Camp Emerson Bsa

Camp is small but nice. Some camp sites have tents which is good if you don’t want to lug a lot of gear with you to camp. Meals are in the chow hall, so you don’t need to prepare your own meals, which is also nice. Last year we had to bring a cook trailer to camp and tents/​cots. His year we were able to pack a little lighter. Staff was very friendly. There merit badge choices aren’t as extensive as other camps, but they offer quite a few required merit badges. Camp Emerson is a good place for summer camp!

This is the worst run Boy Scout Camp I have ever had the displeasure of attending. The Camp Director and everyone in the headquarters (aside from the Medic) will tell you nothing but lies the entire week you are there. They will promise to fix things yet nothing will change. The Director also has an ABSURD policy to shut down almost EVERY program/​activity at the slightest hint of a lightning storm even if there is no lightning or thunder for at least 10 miles. I had to literally threaten the Director to open up the swimming pool just to make sure my boys had a chance to finish their merit badges. We were also placed in the absolute worst campground despite registering very early. This meant we had to trudge/​crawl up a massive mountain 5 or 6 times a day in 90 degree weather. We were all exhausted by mid-​day and ended up taking down backpacks filled with our daily needs just to avoid climbing up the MASSIVE hill too many times.
There is clearly a disconnect and lack of unity between the staff and the upper management. The counselors are trying their best but they are clearly poorly trained and as a result take the brunt of the complaints. We had several boys that just needed to qualify for archery and rifle but because they overbooked the archery and rifle classes they decided to eliminate all shooting for anyone not in class. They even canceled all shooting on Friday which was ridiculous.
The food was okay but nothing to write home about and they have no restrooms near the dining hall which makes no sense. I talked to at least 10 scoutmasters and all of them said they would never attend this camp again. I would highly encourage you to look elsewhere for a Boy Scout summer camp. There are much better summer camps to pick from and in much prettier locations.