Posted by: MartinFocazio
15 Wet Kids, 1 Blue Tarp. - 06/11/10 08:07 PM
I was a chaperone on a class camping trip for the 5th graders. Just got back. Jenny Jump State Forest, NJ.
The weather was Rain, Rain, Rain and more Rain, except for the last day, which was foggy then sunny.
The ratio of adults to kids started out at 5 adults for 15 kids, but that quickly changed.
I packed a blue 50x30 Rain tarp that I have for emergency roof coverage, a lot of para cord and all the rest of the "essentials" and "just in cases" for the trip.
Let's see...
Well, we basically "lost" one of the dads right away - he was not at all enjoying the rain, so at around dinner time, he left in his car and went to a pub and was pretty much uninterested in any kind of outdoors activity.
The other dad was great - except that there was a seemingly unending crisis with his job, so he spent hours and hours stuck on the phone, but he did impress the heck out of me with his outdoor skills when he wasn't on the phone! No tent for him - a bivvy sack and he slept fine in the pouring rain. Fantastic plant identification skills, and he took no crap from any of the kids - he expected them to listen and follow instructions and he left them with the consequences (one of which was a tent full of water) when they didn't do what he asked. Not a nasty guy at all, really very nice - but does not take "they are only 11" for an excuse, ever. I liked him and wish his job didn't keep him distracted for so much of the trip.
That left me and the two teachers, both of whom were former camp counselors and were just fantastic with the kids.
The massive blue tarp saved the day - we spent most of the time under it on picnic tables.
We had the usual falls and scrapes (4x4's and Hydrogen Peroxide got a lot of use) and there were kids who didn't have rain gear (trash bags to the rescue) and one kid who was playing in the rain for a long time got REALLY cold and I wrapped him in a space blanket and later found out he had no dry clothes at all and nobody was his size - so we built a shelter-like structure near the campfire that dried/smoked clothing for him to wear.
I guess the lessons learned from the short trip are:
- you need more water than you think you need.
- it does not matter how many times you tell people "pack rain gear and three outfits" they won't
- 11 year old kids are both smarter than you think and dumb as a box of hammers.
All in all it was a fun trip.
The weather was Rain, Rain, Rain and more Rain, except for the last day, which was foggy then sunny.
The ratio of adults to kids started out at 5 adults for 15 kids, but that quickly changed.
I packed a blue 50x30 Rain tarp that I have for emergency roof coverage, a lot of para cord and all the rest of the "essentials" and "just in cases" for the trip.
Let's see...
Well, we basically "lost" one of the dads right away - he was not at all enjoying the rain, so at around dinner time, he left in his car and went to a pub and was pretty much uninterested in any kind of outdoors activity.
The other dad was great - except that there was a seemingly unending crisis with his job, so he spent hours and hours stuck on the phone, but he did impress the heck out of me with his outdoor skills when he wasn't on the phone! No tent for him - a bivvy sack and he slept fine in the pouring rain. Fantastic plant identification skills, and he took no crap from any of the kids - he expected them to listen and follow instructions and he left them with the consequences (one of which was a tent full of water) when they didn't do what he asked. Not a nasty guy at all, really very nice - but does not take "they are only 11" for an excuse, ever. I liked him and wish his job didn't keep him distracted for so much of the trip.
That left me and the two teachers, both of whom were former camp counselors and were just fantastic with the kids.
The massive blue tarp saved the day - we spent most of the time under it on picnic tables.
We had the usual falls and scrapes (4x4's and Hydrogen Peroxide got a lot of use) and there were kids who didn't have rain gear (trash bags to the rescue) and one kid who was playing in the rain for a long time got REALLY cold and I wrapped him in a space blanket and later found out he had no dry clothes at all and nobody was his size - so we built a shelter-like structure near the campfire that dried/smoked clothing for him to wear.
I guess the lessons learned from the short trip are:
- you need more water than you think you need.
- it does not matter how many times you tell people "pack rain gear and three outfits" they won't
- 11 year old kids are both smarter than you think and dumb as a box of hammers.
All in all it was a fun trip.