This was a camp run by Sherri Egeland, GS of Southwestern PA, Penn View Community.  She posted details to the wagggs-l list in response to several requests and I was really impressed, so I've reproduced the whole lot here (with Sherri's permission).  It's long but it's worth it!  Enjoy!

Introduction

My troop of Cadettes wanted our spring camp weekend to be Survivor-themed, since they had just attended a one-day outdoor skills workshop (taught by me) and wanted to try the new skills out "for real".

I designed a beginner survivor-themed camp program called "Challenge Camp for Cadettes" for them.  (I don't mean to take full credit, since most if not all of the challenges were drawn from this list, my own outdoor training, and the experiences of other leaders in my area.)  It is a beginner program because there are no real consequences if you lose the challenge.  I was unwilling to let them be hungry or unsafe -- and the only place available to us to camp in March in Pittsburgh was a heated cabin. They spent the day outside meeting challenges, but were given 3 meals a day and a warm and dry place to sleep.

Group working:
Our biggest decision to make was whether it should be working as a single group, or working competitively as patrols.  The decision they came up with was not one that I would have chosen, but it worked out very well, so I guess they know themselves better than I do.  They chose to work competitively in patrols, but to change patrols (picking names out of a hat) immediately before each challenge.  Every girl on the winning patrol earned a colored bead for the challenge.  At the end of the weekend, we had an ultimate Challenge Winner who had earned the most beads, but there was no long-term rivalry between patrols (which is what they were most worried about).

Preparation:
The skills we insisted they learn before they were allowed to participate were:  first aid, rudimentary compass skills, lashing, safe knife skills, outdoor cooking, emergency survival, team building, firebuilding, trail signs, Morse code, and knot-tying, We only covered very basic skills in these topics -- the whole skills workshop was only 3 hours long.

How it went:
Now here is the bragging part (feel free to ignore!).  When we asked for evaluations on Sunday morning, we didn't get one single negative response. They loved the challenges and thought they were neither too hard or to easy. They had a good time all weekend. They thought the food was fine (We simplified cooking to hot dogs and spaghetti, to allow more time for challenges. This is NOT something we usually do, since my girls love to cook new stuff.)  And best of all from my point of view, no one bickered or griped at anyone else all weekend! (You leaders of 13-year-olds may know what I mean!)  I think they were just too busy to pick on each other.

The not-so-good part was that because the girls had to be surprised by the challenges, the leaders did 100 percent of the planning. If you are not well past the learning to plan stage, this is not a great idea for your troop, but my troop has planned camp weekends for years and I didn't mind giving them a pre-planned program for a change.
Sandra's guide pages
Camp theme - survival
Background and general information

First a quick overview: The campers were 8 8th-graders and although they had troop camped lots of times over the last 3 years that I have been the leader of this troop, they had very little experience with outdoor survival skills, and NO experience in competitive camp skills.  We required that they bring a sit-can (which we use instead of situpons here, since Pittsburgh is so muddy in the spring) stocked with the following: 1 bandana, 1 oven mitt, 2 dishtowels, 2 firestarters, 1 pocket knife, 1 roll of toilet paper, 2 plastic garbage bags, mess kit, dunk bag, flashlight, extra batteries, waterproof matches in waterproof container, emergency phone numbers, personal first aid kit, first aid manual (optional), 6 feet of rope.

Since we have a lot of thunderstorms in the spring, I also planned several indoor challenges, in case we were cabin bound for much of the weekend.  It rained throughout the weekend, but no lightning, so we were outdoors until after evening campfire, but decided to perform the indoor challenges anyhow, just for the fun of it.

They received their challenges in mailboxes that were large plastic jars with their patrol names on them, hung by a rope in nearby trees.  They were high enough to require some cooperation to unscrew the lids and get the mail out.  If they needed a piece of equipment that was not in their sit cans, we placed it in the mail boxes with the challenge instructions.
SHIPWRECK CHALLENGE

You most complete the following tasks, in any order.  All the tasks must be completed before the Shipwreck Challenge is finished.  You have been shipwrecked on a deserted island.  Fortunately, you had the presence of mind to grab your sit can while you swam to shore. From time to time, you may hear other people on your island, but try to avoid them at all costs.  They may be members of an unfriendly tribe and you don't want to accidentally start a war before you are rescued.

THE BEACH
You must lash sticks together to make a signal flag so that a passing ship can rescue you.  The pole of the flag must be at least 6 feet long.  Your rope is approximately 6 feet long. You must stick the end of your flag in the dirt well enough that it is still standing at the end of the Shipwreck Challenge. The banner of the signal flag must be large enough to be easily seen from a distance. Your underpants are not a good choice.


HOME SWEET HOME
You must build a shelter from what you find in your sit can and what you find in the area.  The shelter must protect from rain and wind on at least one side and the top. Your whole tribe must be able to fit in it at one time.  You may not damage nature, but you may use downed branches or other nonliving material. Your home must have a name that clearly reflects how you feel about living there.

THE LAGOON
You must sharpen a stick well enough to spear a yummy "potato fish" swimming in "Bucket Lagoon" near the fire circle. While everyone knows that "potato fish" are delicious and nutritious, the water of "Bucket Lagoon" is poisonous so you may not reach into "Bucket Lagoon" with your hands or anything else.  If part of you gets wet, you will become too ill to participate in the rest of this challenge.  Bring your speared "potato fish" (being careful not to get wet) to your Home Sweet Home and lay it carefully on the grass until it is time for dinner.  By the way, potato fish feel no pain and are happy to be speared and eaten by shipwrecked tribes.  It makes them smile and wave their little fins with satisfaction.

