Welcome Back!

 Camp staff has had its first meeting as a group. Training has begun. It is just a few short months away!

The last two years have been very challenging due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. Camp has been essentially locked down, with the exception of staff and campers, no Wednesday night Visitor's Night, no publicly attended Tapping ceremony on Thursday nights. We have troops that will be in camp that have never had to do table waiting in the Dining Hall, or sit back to back with a full crowd.

That doesn't even include the fact that attendance has been down, further creating an almost surreal experience for those familiar with days gone by. 

Well, that is all ancient history. Camp Geiger is back to as normal operations as possible. With some exceptions, but those are minor. And with this event I extend an invitation to all:

Come home!

Walk the trails you walked, or ran, as a youth! Drop by the store for an authentic Geiger Slushie! Watch and laugh at many of the same skits you have seen played out year after year at the Wednesday night campfire. Eye rolling may be appropriate for some of the more corny ones, right?

Maybe you were on Staff when Staff Village was where Running Horse Council Ring now resides. How we would love to share stories about those days! The youth in camp would love to hear them too. Maybe you even remember eating in the old Dining Hall, now the Siemens' Training Center. Or maybe you predate that, and walked old camp, watching out for Horace!

On the hills above the river...

Many traditions are so important that they continue, as the values they teach are soooo worth it. Scouting has not left those values, it has embraced them, and teach them to a new generation, of boys... and girls! Duty to God; Duty to Country; Duty to others, which we are taught enhances the first two. Most of all, Scouting is about serving others, welcoming all, training, teaching, sharing.

Scout Vespers early in the week, Troop time, camp wide activities are just the beginning.

The Tribe of Mic-O-Say is the...

Come to the Ridge! a stroll past Goetz Lodge, aka "The Log Lodge on the hill!" and the totem poles are in view, and Swimming Rock Lodge just beyond. Swimming Rock Lodge, sitting where Tree Hunter Lodge had once housed the Mic-O-Say office, museum, and Bundle Room. You will find the accommodations much improved. During the week the sound of costuming can be heard in the main room, with adults and older scouts willing and able to help with those last minute costuming needs. Come on down the trail. Remember how it was, and be impressed with the changes made. You may not even notice, wrapped in your memories of Friday nights long gone.

Who's the Tapper?!?

Feel the tensions on Thursday as anticipation for the night grows. Come to Tapper Valley and watch the lighting of the fire, and the numbers of Braves and Warriors dancing around it as the Tapping is about to begin. Watch the Scouts stream in and form a circle, depending on your age, that circle may be considerably bigger than when you stood in as a youth or adult, or watched from afar. Think about the efforts put forward by youth and adults alike to make the ceremony every bit as memorable to the youth today. Who doesn't remember their first Tapping Ceremony? I sure do, and suspect I would, even if I hadn't been tapped!

Looking to the future

We have been blessed with steady leadership during these times, leadership that didn't balk at holding Scout Camp, even during the height of the Pandemic, as they felt, and were proven correct, that they had put sufficient mitigation strategies in place. Because of that, many have experienced camp for the first time under far different circumstances than most of us remember. They create a new foundation, laid for the future of the Camp, their individual units, the Pony Express Council, their local communities, and the nation.

An invitation

Have you missed walking the trails? Do you feel that pull to come back? To start getting gear together? Or maybe you just want to drop by! Make no mistake, you are missed. You are part of our family.  And I think it is time for a family reunion! So just come home! Tribal Feast for Mic-O-Say is June 4th. Camp begins June 12th, with Visitor's Night on the 15th and Tapping on the 16th.

It is time to come home!