Summer Camp: A Week at Scout Camp

Every summer Troop 23 spends a week at Scout camp. From Sunday to Saturday, usually in July, the Scouts live in a campsite of their own, take merit badge classes through the morning and afternoon, swim and paddle on the camp's lake, and end the day at a campfire. With the Adventure Trek, it is one of the two big trips of the troop's year.

There is an old saying in Scouting that a Scout does more Scouting in one week of summer camp than in the rest of the year put together. From 2021 to 2025 our week was at Camp Yawgoog in Rhode Island, and in 2026 at Camp Aquehonga at Ten Mile River, in the Catskills of New York.

Below: what a week at camp looks like, what a Scout can earn there, how the troop runs it, and what families need to know.

A Week at Camp

The week has a fixed shape. On Sunday the troop drives up, checks in, moves into its campsite and goes through the camp's medical check, and every Scout takes the swim test that decides where on the waterfront he swims and boats. Monday to Friday run on the camp's schedule: merit badge classes in blocks through the morning and afternoon, free time on the waterfront, and a program every evening. On Saturday the troop packs up and drives home.

The evenings belong to the camp, and every camp has its own traditions. At Aquehonga in 2026 they included Aqua-Olympics, an Iron Chef cook-off, a Polar Bear swim and a Mile Swim. At Yawgoog in 2025 the week brought canoe, kayak and sailing races and a swim carnival, and it ended with the Friday Night Show in the camp's amphitheater.

Meals depend on the camp too. Yawgoog feeds each of its three camps in a dining hall. Aquehonga is a patrol cooking camp: the camp supplies the food, and the patrols cook it at their own campsite on the troop's stoves.

Merit Badges, Rank and the High Ropes

Camp is where a Scout earns the most merit badges in the shortest time. The troop signs Scouts up for classes in March and April. Some badges have prerequisites to finish at home before camp, a few have minimum ages, and a badge not finished at camp comes home as a partial, to complete with a counselor.

First-year Scouts typically focus on basic camping skills: cooking, wilderness survival and craft badges. Each camp also runs a program for new campers: Yawgoog's New Frontier program works on the requirements for First Class, and Aquehonga's New Camper Program ends with the Aquehonga Distinguished Camper award. Experienced Scouts go for waterfront badges, outdoor badges and the camp's high adventure areas. At Ten Mile River that means rappelling at Indian Cliffs, open to Scouts who are at least 13 or have finished seventh grade, and the High COPE course.

In 2026, at Aquehonga, six Scouts completed 27 merit badges in one week, among them Canoeing, Kayaking, Swimming, Orienteering, Forestry, Mammal Study, Environmental Science, Rifle Shooting and Wood Carving, and four more came home as partials. During the same week Scouts rappelled down Indian Cliffs and climbed the High COPE course.

How the Troop Runs the Week

Summer camp is still a troop trip. The troop has its own campsite, and the youth leaders take charge of the troop's day. Adult leaders stay with the troop the whole week.

Screens stay in the background. At Yawgoog phones stayed away during program hours, a camp rule the troop supported and enforced, and that is the troop's habit on every trip: as much of the week outdoors as possible, as little of it on a phone.

Camp has its hour of service as well. In 2026 the Order of the Arrow ran a conservation project in the woods at Ten Mile River, and every Troop 23 Scout at camp worked on it for an hour alongside the adults.

Where We Go: Ten Mile River and Camp Yawgoog

Ten Mile River Scout Camps is the summer camp of the Greater New York Councils, in the Sullivan County Catskills, about two hours' drive from the George Washington Bridge. It has run since 1927, spreads over thousands of acres with more than sixty miles of hiking trails, and its Camp Aquehonga sits on the shore of Half Moon Lake, with a swimming pool and water slide, a STEM center, a Scoutcraft area and a high ropes course. New York City Scouts have camped there for generations, Troop 23 among them: a Scoutmaster's letter from the troop's 75th year mentions that "as usual 2 weeks of summer Camp are planned at Ten Mile River." More on the Ten Mile River page.

Camp Yawgoog belongs to the Narragansett Council and lies in Rockville, Rhode Island. It opened in 1916 and covers 1,800 acres with three ponds, divided into three camps, Three Point, Medicine Bow and Sandy Beach, each with its own dining hall, waterfront and trading post. It is also where the Totin' Chip began: Yawgoog created the first Totin' Chip program in 1950. Troop 23 camped at Yawgoog every summer from 2021 to 2025, the last three of them at Camp Sandy Beach, and in 2026 went back to Ten Mile River to try a summer there again.

The camp and the week for each summer are on that year's summer camp page.

Summer Camps So Far

• 1950s and 1960s: the troop ran its own summer camp at Sanita Hills, and one year camped at Lake Eaton in the Adirondacks.
• By the mid-1980s: two weeks at Ten Mile River were the usual summer.

From 2021 each summer has its own page with the plan for the week.

• 2021: Camp Yawgoog, Rhode Island.
• 2022: Camp Yawgoog.
• 2023: Camp Yawgoog, at Camp Sandy Beach.
• 2024: Camp Yawgoog, at Camp Sandy Beach, with a stop on the way home at the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, in Groton, Connecticut.
• 2025: Camp Yawgoog, at Camp Sandy Beach.
• 2026: Camp Aquehonga at Ten Mile River, New York: 27 merit badges in one week.

Cost, Deposits and Help

Summer camp is the biggest cost of the troop's year. The camp fee covers the week's meals, program and campsite; the current amount and the early-registration discount are in the Parent Guide under Summer Camp. The deposit is due around the start of March, merit badge sign-ups follow in March and April, and the rest is paid in late spring. Parent volunteers usually drive the troop to camp and back, and a little spending money covers the camp's trading post.

Help is available. The troop offers needs-based financial assistance, and a Scout who wants the troop's help takes part in its fundraisers, the wreath sale before Christmas and the flower sales in spring, whose proceeds go toward summer camp. Greater New York Councils also offers camperships, with applications in the winter.

Questions Families Ask

What does my Scout bring?

Each year's summer camp page has the packing list, the schedule and the forms for that camp; the 2026 page shows what one looks like. Every Scout needs the full health form, Parts A, B and C. Part C is a physical exam on the Scouting form signed by a doctor, and a school or sports physical does not count, so book that appointment early.

My Scout is not a strong swimmer. Is that a problem?

Not for camp. Every Scout takes the camp's swim test on the first day, and the result decides which parts of the waterfront he uses. Scouts who do not pass as swimmers can take instructional swim at camp.

Can parents come?

Adult leaders camp with the troop all week. A parent who wants to come along needs to be a registered adult with current Safeguarding Youth Training, and registration takes weeks, so start early.

Where can I see more photos?

The summer camp pages linked above have photos from each year, and the full albums are in the troop's members-only photo archive.