Troop, here is the plan as told to me from last night’s meeting:
-Each Scout is responsible to plan, budget, purchase, and carry their own food and water. (If you need the requirement [1st Class] completed, make sure you write this stuff down and keep a copy of the receipt).
-Make sure to pack at least 2 liters of water (more is better). There are a couple of natural water sources, but the weather has been dry, and if the water sources are not available, you need to make sure you have what you need to drink and cook.
-The start/end point is the Crags Campground parking lot. It is 58 minutes from the church. Directions: Drive west on 24 to Divide, then turn south toward Victor/Cripple Creek/ Mueller State Park. In couple of miles, you will pass the entrance to Mueller State Park on the right. Get ready, because the turn off to the Crags Campground is a couple hundred yards past that on the left. Once you turn off of 67 toward the Crags, it is 3 miles to the campground. Easy, well maintained dirt road. Here is a link to directions:
-Class A uniforms are required to be worn for travel to and from Scouting events (camping, outings, etc.) This is A BSA insurance thing.
By the current Covid rules, we can not transport any one outside our “Family unit” to and from this event. However, if you arrange for other transportation of your child, to arrive at the event, that is done outside official Scouting parameters and should an incident occur, Scouting insurance may not cover it.
-I will have GPS, phone, paper maps, compass, and Ray to keep us straight and on the trail. We also have panic azimuth , just in case we get a bit off track.
-We will plan to meet up at the Crags Campground at 6pm, step off no later than 6:30pm to hike. PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE 4pm on FRIDAY IF YOU WILL BE ARRIVING LATER THAN 6:30pm SO WE DONT LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!!!! We will hike for about an hour and select a campsite with trees that will support the number of Scouts and their hammocks (parents/adult leaders are on their own for pretty much everything). We will camp Friday night. Saturday we will pack up and hike up above tree line and across the ridge on the map up to 12,500 ft elevation (that’s a rank requirement-hike with 1000 foot gain), and back down into tree line to find our second night of camping. Sunday morning we will finish out whatever is left on the trail back to the Crags Campground for pickup by 10am.
-The route is only 7.2 miles, so we will have some time on Saturday to work on whatever the Scouts want to (Rank, SM conference, MB stuff, etc.).
-Teller County is in Stage 2 Fire Restrictions, so no camp fires. We can use propane stoves and such, just no open fires. If you leave a little room in your pack, the Troop will supply a jet boil for the trip.
-Remember the packing list in your Scout handbook should be a starting point for what you will be packing, to include the 10 essentials. Be prepared as always!
See you all Friday night!
Dan
