Our 2024 Pack Overnight will be at the Worcester EcoTarium from Saturday, April 27 to Sunday, April 28!  Reserve places for your Scout(s) and you by March 21.  If we still have open places at that time, siblings will be able to register (until March 27). Update: The registration deadline has passed. Thank you to the ~60 who registered!

Plan to arrive between 5 and 6 pm on Saturday.  Eat dinner beforehand or bring a dinner that you can eat in the snack area (and finish by 6:30).  We’ll participate in a special EcoTarium program starting at 6:30 pm.  Part of the program will hopefully be outside, so bring warm enough clothing.  After the program we’ll sleep on the floor (inside) among the museum exhibits.  Bring sleeping bags (and sleeping pads or air mattresses are recommended).  They’ll also have a morning program for us, and we can stay until 10 am on Sunday.  Some of the older Scouts should remember when we attended a similar program in 2020. It’ll be a great time!  More info is on the EcoTarium’s Night Journeys page (https://ecotarium.org/night-journeys/), and you can also look at last year’s FAQs.

The Overnight is $60 per person (child or adult) and people can reserve their place by paying online.  Go to our Registration and Dues page (near the bottom, under “Pack 313 Online Payment”) and select the right combination of 1 and 2 people for the Worcester EcoTarium Overnight.  Include the names of all adults and children in the bottom box.  Or you can give a check (made payable to “Arlington Pack 313”) to the Cubmaster with attendees names in the Memo section.  Email me so I’ll know its on the way.

This year the EcoTarium is saving 60 places for us, and it will be great to use them all.

Camp Norse (112 Parting Ways Road, Kingston, MA) is hosting Family Camp this summer, and we’ll be joining them for the May 31 – June 2 (Friday to Sunday) session. This is a camping weekend for the whole family! The cost is $75 per person and includes a group campsite (so plan to bring a tent, unless you need to borrow one), all prepared meals from their dining hall, and activities — a rustic version of Club Med.

The camp counselors have a whole bunch of outdoor activities for kids and grown-ups throughout the day. In a typical summer, these include archery, BB guns, an obstacle course, a BMX bike course and a lake waterfront with swimming, boating, and fishing. During the day, you can move from activity to activity whenever you want. If your family hasn’t gone camping before, this is a great introduction — no need to organize food and activities. Bring a swimsuit, but everything else you need for the activities is supplied by the camp.

You can get information on the Family Camp at Camp Norse page. Following the May 31st – June 2nd (Weekend 1) link will lead you to more information. Almost of us choose to camp in a tent (that we bring), but feel free to select a different option if you prefer. They’ll place all of us tent campers in a big group site. The camp has some alternatives to tent camping, but they may fill up quickly (and may be a bit away from our tent sites).

When you register, start by selecting one person for a tent (or your other choice). When you select our Unit, you’ll need to answer these questions: (1) Are you in Narragansett Council? No. (2) For “Select Council”, our Pack is in the Spirit of Adventure Council. (3) What type of Unit? Pack (4) Enter Unit Number: 313 (5) Unit Designation? Family Pack (FP). And then later, (6) “Are you camping as a family or a pack?” Pack. Then under “Additional Actions”, you can enter the names of more people. At the end, you should be charged $75 per person. If you want, you can change from paying from your bank account to paying by credit card. It’s fine to attend just part of the weekend, but the camp still asks us to pay the full fee. If/when you do register, please let me know so our Pack will know who to expect.

I hope that you can join us! Camp Norse will send us more details closer to the weekend, and usually these details include their requirement for completed a BSA medical form for every camper (children and adults). A parent should fill out (and sign) Parts A and B as completely as possible. No doctor involvement is needed. Some versions of the BSA medical form include a part C, but this is only for longer events (like summer camp). Note that we’re asked to print and attach “a photocopy of both sides of the insurance card”. Print your medical forms so you can hand them in at check-in.

Pack 313 will be camping for two nights (October 27-29) at Camp Carpenter (300 Blondin Rd, Manchester, NH).  This is a highlight of the fall Cub Scout season (!), and we hope that you can come to Camp Carpenter for some or all of this time.  The whole family is invited.  Plan to bring food and supplies that you need for your family (unless you coordinate sharing items with another family or your Scout’s Den).  If you have more than one Cub Scout, you can camp with the Den that you prefer. Pack 313 covers the cost of the campsite.

