Camp Madron; Kalamazoo, MI

This camp is located on a couple of small lakes in southwest Michigan, 2 1/2 hours from Chicago. It has a really good program these days (I understand that in recent years this was not so), and they offer a wide array of merit badges. The boys for the most part had to actually earn the merit badges with a couple of exceptions; the camping merit badges were signed off in spite of the boys not having done a couple of big requirements (the specialty camps and the cooking portion), and first aid did not verify the T21 requirements.

They have a dining hall for all meals except for the dinner on Wednesday night, which was a foil pack dinner cooked at the campsites. The staff was universally helpful and responsive, and the Scoutmaster meetings every morning resulted in changes quickly whenever there was a problem. Communication with the camp from outside the camp is exceedingly difficult; they rarely answer their phone and they do not answer messages well, so bring some cell phones (coverage is good, as it is right outside Kalamazoo) for emergency contact while in camp. Also double check blue cards while you are there, because getting follow up action once you leave is difficult due to the poor communication. Their website is not terribly informative either, but they say that they are planning to work on this for next year.

Good shooting ranges and well supervised, good waterfront, with a clear lake and sandy bottom. The T-2-1 area is very nice, and allows first year scouts to cover a lot of ground during this week. The food was very good and plenty of it (but I will bring my own bottle of hot sauce next time, and not bother the staff table with borrowing theirs all the time ;-) ). The campsites were nice and widely spaced, so that you do not feel like you are camping in another troop's lap. They allow bicycles on most trails (except by the shooting ranges, which unfortunately were the only area far enough to have really wanted to ride a bike). I did not try the fishing myself, so I can't speak to the quality of fishing here.

We went in the last week of the 2007 season.