Summer camp at Camp Alexander: A week none of us will forget
Eighteen Scouts and eleven adult leaders made the trip from Houston to Colorado's Eleven Mile Canyon for a week at Camp Alexander. This is the full record of how it went.
The send-off
The troop departed Houston on June 6th, the trailer loaded and the crew ready for the long haul to Colorado. Twenty-nine of us, headed for a camp that is celebrating its 80th year of welcoming Scouts (since 1946).
Thank you, Amarillo
The first night on the road, Troop 478 was hosted by First Presbyterian Church of Amarillo in their Alpha-Omega Youth Center ↗. Opening a youth facility to a busload of Scouts passing through is real generosity, and the troop is genuinely grateful for it. A long drive is a lot easier with a warm floor and a roof partway through.
Arrival at Camp Alexander
The troop arrived Sunday, June 7th, and settled into camp. Camp Alexander ↗ sits at 8,600 feet in Eleven Mile Canyon. As a part of the Pike National Forest, campers experienced real Colorado granite, a lake typically fed by snowmelt (that was a little low due to ongoing drought conditions), and the South Platte River running through the property. 2026 marks the camp's 80th summer, a milestone that says something about how many troops have made this same trip over the decades.
The camp runs eleven program areas spanning aquatics, climbing, shooting sports, nature, outdoor skills, and more, with real rock climbing on actual granite rather than a man-made wall. It is the kind of setting that makes a week of merit badge work feel like an expedition rather than a checklist.
Monday through Thursday: the program
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59 merit badges completed in full |
29 partial badges, to be finished at home |
The 29 partials are not a shortfall. Some merit badge requirements simply take longer than a camp week allows due to ongoing logs, multi-week projects, skills that need more reps than five days can provide, etc. Those Scouts will finish the work back home and all of it will be recognized at the August Court of Honor.
Between merit badge sessions and shared meals, the week was full of side-quest adventures that Scouts and adult leaders pursued together.
The side quests
Conservation project
A group of Scouts and adults completed an erosion control project on one of the camp's high use nature trails, real conservation work that leaves a place better than it was found.
The polar plunge
Four adults and one Scout took the polar plunge into the camp lake. Out of more than 600 campers on site that week, fewer than 3 percent, about 20 people total, took the challenge. Troop 478 was well represented in that small club.
Daily hikes
Adult leaders took daily hikes throughout the week to take in the canyon's scenery, a small ritual that became one of the quieter highlights of camp.
Blue Mountain at sunrise
Three adults and six Scouts woke up at 2 a.m. Friday to hike Blue Mountain, 9,209 feet, in time to watch the sunrise from the summit. There are easier ways to see a sunrise. None of them are better.
Friday: whitewater on Browns Canyon
Friday took the whole troop off camp property for a whitewater rafting excursion through Browns Canyon on the Arkansas River with River Runners. Class II-III rapids, plenty of splashing, and smiles on every face that came back through the canyon. One boat went over with Scouts and adult leaders alike getting a little extra excitement and some genuine “head up, toes up” practice in the current.
Everyone made it back on the bus intact, soaked, and full of stories that will get told and retold for years.
Closing campfire
The troop made it back to camp Friday just in time for dinner and for Senior Patrol Leader, Noah Kiger, to help lead the closing campfire program for the entire camp which included a Troop 478 skit. Leading a camp-wide closing program is no small thing, and it is exactly the kind of leadership opportunity that summer camp creates for Scouts who are ready for it.
The trip home
The troop departed for home early Saturday morning, with a planned overnight stop at New Hope Presbyterian Church ↗ in Wichita Falls. About halfway there, a tire on the trailer tossed its tread. Once everyone was safely off the highway, Scoutmaster Stamm and Assistant Scoutmaster Hammond changed the tire fast enough to make a NASCAR pit crew take notice.
It is the kind of moment that becomes part of troop lore, not because anything went wrong that mattered, but because two adults handled it calmly, quickly, and without drama, and everyone was back on the road in time to make the next stop.
The full trip, by the numbers
Roughly 1,800 miles of driving. Two gracious churches that opened their doors along the way. Rest area sandwiches and a few fast food stops. A week of camp at 8,600 feet with side quests that pushed everyone a little further than they expected to go. Eighteen Scouts and eleven adult leaders, all in it together. That is a Troop 478 summer.
The 59 merit badges earned at Camp Alexander will be formally awarded at the August Court of Honor. We will plan to announce the 2027 Summer Camp destinations as part of our 2026-2027 calendar preview in the coming months.