THE FINISH
When all of your tribe is sitting comfortably in your Home Sweet Home, admiring your lovely signal flag, and eagerly awaiting the potato fish dinner you are to have this evening, send one of your tribe to invite the troop leaders to share your abundant feast!

Note: A potato fish is an already-sprouting potato that I had at home (so as not to waste good food) on which I drew a cartoon fish with permanent magic marker. The bucket lagoon was a fire bucket filled with water with the potato fish at the bottom.  Also, the reason we required garbage bags was that if it was raining heavily, we didn't want them to sacrifice their ponchos to make a shelter. This was a speed challenge, so as long as they met the conditions in the instructions they did not get extra credit for better construction, superior lashing, etc.  One patrol tied bandanas together for their signal flag and one used a garbage bag -- both acceptable to meet the challenge.
FIREBUILDING CHALLENGE

For safety reasons, build your tribe's fire within the clear fire circle area, but as far from the other tribe as possible. No one is to be between the two fires!

Bring your waterproof matches in a waterproof container to a troop leader in the fire circle. She will test your matches before you begin.

(NOTE: I dunked the matches, in their supposedly waterproof containers, into the fire bucket for a count of three. All of their matches passed this test, probably because they had the opportunity to waterproof some matches at the outdoor skills workshop the previous weekend.)

You will tie a piece of string (provided) to two sticks stuck in the ground above where you will create your fire. The string should be at least 12 inches from the ground. (This paper is 11 ½ inches long.) Check the height of your string BEFORE you light your fire. You may use all the matches you require, but you may not use a firestarter of any kind. The first tribe to burn through the string wins this challenge.

All fire safety rules must be followed. Anyone lighting a fire unsafely, or allowing it to burn unsafely will be disqualified from this challenge. This includes hair and clothing rules.

(NOTE: For older or more experienced girls, you don't need to include the information that the paper is 11 1/2 inches. My troop is easily frustrated, and I wanted to make sure I was testing firebuilding skills, not creative thinking.)

Results: This was our most difficult challenge, given the truly wet weather and soggy tinder available. Both patrols needed about 50 (yes, 50) matches each to achieve their goal. We did not forbid (in the directions) the piling up of almost a foot of wood and the starting of a tiny fire on the peak of the pile only a half-inch from the string. When one patrol tried this, we stopped them as we deemed it unsafe firebuilding, but did not disqualify them since it was an iffy call. One patrol decided to burn their direction paper for tinder which we allowed since we had stated before we started that any solution that was not dangerous and did not actively hinder the other patrol was permitted. By the time the other patrol noticed this creative idea, their direction paper was already too wet to catch.
KNOT CHALLENGE

Using square knots only, tie all of your 6-foot ropes together into one long  rope.  At each end of the long rope, tie a bowline with a loop big enough to fit around a person's waist.  In the presence of a troop leader, two people from your tribe must step into the bowline loops, lean back until the rope is taut, hold their hands in the air, and recite a poem of at least four lines that your tribe has created.

(Your knots must be correctly tied and strong enough to keep them from falling backward. The knots must hold for the duration of the poem recitation.)

The poem must rhyme, and contain the name of your tribe and the words "rope"  and "knot".
SPOT-DASH-DOT CHALLENGE

There are two parts to this challenge.  For the first part, you need matches, a teabag, a cup, and a metal pan.

First, your tribe must make a safe fire and boil water to make a "SPOT OF TEA" for the wise and lovely jungle oracles.  You may use a firestarter if you wish.  Do not run with a full cup of hot tea. Do not leave your fire until it is completely out.

As payment for the fine "SPOT OF TEA," the wise and lovely jungle oracles will give you the instructions for the second part of this challenge. Unfortunately, the jungle oracles do not write in English. They will give you the message in a secret jungle code.  You must then decode the message (using the secret jungle code key in your sit can) and complete the second part of the challenge.

Remember: If the water is not hot enough to make a nice, dark tea, the jungle oracles will withhold their knowledge. They are wise and they are lovely but they are not pushovers!

(NOTE: The wise and lovely Jungle Oracles were, of course, the leaders.  The Jungle Code message contained the Morse Code for "Please lay a trail using at least 5 trail signs.  One of the Jungle Oracles must be able to read and follow your trail for you to win this challenge.")

Results: Our two tribes approached this very differently.  One tribe built a tripod and suspended their pot over their fire.  This took much longer, despite being a better technique than what the other tribe did.  They stuck their pot directly in the fire, but used bigger and wetter logs and support for the pot.  This boiled much faster, although it wouldn't have worked for a bigger amount of water, so they received their code message much earlier -- and thought they had this one won.

The tripod-builders finally got their water boiling and received their message maybe a whole minute or two after the other tribe got theirs, but did the message solving differently.  As soon as they solved the words "lay a trail," they sent two of their 4-girl patrol to start trail laying, figuring that if the message contained more specifics, they would at least have a head start.  It turned out that their way was a couple of seconds (literally!) faster and they won.  The fast-boilers were shocked and demanded to check the trail signs for accuracy.  We allowed this, but they couldn't find anything to disqualify the other tribe.  This was an exciting challenge to watch.  We had fun seeing them think the challenge through.
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