Mile 1 – Beginner Trek Information

Please review this post thoroughly with your Scout. Questions can be directed now or later to the Scoutmaster.

Why Beginner Trek is Important

For many Scouts, new and untested experiences are a source of anxiety. While it’s a natural feeling to want to steer away from things that cause discomfort, one way Scouts grow in the program is by dealing with these new experiences head-on. This is why we backpack every year. It both allows Scouts to practice a very pure form of camping where they take only what they need, and it gives Scouts a challenging personal experience that is outside the norm of many of our monthly campouts. It’s our expectation that every Scout takes on the challenge of Beginner Trek. The trek is designed for them to be challenged but also successfully overcome those challenges. This trek is a core growth experience that should not be missed. Our slogan for Beginner Trek is “Mile 1”. It’s the first backpacking experience for Scouts in the troop, and it’s also one of the key first steps on a larger journey of personal growth. In Troop 701, we make the connection between the fist mile at Beginner Trek and what Scouts will be capable of later on. Parents, if you have a Scout that has hesitations about going, that’s understandable. But please encourage (or better yet insist) that he attends. Often parents want to protect their son by thinking that he’s not ready compared to his peers. This kind of protection is well meaning but it delays their personal growth. Small or big, weak or strong, confident or insecure, we assure you that every Scout in this troop is ready and capable of experiencing a successful Beginner Trek. Yes, Scout BSA Scouts in this program can find themselves from time to time in new and uncomfortable places – but it’s only temporary and we do not put Scouts in environments in which they cannot ultimately succeed. They’ll rock at Beginner Trek! Beginner Trek is also a lot of fun! This isn’t hype – it’s a mix of backpacking and a bit of a chill-out camp. It’s the only campout of the year that offers incredible amounts of personal time. They can take hiking excursions, work on advancement, practice knots, fire building, advanced cooking, toss ball or just hang out with their friends. A big part of the fun is the food. A Scout gets to cook and eat what he wants. There’s a meaning to all this downtime. Most of our camps are highly structured. Beginner Trek provides the opportunity for Scouts to be independent and choose for themselves how they want to spend the day.

Trek Orientation

One way to prepare for new experiences like backpacking is to remember our Scout Motto:

Be Prepared.

Preparing is more than checking a packing list. Preparing includes the mental prep-work of trek orientation. We’ve prepared some resources below that will help Scouts understand Beginner Trek better and what they’ll encounter. We ask that you review this information with him since good prep-work often replaces anxiety with confidence and excitement about what’s ahead.

Basic Itinerary Beginner Trek is a fun and fast experience at just over 24 hours. We alternate locations each year between Mohican State Park (Mohican Trek) and Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Manatoc Trek). This gives our 6th and 7th grade Scouts (who are the ones that attend Beginner Trek) the opportunity to hike at both locations. While the times aren’t precise, here’s the basic flow of how the day will unfold. We begin the trek at 8:00 am at Chapman. First Year Beginner Trekkers will go through a gear-shake down before departing. Second Year Beginner Trekkers will be there to assist with checking gear, and will assume important leadership roles during the trek.

• Camp begins Saturday Morning 8:00 am – drive from Chapman to Mohican SP or Manatoc Scout Reservation.
• Hiking – 3 Hours (about 10:00 am to 1:00 pm). Depending on hiking speed, the crew may stop to eat lunch along the trail.
• Camp Setup – 1 hour (about 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm).
• Free Time – 4 Hours (about 2:00 to 6:00 pm).
• Dinner – 1 Hour (about 6:00 to 7:00 pm).
• Free Time – 2 Hours (about 7:00 to 9:00 pm).
• Lights Out/Sleep – 9 Hours (about 9:00 pm to 6:00 am).
• Breakfast/Pack Camp – 2 Hours (about 6:00 to 8:00 am).
• Hiking Out – About 1.5 Hours (about 8:00 to 9:30 am).
• Return trip – Drive from Mohican SP or Manatoc Scout Reservation to Chapman.

