One of the best parts of Scouts BSA is the chance to go to summer camp. A full week outdoors, spent climbing, swimming, engaging in target and field sports, earning merit badges and just plain being a kid are the stuff of awesome memories – and experiences that will last a lifetime.
Ingersoll Scout Reservation (ISR) is the primary resident camp of the W.D. Boyce Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Located just west of London Mills, Illinois, the reservation encompasses almost 1000 acres of woodland and prairie between Fulton and Knox Counties. There’s nothing else quite like it!
The 2024 ISR Scouts BSA summer camp season consists of four one-week sessions, beginning June 9, 16, 23 and 30. Troop registration is available here.
Solo Scouts
If there’s a Scout without camp on their summer calendar, now’s the time to sign up! Is their troop not attending? No problem – we can match them up with another troop. Not in Scouts BSA? We can help with that, too! Need-based financial aid is also available.
Contact Collin Martis (Collin.Martis@scouting.org) for more details!
Facilities & Programs
The dining hall is the center of resident camp activities. It includes indoor and outdoor seating, a kitchen, and an adjacent commissary building. Troops have the option of eating at the dining hall or preparing food picked up from the commissary in their own campsites, “Jambo style.” The flagpole in front of the dining hall is the site of daily flag ceremonies.
In 2007, Ingersoll opened a 50-foot tall climbing tower. It features 3 walls of varying difficulty, a giant’s ladder, and a 350-foot zipline to the ground below. The Climbing merit badge is instructed here during summer resident camp.
Finished in 2008, the lakefront area at Lake Roberts contains a sand beach, a large dock, boat storage, and teaching space. Boating merit badges, including Rowing, Canoeing, and Small Boat Sailing are taught here during the summer months.
Across the lake, the Fish Shack contains teaching space for the Fishing and Fly Fishing merit badges, as well as facilities for cleaning and preparing fish. Other Aquatics merit badges are taught at the pool.
There are also many other program areas at Ingersoll, including a shooting range that offers .22 caliber rifles, archery, and 20 gauge shotgun shooting. Scoutcraft offers many programs and merit badges helping the visiting scouts with their outdoor skills, scouting lore, and many forms of time-cherished crafts such as woodcarving and basketry.
Ecology and Conservation, often referred to as Eco-Con, offers the nature and science merit badges and programs. Ingersoll also offers a cooking program, where scouts become familiar with outdoor cookware and creative ways to prepare different foods while camping.
About Ingersoll Scout Reservation
For camping purposes, Ingersoll is often divided into two parts: “Main Camp,” which consists of the developed area west of Lake Roberts used for most camp programs; and the “East Side,” the large undeveloped area east of Lake Roberts with minimal road and trail access used primarily for hiking. 
The numerous small creeks and gullies emptying into Cedar Creek on the southern edge of Ingersoll gives the camp unusually varied topography for the area.
This is most visible at “Dining Hall Hill,” a main thoroughfare of the camp, which is located on a long incline overlooking the broad Cedar Creek Valley.
The reservation is home to many native Illinois wildlife species, including white-tailed deer, raccoons, wild turkey, foxes, and coyotes. Beavers have also been known to make their homes on the Cedar Creek, though they are rarely sighted. The entire camp is designated as a wildlife preservation area by the state of Illinois. In less-developed regions of the camp, native prairie grasses have been allowed to grow, creating a habitat for many native plants.
Ready to Register?
To register your troop to attend Scouts BSA camp at Ingersoll, click here NOW!