, NY for summer camp providing an opportunity to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame, found treasure during the Pirate's campout at T. Brady Saunders campground, and we'll be heading for the Natural Bridge campgrounds later this month. We have five patrols (Poison Tree Frogs, The Patrol, Gators, Dragons, and Scorpions) and our organizational chart can be viewed in the following link T516 Org Chart. If you would like to learn all about scouting here is a link for you http://www.boyscouts-ncac.org/. If you would like to learn about the organization we are chartered from click this link http://andrew-chapel.org/.
Yaar! We set sail for the island at sundown Friday night and arrived at camp (Camp T.Brady Saunders) just as the moon was a risin’. We rowed ashore and established camps – patrol boxes, rain flies and tents - and then had some light grub of potato skins and cheese (cracker barrel – chips and dip) before shuttin’ our eyes for the night.
Our captain awoke us at sunrise to get our mornin’ meal of waffles with chocolate chips and whipped cream – first place in the breakfast competition. The crew mustered to receive orders for the day and learn how to earn our treasure. A scavenger hunt, treasure hunt and bandagin’ (first aid) were all on the docket. We headed off to the beach pirate ship - settin’ our pace count ( important if you’re going to find the treasure again.) and set off to make maps and hide our treasure. Back to camp for noodles and some R&R before the afternoon activities.
First stop was the ship surgeon to heal Captain Hook (SPL). We splinted a broken bone, made him a stretcher and carried him off. Next off to fit our crew through a hole in the rigging without touching it. And finally, we exchanged treasure maps and began our hunt. One of the crews (patrols) came upon a treasure chest before they’d completed the course – like true pirates, takin’ the shortest route. The other crews (patrols) needed some help to find the treasure. Back to camp for dinner – schnitzel for one crew and homemade donuts for dessert – both winners. After some campfire carousing, we hit the sack around 11.
Our captain was back at 0630 to roust us out of our beds, get our geared stowed and have some grub. The commodore counted up the pieces-of-eight that we’d earned in the events of the day before. The first place Pirate Flag went to the Dragon Crew, and after singing a sea-chanty to break a tie, the Scorpions took second over the Poison Tree Frogs. We left no trace so the navy couldn’t find us and set sail for home under the cover of a dark and rainy sky.