But being prepared didn’t mean the Chief Cornplanter Council BSA could hold its annual camp in the midst of a global pandemic.

There was no Scout Camp in the council in 2020.

That is a significant event in the memories of the current leaders.

The council was formed in 1915. The camp was first used in 1927 — long before the construction of Kinzua Dam.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry The Scouts of Troop 217 of Chicora sing a lively version of “Pirate’s Life for Me” during Scout Camp lunch Thursday at Camp Olmsted.

The original camp was much lower — the highest building in that camp is now the lowest in camp. Camp Olmsted includes 500 acres – many of them stretching up the hillside along the Allegheny Reservoir’s western shore.

It’s possible there were years without Scout Camp in the council between 1927 and 2020. The construction of the dam and inundation of the valley could have resulted in the cancellation of the camp. Leaders couldn’t say that there was camp during World War II.

Not everything about 2020 was negative.

“Not having camp was kind of an experience of its own,” Program Director Michael Crone said.

While the many troops didn’t get together at the same time, they could live up to the restrictions and expectations separately. “Troops came on their own,” Crone said. “Camp was used more in 2020.”

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Will Zdarko of Troop 35 of Sheffield pulls part of a flower basket hanger out of the forge at Camp Olmsted.

After the hiatus, there were 84 Scouts attending Scout Camp 2021 at Camp Olmsted. That number was bolstered by a visiting troop from Chicora in Butler County. The Moraine Trails Council camp was closed again this year and Troop 217 opted to attend Camp Olmsted.

Even with an out-of-county troop, 84 is low for camp, according to Chief Cornplanter Council leaders.

“There are families that didn’t send Scouts to camp,” Camp Director Gregg Triskett said. “There are counselors that didn’t come for various reasons.”

“It’s been a tough year with COVID. BSA is down overall,” District Executive Jim Shaw said. But, locally, “the numbers are pretty good.”

“I’m anticipating recovering,” Triskett said.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry A group of Scouts return to shore after a morning on the Allegheny Reservoir Thursday at Camp Olmsted.

“People are excited to get back to normalcy,” Shaw said.

The leaders are looking at the year as an opportunity. “You can start from scratch with new ideas,” Crone said.

Over the past year, the council has done some things differently.

“We modified our program to accommodate families’ desire for distancing coming out of COVID,” Triskett said. “No one complained.”

Some of the changes had unexpected results.

“Typically, you do merit badges with your troop,” Shaw said. Last year, “I’m staying home, I’ll look into something that I’m interested in.”

Local leaders have expertise in certain things. The online Scouting community has experts in everything.

Scouts who were interested in earning merit badges in nuclear physics or some other relatively uncommon skills did so last year.

“There were some youth that earned 10 to 12 merit badges,” Shaw said.

Opportunities for Scout leaders to keep up their training were limited.

“We’re all a year behind,” Crone said. “There are going to be several of us next year who are going to have to go back to Camp School.”

The camp director and program director are trained to step into leadership positions at any station in camp, Crone said.

It might sound like a lot of work, but there were 50 to 60 adults volunteering their time and participating at various times at camp. “It’s easy on me,” Crone said. “Everybody that does a merit badge is pretty much an expert in that field. They take care of themselves. I make sure everybody is having fun and make sure we line up with national.”