Scouts Jamboree comes to a close - WVVA TV Bluefield Beckley WV News, Weather and Sports

MOUNT HOPE, W.Va. (AP) -- Thousands of Boy Scouts are preparing to head home from their National Jamboree in southern West Virginia.

About 30,000 Scouts and their leaders spent 10 days attending concerts, watching fireworks, trading patches and participating in dozens of activities at the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve. They'll leave on Wednesday.

It was billed as the most physically demanding Jamboree and may have been the most scrutinized.

For the first time, hundreds of girls who are members of Scout Venturing crews attended the Jamboree, while morbidly obese Scouts weren't allowed in due to more rigorous health standards.

The Jamboree was held two months after the Boy Scouts of America voted to allow gay boys to participate in Scouting while maintaining a ban on gay adults. Those rules are effective next January.