Your troop is invited to join us once again for our Summer Adventure Camp 2018, which will be held at a fantastic location just outside Winchester, Virginia, from July 15 through July 21. Registration materials were distributed previously and can be accessed using the link at the bottom below this article.
But first, we want to fill you in on some of the developments that are most exciting about this year's Adventure Camp.
BEST BASE CAMP EVER
We have never enjoyed such a fantastic amount of premium camping space for our Summer Adventure Base Camp, with established circles, covered pavillions, and a creek flowing allowing the border of the level and grassy tent areas. And we have never before enjoyed such lavishly spacious rifle/shotgun/pistol and archery ranges. All those who are staying in Base Camp the entire week will still get a single night backcountry challenge on site. The large pond at base camp is stocked with trout and also is home to large bass, providing ample opportunities for fishing, as well as canoeing. And our partnership with the Royal Horseshoe Farm continues to provide us with a lifeguarded facility for swimming and with instructors and horses for horseback riding. All Trailmen (not just those going on Backcountry Expedition) may bring their mountain bikes to camp this year inasmuch as there will be opportunities to use them even at Base Camp.
BACKCOUNTRY EXPEDITION
For those who have satisfied basic Trail Badge requirements previously and want to get into the backcountry with a more intense adventure experience, this year's Backcountry Expedition promises to be especially rewarding. This year's expedition features an entirely different route that is situated close to Base Camp with features that are particularly well suited to our needs. We will begin with a day of paddlecraft on the Shenandoah River culminating in an evening campsite on the banks of the river as guests of the Trappist Monks of the Holy Cross monastery in Berryville. Reportedly some of the finest and deepest fishing holes in the Shenandoah are located in the portion where we will be. The next morning, following Mass in the chapel with the monks, backcountry expeditioners will float across the river to an old civil war battlefield that offers five miles of paved bike trails. Trailmen may bike one lap (to satisfy a 5 mile bike hike requirement for Cycling Trail Badge), or multiple laps (just for the fun of it, or as many as 10 laps (to satisfy the 50 mile bike hike requirement for Cycling Trail Badge). We will then begin hiking and ascend to the Appalachian Trail, camping on the mountain ridge that evening. In the morning, Trailmen will meet up with our certified guide and spend several hours rock climbing and rapelling at the cliffs of Ravens Rocks before hiking back to the rendeveoux point and returning to Base Camp.
THE EMPHASIS IS ON ADVENTURE
We will once again be featuring a week-long inter-patrol contest for the Spoils of War, and all adventure activities will be designed to satisfy some or all of various Trail Badge requirements by engaging Trailmen in the activities (as opposed to a classroom or lecture type of environment). This year, we will be feature additional and enhanced means of tracking the satisfaction of various Trail Badge requirements. The activities at this year's Adventure Camp will cover requirements that satisfy, in whole or in part, 24 different Trail Badges -- including 10 Required badges for rank advancement in Trail Life USA, as well as two dozen possible elective Trail Badges.
Please note that no Trailman will be able to earn all of every badge at a single camp, and that some of the badges require first earning a prerequisite badge, or even that the Trailman be an Adventurer prior to being eligible to receive credit for the Trail Badge requirement(s).
Even so, it will be possible for many Trailmen to satisfy important badge requirements in Aquatics, Our Flag, First Aid, Camping, Fire Ranger, Outdoor Cooking, Ropework, Trail Skills, Woods Tools, and Outdoor Life, as well as Archery, Rifle, Pistol, and Shotgun, Backpacking, Hiking, Cycling, Fishing, Canoeing, Kayaking, Horsemanship, Rock Climbing (Climb On!), Survival Skills and Survivalist.
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