More information about the camping trip is here:

This information includes
a – What to expect, a schedule for the weekend, a suggested packing list, and a Camp Carpenter map 

b – A link to *required* medical forms for children and adults (to be completed by an adult; no doctor required)

c – A description of the child safety requirement (new for this year)

If you’ve been on an October camping trip before, you’ll see that we have a quite similar schedule.  We were hoping to have some staff-run activities, but the camp has temporarily stopped their Saturday program, so many of the activities that appear on the map won’t be available. 

The Cubmaster should have emailed you the link to register for the trip. The registration deadline is Monday, October 23.

Ask the Cubmaster or your Den Leader if you have questions about the camping trip.  I hope that we’ll see you at Camp Carpenter!

Camp Norse (112 Parting Ways Road, Kingston, MA) is hosting Family Camp this summer, and we’ll be joining them for the June 2-4 (Friday to Sunday) session. This is a camping weekend for the whole family! The cost is $75 per person and includes a group campsite (so plan to bring a tent, unless you need to borrow one), all prepared meals from their dining hall, and activities — a rustic version of Club Med.

The camp counselors have a whole bunch of outdoor activities for kids and grown-ups throughout the day. In a typical summer, these include archery, BB guns, an obstacle course, a BMX bike course and a lake waterfront with swimming, boating, and fishing. During the day, you can move from activity to activity whenever you want. If your family hasn’t gone camping before, this is a great introduction — no need to organize food and activities. Bring a swimsuit, but everything else you need for the activities is supplied by the camp. Older children (middle school and up) and adults will also be able to do axe throwing and rifle shooting, the latter for the first time this year.

You can get information on the Family Camp at Camp Norse page. Following the Weekend 1 link will lead you to more information. At the beginning of registration, when you’re asked “# of Campers – Tent Site – with own tent”; this refers to the number of campers, not tents. They’ll place us all in a big group site. When you get to the Group Information page, for “Pack Number & Community”, write “Arlington Pack 313”. For “Are you camping as a family or as a Pack?”, respond “Pack”. When you’re asked about Adventure cards, check “Adventure card holder (In-council Scouts)”. (Our Council has an “Adventure card sharing” arrangement with the Narragansett Council). It’s fine to attend just part of the weekend, but the camp still asks us to pay the full fee.

If/when you do register, please let me know so our Pack will know who to expect. The camp has some alternatives to tent camping, but they fill up quickly (and are a bit away from our tent sites).

I hope that you can join us! Some families from Scouts BSA Troop 313 will be camping with us too. Camp Norse will send us more details closer to the weekend, and usually these details include their requirement for completed a BSA medical form for every camper (children and adults). A parent should fill out (and sign) Parts A and B as completely as possible. No doctor involvement is needed. Some versions of the BSA medical form include a part C, but this is only for longer events (like summer camp). Note that we’re asked to print and attach “a photocopy of both sides of the insurance card”. Print your medical forms so you can hand them in at check-in.

Pack 313 will be holding our annual sleepover at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA from Saturday, April 1 to Sunday, April 2, 2023. We’ll get to visit everything at the site (including four Naval ships and a submarine), sleep on the USS Massachusetts battleship on real sailors’ racks (bunk beds), and get served dinner and breakfast on the ship. Everyone in the family who is at least five years old is invited. The program we’ll be attending is called Nautical Nights. Since April is a popular month for Battleship Cove, we need to pay now to reserve up to the 100 remaining places. The cost is $75 per person, the same price for children and adults. They alert us that even though the ship has heat and air conditioning, since it’s all metal, it can get very cold or hot. In April, we assume that means to wear or bring warm clothes. We’re asked to arrive on Saturday at 3 pm. Sunday breakfast should start at 7 am. After that, you can stay to explore some more or go home. More 2023 details about Nautical Nights are here, and the program was also profiled in Scouting Magazine. Also see the parking map.

If you can’t join us for the night, you can still meet the Pack there. General admission (for Saturday, April 1) is from 9 am to 4 pm. If you visit Battleship Cove on that day, you can explore the boats as much as you want on Saturday and then look for our Pack families from 2 to 4 pm when we first arrive.

To make a payment to reserve your places, pay by check or below, where you can select the number of people from the pull-down list and click the “Pay Now” button. You will be taken to a secure page hosted by PayPal where you can enter your credit card information. You do not need a PayPal account to make a payment. If you need to pay for a larger family than four people, you can simply pay more than once.  Payment is due January 8, 2023, when the Cubmaster will send our final count and pay for our reservation.