Grayson Highlands Backpacking Trip Details
From the desk of the trip leader Josh Nitsche:
The Grayson Highlands Backpacking Trip is full to the brim! The scouts and leaders will be meeting at Mt Tabor UMC on Friday, October 25th at 5:00 pm for departure.
For the Raven parents:
Please have your scout bring in his backpacking gear to the meeting on Monday, if he did not do so last week. I want to make sure they have the correct and functional gear. Also, if there is an item on the packing list that your scout does not have please let us know. We have lots of extra gear between the adult leaders and the troop. You don’t have to go out an buy anything, we have outfitted several scouts from scratch on prior trips.
Please let me know if you have questions.
Departure Day:
The scouts need to bring a bag dinner (fast food is fine) with them and wear their class A Uniform. Please see the backpacking packing list on the troop website – click here for the link.
Click here for the 10 day weather forecast for packing wisely!
Kim Towles will be at check in on Friday evening. Please remind your scout to check in with Kim Towles (Nathan’s Mom) upon arrival at the church. Also, you can turn in medications with Kim, however, we like for the boys to keep their inhalers and epi-pens with them. The Troop Trip Signup Sheets now have a column for the scouts to note that they have an inhaler or an epi-pen with them.
Trip Details:
The plan is for the boys to stay at Stone Mountain State Park on Friday Night and drive to Grayson Highlands State Park on Saturday morning to begin hiking. They will spend Saturday night at the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and hike back to the parking area for lunch on Sunday. They will return around 3:00 pm on Sunday to Mt Tabor UMC. Please remember to watch your phones for updates on the return time as circumstances change quickly when traveling in a large group. If you do not have a phone that can receive group text messages originating from an iPhone, please let Kim know at check-in.
Burn Ban and Cooking:
If you don’t already know there is a burn ban in effect for Grayson county VA, where we will be hiking that includes campfires, but not stoves. In the surrounding Mount Rogers National Recreation Area the same is true. So we will be able to cook food for dinner on Saturday night using a camp stove. Also, I will divvying up the different treks in the next few days and will email out those when those assignments are completed.
The Ravens will be cooking as a patrol and the troop will be supplying the main course for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday. This will allow them to satisfy a rank advancement requirement. They should still bring snacks some extra food of their own particularly if your scout is a big or finicky eater.