You will notice above that the hike takes 3 hours in but only 1.5 hours back. The main difference is newly found confidence.

Explore Beginner Trek Through Mapping Don’t feel lost and uniformed on the trek. A Scout who takes a few minutes to explore his surroundings will approach the hike with more confidence and excitement. Please visit this interactive Google Map to see the trails and information at Mohican State Park, where we’ll camp, and some of the fun things we’ll do during the day. As you can see, the hike is short at only 4 miles and it follows the Clear Fork Branch of the Mohican River. The map shows the contour of the land. You can see that the hike starts out challenging with a steep ascent along the 1 mile North Rim Trail, but soon after, the trail finds the bottom lands and the path becomes a gentle rolling trail alongside the Clear Fork Branch stream. It is beautiful!

• View and explore Mohican Trek with Google Maps.
• Here’s a printable version of the above map – a handy topo (print this and take to camp).
• Mohican State Park Map (print this and take to camp).

For the Manatoc Trek, we begin in the parking lot at Camp Butler, and then hike out of the camp to the Octagon Picnic Area in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We then tackle some of the nearby trails in the park, which takes us past rock ledges with some incredible views, and down to Kendall Lake. We then hike into Camp Manatoc. You can view the trail route, and additional details about the hike, here:

Manatoc Trek Details

Packing

Let the Weather Forecast Guide Packing!  A packing list changes based on weather. Cold and or wet weather require different items and more back-up items than warm and dry weather. As the date of Beginner Trek approaches, please keep the weather forecast in mind when packing. Before we share the packing list, here are some points of consideration:

• Scouts should pack their own bags. A parent’s role in packing is to help them audit the packing list by asking questions. Like all campouts, please do not pack their bag or food for them. If something goes wrong with gear on the trek, it’s harder for a Scout to take personal accountability if he did not pack his bag.
• Gear is heavy so take only what you need – do not bring anything that’s not essential.
• Dress in layers and pay attention to expected night-time lows.
• It’s October – pack a hat and pair of gloves – this is mandatory for a good experience.
• Do not pack too many snacks, save your appetite for lunch, dinner, and breakfast.
• Parent’s, you’ll be tempted to ‘help’ by making sure your Scout has lots of food and extra warm clothing. This creates the unintended consequence of a backpack that’s too heavy. Heavy packs cause real harm. A heavy pack is very uncomfortable on the trail and its discouraging. Counsel your Scout to pack as light as possible and do not take anything extra. Remember too – the camp is only 24 hours long.

Packing List: Remember – a packing list is weather dependent. Please pay attention to rain in the forecast and adjust accordingly. Here’s what to bring for seasonable October weather:

Clothing – This is all clothing both worn to camp and packed in bag. Pack clothing in ziplock or plastic bags to keep dry. It is also a good idea to line the inside compartment of your pack with a trash bag.

• Warm hat for sleeping, night-time and mornings
• Warm gloves
• 1 pair of pants (bring 1 extra pair only if chance of precipitation in forecast, otherwise Scouts can wear the same pair of pants throughout the 24 hour trek)
• Fleece or down jacket
• 2 T-shirt / inner shirt
• 1 Shirt / outer shirt
• rain jacket
• 1 extra sweatshirt or thin jacket that can be worn beneath primary jacket
• 3 pairs of comfortable hiking socks
• 1 pair of extra underwear
• hiking boots
• thermal or flannel bottoms AND sleep top

Understand that the packing list above attempts to guide Scouts to wearing layers. Don’t take a coat – but build a coat through layers that include warm under layers, shirt, fleece jacket and even rain jacket over for a hard shell. This layering is important as the days starts off cold but warms up. Also layering allows Scouts to sleep with warm clothes on to augment a sleeping bag. Again, follow weather forecast and add items where it makes sense. Scouts should always have something clean and warm to sleep in at night. Hat and gloves are indispensable at this time of year. If you do a good job packing light, one ‘comfort item’ might be a good idea such as small fleece scarf. Again, pack as light as possible since Scouts will be asked to take additional items needed such as stove, fuel, pot, and parts of the tent. You’ll want to leave room for at least 3 pounds of shared gear.

