TROOP 415

Saturday, May 3 – Sunday, May 4, 2025

We will also include a community service element to the activity. The rough plan would be to get there on Friday night or Sat morning very early, hike to campsite, do community service, and then on Sunday morning hike to cars for drive home.

Preparation and Requirements

Only registered adults can attend if they wish. Scouts will be required to provide firm confirmation of attendance NLT 16th April and must attend the meetings on the 23rd and 30th April in order to participate in the camp out.

Scouts will be required to bring their fully packed backpack to the meeting on the 30th April for a pack inspection.

We are planning a relatively easy 1st Backpacking (NOT car camping, scouts will have to carry everything including food, water, and gear on their backs) over this weekend.

Carrying everything (food, water, tent, etc.) is not only going to require some solid planning on the scouts part (we will be supporting them with this in the lead up to the camp) but some personal equipment requirements from you, their parents. A scout must have a suitable hiking backpack of no less than 50L in order to carry what will be required. there are guidelines on the amount of weight scouts can carry based on their weight and capabilities, but in order to ensure they have the best possible chance for success we need to have them come with the right gear.

Footwear

A scout must have appropriate hiking shoes. tennis shoes, basketball shoes, crocs, flip flops, or sports sandals are not appropriate.

For scouts not super familiar with backpacking, what would be would be something that provides ankle support and have good grip on the soles – here are some examples like a solid pair of Merrell’s or these Merrell’s. Tents – as a scout will be carrying their gear, while we will pair scouts up so they can share carrying their tent, a solid backpacking tent is very different than one you would take car camping.

Backpacking Gear

Another key piece of backpacking gear is a suitable sleeping bag as well as a ground mat . sleeping bags rated to 20-25F are most appropriate – down pack down into small bundles but if they get wet they loose a lot of their warmth from loss of loft. Synthetic stays warm if it gets wet but does not pack down as small.

As for sleeping pads – unless you want to spend the cash to get a fancy and back packing suitable inflatable pad, scouts should be fine with egg shell style foam pads during spring, summer, and fall; snow camping is a different beast.

If I were asked to prioritise what to buy new, the only thing I would suggest buying new is their shoes. If you buy a secondhand tent, please have the person you’re buying it from set it up with you to see how its done but also to ensure it is coming with all the parts.

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