Seneca Fall Camporee

When: October 6-8, 2023
Theme: Mountain Man Rendezvous - Back to Basics
Where: Walkersville Watershed Boy Scout Camp, Frederick, MD
Who: All Scouts, Venture Crews, Explorer Posts and Webelos (Webelos must register and attend with a troop)
What: Skills, games, and fellowship in a Mountain Man setting
Cost: $15/person ($20 late registration)
Contact: Camporee Administrator - Jim Hardter

Who May Attend:
This event is being hosted by Seneca District.

Location

Walkersville Watershed Boy Scout Camp
Gate #1 - Across from
9026 Chestnut Grove Rd,
Frederick, MD  20701

Early registration will open August 2023.

First Come, First Serve for the first 350 registrants.

Downloads and quick info (All 2023 versions)

Camporee Leader Guide (public link)

On Webelos girls attending Camporee (public link)

List of stations (public link)
Scout skills (TBD)
Weekend schedule (public link)

Facility Map (public link)

About our theme

Come back to the mountains!

Rocky Mountain Rendezvous (in trapper jargon) was an annual gathering (1825-1840) at various locations held by a fur trading company at which trappers and mountain men sold their furs and hides and replenished their supplies.

The rendezvous was a celebration with competitions.  James Beckwourth described it as "Mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of extravagances that white men or Indians could invent".  Sounds like a Scout event!

Event Organization

Camp for the weekend. We supply space for campsites, water, potties, and program. Each unit organizes their own food. Check-in is Friday evening, check-out is noon on Sunday. Activity stations are open all day Saturday and Sunday morning.  Stations are not "scheduled".  Go where you want, stay as long as you please. Camp fire Saturday night. There are a few special events that do have a schedule.  More on this below.

Stations

The full list of stations and the supplies you will want to bring (updated 2022)

Scheduled activities

Who's invited

All Scouts (Scout BSA Troops (male/female)), Venture Crews, Explorer Posts, and Girl Scout troops (must be age 11 or older.) Webelos may attend as part of a Troop (registered as part of the troop.)

Forming Camporee Patrols

Scouts will attend stations with their Patrol. We suggest Patrols be limited in size to 6-8 members.  For example a Foosball team is 6 players.

Camping / Parking / First Aid etc.

Each unit will be assigned a campsite. Site size varies with unit size. All fires must be in the fire ring.

Units may keep one vehicle and one trailer in campsite.  The rest must be moved to an on-site parking area.  These parking restrictions will be enforced starting a 9:00 PM Friday night. No vehicles will be allowed to move in and around the campsites during stations.

Water is available near the headquarter's area.  Reference the map.

There will be porta-potties on site.

Post 742 will be back as the event First Aiders. They will be located in the headquarters area.

Registration and Fees

Registration is done in two parts - unit/campsite registration and attendee registration. Start by reserving a campsite (comes with 5 attendee registrations) and then add attendees to fit your unit.  An attendee is a youth or adult.

Note: With the change to our new site, attendance is now capped at 350 (including staff.)  As such - while we are asking for an estimated number to be attending - until those folks are paid for - the slot is not reserved.  So please plan accordingly as this is First Come, First Served.

Unit/campsite registration (until September 27) - register for a campsite. Price includes 5 attendee registrations.  Cost $75 until September 12, $100 between September 13-27.
Regular attendee registration (until September 26) - $15
Late attendee registration (September 27 - October 2) - $20
Webelos attending for the day on Saturday (not camping) (closing October 2) - $15

Webelos Registration

Webelos register and camp as part of a Troop.  There is no separate Webelos Den registration, your members are registered as Troop members for the weekend. Webelos travel to stations embedded in a Scouts BSA Patrol.

Siblings

This is a Scouting event. It is not appropriate to bring siblings to the event.

How to prepare

A great way to get "involved" in Camporee is to weave our theme into your meetings and outings leading up to the event. Here are some of the Scout skills that you will use at Camporee.  A complete list will be published soon.

Fire building
Knots and lashings
Bear bag hanging
Backpacking meal preparation
First aid
Map and compass
Water purification
 

Unit Adult Volunteers

The last few years we have had fantastic participation from unit leaders. We will again be organizing unit volunteers. We must have at least one adult volunteer per unit to help staff stations on the weekend. More is great!  Remember, we have 20+ stations to staff. Takes a lot of leader-power.

If you know you will be volunteering why not contact our volunteer coordinator and cut out the middle man.  Send Jim Hardter an email at jhardter@msm.com.

Young adult and Unit Youth Volunteers

We have always had a few young adults on staff.  Young men who have aged out of scouting as a youth but are still interested in staying involved occasionally. Got some recent "graduates" who might be interested? Let us know. Have them send the Camporee Administrator a short note of introduction.

But wait, there's more!!!  This year we will be inviting older youth, still under 18, who are interested to be on staff. If you have someone in your unit that is interested please have the Scoutmaster send an email to the Camporee Administrator with a brief introduction.

Competition

Like previous years the entire weekend is a competition.  Ideally: First, second, and third place patrols will be awarded custom neckerchiefs at closing flag.  However since we are monitoring COVID, all patches and custom neckerchiefs may be delivered after the camporee.