Personal Gear

• Backpack to hold ALL clothing, food and gear plus room for scouts portion of tent and cooking fuel. About 35L to 50L backpack. More on backpacks below.
• Pack cover or garbage bag to cover pack in the event of rain.
• Ground tarp – just large enough to sleep on. An old shower curtain or plastic sheeting works.
• Ground pad
• Sleeping bag packed in garbage bag to stay dry.
• light weight flash light
• water bottle
• mess kit for eating – bring only what you need for eating your food. Pack in ziplock bag.
• personal first aid kit – (very small)
• 1 bandana
• light weight pocket knife
• trail map
• compass
• pencil
• personal hygiene kit (tooth brush, tooth paste, small bar of soap)
• As always, no phones or electronic games. A deck of cards is always a good idea.

Food & Snacks Your Scout must bring and carry all his food for the trek with the one exception of 1 gallon of drinking water. He will have the following:

• 1 gallon of drinking water with his name on it. This water will be delivered to the campsite by car and available to him for cooking and drinking.
• Two 1 liter bottles filled with water and in his backpack.
• 1 ready to eat Saturday sack lunch.
• 1 Saturday evening dinner that is prepared by just adding boiling water. Mountain House dinners found at Sierra, Walmart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods are good suggestions. Other good choices are instant noodles and instant mash potato dishes. Be creative, bring cooked bacon, fresh diced vegetables or cooked chicken to mix in to meals to add flavor and nutrition.
• 1 hot or cold Sunday breakfast (Sunday hot water provided). Instant oatmeal packaged in serving cups are good suggestions.
• A limited amount of trail and campsite snacks. 6 to 8 ounces. Food should provide energy, such as nuts, dried fruit, energy/protein bars, beef jerky, trail mix, etc. No candy, junk food or energy drinks. Please do not overpack snacks as it causes Scouts to not eat their meals. They should be hungry at mealtime. It’s very common for Scouts who take too many snacks to not feel well and to have spoiled appetites.

Backpacks The troop does have a limited amount of backpacks to lend – about 10. We will do backpack fittings at a Tuesday meeting before camp, and send Scouts home with their borrowed packs.

On Buying A Backpack: What’s key with new backpacks is that they fit correctly and are intended for a youth body frame. An adult sized backpack will not fit a youth. What you want to look for is that it has a a belt strap that fits around the waist, is large enough to hold food, clothing and gear, AND that large things like sleeping bags and ground pads can fit inside or be strapped on. Aim for a pack capacity of at least 50-liters. Several youth-oriented backpacks have torso-length adjustment and/or hip belt size adjustment. Packs with these features can “grow” with the Scout, and therefore can be used for several years. For backpacks without those adjustments, Scouts will quickly outgrow it in a few years, so it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money. Here is a good example of an economical choice for a backpack that has some adjustability options:

$90 for youth (several scouts in Troop have this backpack) – TETON Sports Scout 3400

Here are some other options for nice youth backpacks with torso length and hip belt adjustability:

Osprey Ace 50

Gregory Wander 50

REI Co-op Tarn 65

All of these packs have nice features that should serve Scouts well during their time in the troop. Most of them are available from several retailers, both local stores (like Appalachian Outfitters and The Backpackers Shop) and online (Amazon, REI, etc.), so it may be a good idea to shop around for the best price. Remember, if you pack LIGHT and take only what’s NEEDED, everything will fit. Avoid the temptation to pack anything extra or “just in case.” Follow the weather forecast and pack only what’s needed for the 24 hour trip.