Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation — Local services in Peach Bottom Township

While the facilities, other than the waterfront, were solid, and the food was good for a summer camp, we had some bad experiences at this camp in summer 2021.

The worst thing was the low standard of conduct among the counselors. Some of the counselors routinely used profanity around the boys, and a couple of counselors apparently played the horrible song "Ram Ranch" for the boys at the Eagle Summit program area. It is pretty shocking that boys were exposed to it in a scouting environment. We didn't know about it at the time so we couldn't report it to the camp, but it came out later in a series of conversations when a boy was reported for trying to play it for others in our troop.

This is just the most dreary piece of a larger pattern of low standards among the staff. For the sake of brevity, I will mention just one more problem out of many:

After we complained about the increasing irreverence of the prayers before evening meal (culminating in a mock-prayer to Green Lantern on Thursday evening), the Chaplain agreed to improve things. Unfortunately, the improvement was a series of vague non-theistic philosophical reflections, rather than actual prayers to an actual deity. This seems to show either a lack of understanding of the religious principles of scouting, or a simple inability to promote reverence and scoutlike behavior among the the staff.

In either case, the result was a generally unwholesome and unsafe environment.

I had some good conversations with some of the adults in charge, but the facts on the ground were bad and did not improve much over the week, despite their good intentions.

We will not return to this camp.

Camp Bashore under Terry Wade's leadership has been reliably great every time we...

This was for a cub scout adventure: I wanted to share some feedback from our recent experience. To be honest, the swim test felt very frustrating. Several parents, including myself, weren't even aware that completing the swim test was required for the kids to use the boats. That lack of communication caused confusion.

What added to the disappointment was the criteria itself — an adult had t swim the full length of the pool around, do a backstroke, and float on their back, which seems like a boy scout type of test rather than something that would be held for a cub scouting event. And yet, they would have been required to wear life jackets the entire time on the water. If life jackets are mandatory anyway, it seems more reasonable to allow the scouts to participate as long as they keep them on at all times.

That said, I do want to acknowledge the positives. The food was good, the leaders were friendly, and overall, the scouts had a great time. I did notice the ski walk activity kept breaking for the kids — maybe consider bolting the rope more securely to the 2x4s to help prevent that.

One last and very important point: during my son's swim test, he panicked and asked for help. The lifeguard on duty just stood there and did nothing, which was very upsetting. Thankfully, Lilly jumped in from across the pool to help him right away. I’m incredibly grateful to her, but I was really disappointed by the inaction of the person who was supposed to be monitoring and helping in...

I’ve been to Broad Creek 3 times over the last 2 years.

The first year was Cub summer camp and was a pretty good experience. The staff was good without any problems but that was the last good experience.

Then I sent my son to summer camp last year. My wife went to drop off care packages for my son. The guy working the front desk was dismissive of my wife, condescending, and everything short of demeaning towards her. I had to email the camp director to resolve this problem. The provisional guide helped ensure my son received his care packages.

Another parent the same year paid for “the new camper package”. When the parent came on Wednesday to check on his son, the staff didn’t give his son the card, to get a daily treat. Their excuse was “I was told he wasn’t here”. No follow up.

Then this past weekend Ranger Tom refused to accommodate a disabled veteran with breathing and mobility issues. This was the final straw for us.

Maybe I just keep having experiences with the bad apples or Broad Creek has a poor vetting process.

Just to be clear, this is aimed at Broad Creek. The people who plan the events are exceptional.

But I will promise you one thing, I will not bring my troop here again. We will be exploring...