My older son was never interested in scouts and my youngest only did it for two years until covid shut it down for over a year and he never went back, but they camped at Lake Livingston and Brazos Bend SP… as well as spend a night at a museum in Houston- that was weird. The brazos bend sp has an observatory so there's bonus badge stuff you can get there.

Arrowhead pay digs in central Tx could be a fun one. Some offer hand digging at $50ish per day per person and $200ish for screen digs with a skidsteer operator. Some offer camping and if not there is usually a state park close by as they are mostly located in the hill country area. There are quite a few operating right now. Most info can be found on the Facebook group "Pay Digs Across Texas"

PLC met on Mon. Sorted the fall schedule. I missed part of the convo but sounds like we are looking at.....

- Fort Hood
- Small Boat Sailing MB in Galveston (troop did that years ago)
- long weekend to Swamp Base (may get pushed to spring)
- Caving (not sure where)

chjoak said:

---

PLC met on Mon. Sorted the fall schedule. I missed part of the convo but sounds like we are looking at.....

- Fort Hood
- Small Boat Sailing MB in Galveston (troop did that years ago)
- long weekend to Swamp Base (may get pushed to spring)
- Caving (not sure where)

---

Is "Swamp Base" what they are calling Camp Karankawa these days?

j/k

There is no water in CC. How could Karankawa be considered a swamp?

chjoak said:

---

There is no water in CC. How could Karankawa be considered a swamp?

---

I was referring to the mosquito infested swamp camp outside of West Columbia. They promised they would use the money from selling Hill Country Scout Ranch to make Camp Karankawa a top notch site. Instead the Bay Area Council got really nice new offices in Galveston.

nice. the joys of bureaucracy.

Humble brag... Eagle Scout here. There will NEVER be another Camp Strake or El Rancho Cima from the 80s. Best damn summer memories.

txags92 said:

---

chjoak said:

---

There is no water in CC. How could Karankawa be considered a swamp?

---

I was referring to the mosquito infested swamp camp outside of West Columbia. They promised they would use the money from selling Hill Country Scout Ranch to make Camp Karankawa a top notch site. Instead the Bay Area Council got really nice new offices in Galveston.

---

The Karankawa tribe had to be some tough people to live in that area before any civilization.

I camped at Karankawa. It was almost a survival campout even though it was a campground.

When my son was in Scouts we did a mountain biking campout at Parrie Haynes Ranch near Killeen. Maybe a little further than you want to go but they really enjoyed that campout.

https://www.campingdfw.wiki/Wiki_Home_Page

Great resource. DFW might be the center point, but they reference places from NM to AR to OK, including the Hill Country.

Also, I really appreciate the positive nature of this thread. Keep it up.

Mentioned on the front page about my summer camp travel plans and I am curious if anyone has a contact at Bama or U of Memphis? Think we have our return trip overnight sorted but I am still looking for the trip to camp. My 1st choice option is a lock-in style overnight at a university AD where the kids could get an AD tour and maybe burn off some energy on a practice field or gym. I've emailed people within those ADs. Bama seems to be ignoring me. Memphis responded, had me fill out a form and then nothing sense. If that is out of the picture, does anyone have any other suggestions? I have already emailed the local BSA councils for options/suggestions. Got some poor suggestions from the Bama counsel. No answer from Memphis yet.

txags92 said:

---

chjoak said:

---

PLC met on Mon. Sorted the fall schedule. I missed part of the convo but sounds like we are looking at.....

- Fort Hood
- Small Boat Sailing MB in Galveston (troop did that years ago)
- long weekend to Swamp Base (may get pushed to spring)
- Caving (not sure where)

---

Is "Swamp Base" what they are calling Camp Karankawa these days?

j/k

---

Swamp Base is a high adventure program sponsored by Evangeline Area Council. It offers week long summer session and weekend programs in the Atchafalya swamp.

Is weekend camping still a program on the Lexington in Corpus Christi?

TexasAggie73 said:

---

Is weekend camping still a program on the Enterprise in Corpus Christi?

---

Lexington.

maroon barchetta said:

---

TexasAggie73 said:

---

Is weekend camping still a program on the Enterprise in Corpus Christi?

---

Lexington.

---

Thanks for correcting my old memory. I got to tour the Lexington when it was still an active carrier in Pensacola. That was one of the benefits to belonging to a troop that was sponsored by the Air Force.

TexasAggie73 said:

---

Is weekend camping still a program on the Lexington in Corpus Christi?

---

https://usslexington.com/learn/overnight-camping/

Overnights at the Lexington were fun.

We were a backpacking troop and one of our favorites was picking a a full moon weekend, drive to enchanted rock on a Friday night and backpack by moonlight to the primative camping sites.

We also did some servival weekends as well.

Adult planning meeting last night. Prelim schedule for monthly campouts is looking really good. We've got Shooting, Caving, Small Boat Sailing (Seabase prep), Fort Hood, Swamp Base, plus some stuff I don't remember.

Now I am looking ahead at Winter Camp.... What can you guys tell me about Camp Karankawa, Camp Billy Gibbons and Trevor Rees-Jones? Only WC I have been to is Camp Strake. Camp was solid but food was terrible. The troop has gone to Lost Pines a decent bit in the past (most in the troop seems to like it) and went to Buffalo Trails a few years ago.

Not sure if it ever got sorted out but think smaller scale of the schools to reach out to.
There a very large number of D2 and D3 schools across that region who still have very nice facilities with a lot less red tape.

cptthunder said:

---

Not sure if it ever got sorted out but think smaller scale of the schools to reach out to.
There a very large number of D2 and D3 schools across that region who still have very nice facilities with a lot less red tape.

---

Ultimately ditched the Ath Dept angle. Made progress with U of Memphis but they wanted $3500 for a one night rental. Heading to Summer Camp we are staying at a Methodist church in Germantown (East Memphis) for free. Coming home we are staying that the Baton Rouge Zoo which already has an established "lock-in" program.

We camped Slippery Falls with the Indian Guides but it's also a Scout Camp. The rock formations and fishery are top notch.

Bird Poo said:

---

We camped Slippery Falls with the Indian Guides but it's also a Scout Camp. The rock formations and fishery are top notch.

---

Kerr Scout Ranch. Think the troop did summer camp there is 2024.