This March, Troop 581 participated in the 14th Annual NCAC Scout Orienteering Meet held near Huntingtown, MD. When we got to the campsite, we had to stake our tents down because of the high winds. The wind was so bad a bunch of us lost our tent bags. In the morning, we cooked breakfast and paired up for the morning competition. Orienteering is a competition to see who could get through a course using a compass and a special map to find control points. There were different level tracks you could try. Most groups did the yellow course which was a medium level course. Two groups did orange which was hard (nobody in our troop tried the hardest one). Whichever team found the most points in the shortest amount of time would win.
After the morning competition, we made lunch and then got ready for the troop competition where Troop 581 would go up against other troops from the area. Natty Kosa assigned certain points to each pair of Scouts to find. Older Scouts looked for the harder points while younger Scouts looked for the easer points. When we got back from the troop course, we rested and then went to the award ceremony. Some of our Scouts even won some awards.
While competing in the meet was fun, the best part was getting to hang out with all our friends.
Submitted by Ryan Weaver, Troop Historian