Planning Ahead

Last night, we had 7 scouts and a couple parents at a kick-off meeting for the troop's first self-driven high adventure backpacking trip. Two Life scouts ran the whole meeting which included a slide show of pictures of where they're going, description of the cost, travel plans, and itinerary, and demonstration of gear that will be needed for each participant. The meeting went just great.

The plan is to backpack for 5 days in the Cloud Peak Wilderness area in Wyoming in July. It looks like we'll have 5 to 8 scouts and 2 or 3 adults - a good 'first crew' to come back and infect the troop with the excitement of the mountains.

We had a crew go to Philmont last summer, but this trek will take us up to 13,000 feet which is almost 3,000 more than our highest point at Philmont.

July is still a loooooong way away, but the scouts have a list of training sessions for packing, use of stoves, filtering water, high altitude first aid, and waste management. Just tons of opportunities for the more experienced ones to teach and the younger ones to learn. Can you tell I'm excited about this one? :-)

Scout On