Camp Minsi

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Camp Minsi is a Boy Scout camp on Pennsylvania Route 940, and on the shore of Stillwater Lake in Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania. The camp is owned by the Minsi Trails Council (formerly the Bethlehem Area Council) and serves Scouts from across the Northeast Region and beyond. Camp Minsi encompasses 1200 acres of relatively flat woodlands, holds over 20 miles of hiking trails and varied wildlife.

The camp was donated to the Boy Scouts by Samuel Rubel of the Pocono Mountain Ice Company in 1949. A central feature of the camp is the 314-acre Stillwater Lake, which was used in the early part of the 20th century for ice harvesting. Today Stillwater Lake's most important product is providing sailing, fishing, swimming and other aquatic activities to the hundreds of Scouts and Scouters who attend weekly throughout the summer season. [1]

Camp Minsi has over 20 buildings, 10 established troop sites, 10 primitive outpost sites, four fresh-water springs, 20 miles of trails and several historical and natural points of interest.

Camp Minsi’s Trail to Adventure (TTA) program is a nationally-recognized program designed to help new Scouts advance in the early ranks, while also working towards a few merit badges. The camp offer more than 45 different merit badge classes each summer. The camp's waterfront and aquatics center on Stillwater Lake offers a variety of programs – including swimming, sailing, canoeing, rowing, kayaking, sailboarding and snorkeling. ScoutCraft teaches valuable outdoor skills while offering various challenges for Scouts of all ages. At Handicraft, Scouts are able to hone their craft in woodcarving, leather work, basketry, pottery and more. Camp Minsi's Econ area offers in-depth environmental programs – including conservation projects and nature studies. The camp's Shooting Sports are gives Scouts a chance to shoot rifles, shotguns, and bows and arrows.

In addition to its traditional Boy Scout programs, Camp Minsi offers high adventure programs for Venturers and older Scouts. High adventure offerings include: whitewater rafting on the Lehigh River, mountain biking through the Lehigh Gorge, hiking Mount Minsi in the Delaware Water Gap, exploring the waterfalls and boulder field at Hickory Run State Park, canoeing through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, spar-pole climbing, kayaking, and other activities both on, and off, site.[2]

Camp Minsi features a centrally-located dining hall; within a short walk from the dining hall are 10 troop campsites with capacities that range from 20 to 90 campers. Further away are a number of backwoods outpost sites for a more rustic experience. There are over 20 miles of hiking trails throughout the camp that give Scouts an opportunity to experience the variety of the Pocono's glacial moraine.

The camp has been named "Best Campground," "Best Day Camp," and "Best Non-Profit" in the Poconos by the readers of the Pocono Record in the newspaper's 2013, 2014 and 2015 "Reader's Choice" contests.[3]

Camp areas

Summer camp program areas:

  • Aquatics
  • Citizenship & Communications (Cit-Com)
  • Ecology-Conservation (E-con)
  • Handicraft
  • Health Lodge
  • High Adventure
  • Minsi Village
  • Quartermaster Crew (Trades Skills)
  • ScoutCraft
  • Shooting Sports
  • Sports & Athletics
  • Trail to Adventure (first-year camper program)

                  

Campsites:

  • Site 1: Mohican
  • Site 2: Tuscarora
  • Site 3: Iroquois
  • Site 4: Mohawk
  • Site 5: Onondoga
  • Site 6: Oneida
  • Site 7: Cayuga
  • Site 8: Seneca
  • Site 9: Lenape
  • Site 10: Shawnee

Camp Minsi Alma Mater

 
By the shores of old Stillwater, with its azure blue.
Lies a camp of friendly Boy Scouts, cheerful, brave, and true.
Sing her glories, live her ideals hold her memories dear.
Give a cheer that all may hear it; Hail all hail Minsi.
 
Far away from care and turmoil of the busy town.
In a Brotherhood of Scouting; We will there be found.
Sing her glories, live her ideals, hold her memories dear.
Give a cheer that all may hear it; Hail all hail Minsi!
 

See also

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