Outdoor Adventures
High Adventure
A high-adventure experience includes several days of trekking in wilderness and other rugged, remote locations.
National High Adventure Bases
The Boy Scouts of America operates three national high-adventure bases that provide outdoor adventure opportunities for older Scouts and Venturers.
Florida Sea Base
(www.bsaseabase.org)
- Three sites in the Florida Keys, with a satellite location in the Bahamas
- A variety of water activities including SCUBA, sailing, snorkeling, and fishing
- 13,309 Scouts, Venturers, and leaders attended in 2012.
Northern Tier
(www.ntier.org)
- In northern Minnesota, with two satellite locations in Canada
- The BSA's cold weather research center where members learn cold weather camping skills, such as dog sledding, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snow shelter building, animal tracking, cold weather cooking, and ice fishing
- 6,991 Scouts, Venturers, and leaders attended in 2012.
Philmont Scout Ranch
(www.philmontscoutranch.org/)
- In the Sange De Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico
- Over 30 staffed program camps that Scouts and Venturers take part in, including backpacking treks, horseback cavalcades, living history programs, fly-fishing, mountain biking, conservation, astronomy, and rock climbing
- 31,432 Scouts, Venturers, and leaders attended in 2012.
The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, New River Gorge, West Virginia
(www.summitbechtelreserve.org or https://summit.scouting.org)
The Summit Bechtel Reserve is the newest high-adventure base in Scouting. It is the permanent home of the national Scout jamboree and the site of the 2019 World Scout Jamboree. Through outdoor action sports and experiential learning programs at world-class facilities, the Summit fosters achievement, adventure, and innovation in Scouting.
The Summit property is on 10,600 acres adjacent to the New River Gorge National River area. This area provides access to incredible outdoor terrain in the Appalachian Mountains, which includes some of the world's best whitewater rafting, rock climbing, and mountain biking.
Local Council High-Adventure Bases
Local councils operate a number of high-adventure bases across the country.
- Available to older Boy Scouts and Venturers
- Activities may include backpacking, canoeing, mountain biking, horse packing, mountain climbing, ski touring, rafting, kayaking, or a host of other outdoor adventures.
Project COPE
Project COPE is an acronym for Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience.
- Consists of a series of outdoor challenges, progressing from basic group initiative games to more complicated low-course and high-course activities.
- Participants climb, swing, balance, jump, and rappel, as well as think through solutions to a variety of challenges.
- Objectives include building teams, solving problems, making decisions, and developing trust, communication, leadership, planning, and self-esteem as team members cooperate to achieve goals.
Climbing
Climbing was added to the BSA program in 1997, after Scouts identified climbing as an increasingly popular activity.
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Topping Out: A BSA Climbing/Rappelling Manual describes and illustrates the climbing and rappelling techniques recommended by the BSA.
- Climb On Safely is the BSA's recommended procedure for organizing and managing climbing and rappelling activities at all levels of the Scouting program.
- The Climbing merit badge is an optional merit badge that a Scout may earn toward the attainment of the Star, Life, and Eagle ranks, as well as for Eagle Palms.
Conservation
The conservation program emphasis has been developed to create a positive commitment to improving the environment and conserving natural resources through firsthand experiences and "learning by doing."
- The Conservation Good Turn is an opportunity for Scouts to carry out a conservation Good Turn in their home communities.
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The Conservation Handbook shows units how to select, plan, and carry out a variety of conservation projects at home and in the field.
- Each council should have a conservation committee that prepares and regularly updates the council's master conservation plan.
- Leave No Trace is a nationally recognized outdoor awareness program whose purpose is to help people reduce their impact on the outdoors. Scouts are trained in the principles of Leave No Trace and put those principles into action when participating in outdoor activities. For more information on Leave No Trace, go to http://www.scouting.org/BoyScouts/TeachingLeaveNoTrace.aspx.
- Conservation Awards
Cub Scout Day Camps and Twilight Camps
Day and twilight camps are available to Cub Scouts, and do not include any overnight activities. These camps provide opportunities to participate in a variety of outdoor activities.
- Camps are run by councils or districts.
- Available to Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, and Webelos Scouts
- Last from one to five days and are held during the day or early evening.
Long-Term Resident Camps
Long-term resident camps are available to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers. Camps are typically six days and five nights for Boy Scouts and two or three nights for Cub Scouts.
- Camps are run by councils.
- Programs provide numerous opportunities for Scouts to earn merit badges along their advancement trail.
All Scout camps are inspected and accredited annually by teams of trained volunteers to ensure the health, safety, and quality of program.
For more information on outdoor adventures, go to http://www.scouting.org/BoyScouts/Resources/olderboyadventure.aspx.
Updated February 2013