November Backpacking Trip

The November Backpacking Trip will be Saturday, November 17 through Sunday November 18. We will be backpacking and camping overnight on the South Taconic Trail in the Berkshire Hills of Southwestern Massachusetts.

We will start at Bash Bish Falls, the highest waterfall in the state, and end in Mt. Washington State Forest. We will be hiking the South Taconic trail, which comes up from the gorge with the falls onto some ridge lines that have some of the best hiking views in the state. Coming down off the ridge line we will be camping in some campsites along the Ashley Brook. On Sunday we will be hiking through wilderness areas in the State Forest out to the trails end. As with all our backpacking trips, the distances and difficulty of the trails we take will fit the scouts we have on the trip. On the way home we will stop for a fast food lunch in the Berkshires.

This will be a great backpacking trip for beginners as well as veteran scouts. We plan on having two hiking groups, one for beginners and one for advanced scouts. The troop has a good supply of patrol/troop backpacking gear, so scouts just need to bring their personal gear. A list of gear for backpacking can be found on the troop website under “Troop Resources – Camping Information”.

We will be cooking patrol style for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday and some $ for a lunch on Sunday. We would be happy to have a few parents drive and participate in the event.

We will meet at the parish center on Saturday November 17 at 8:00 AM and leave for the Berkshires by about 8:30 AM. We will return to the parish center for pick up by 4:00 PM on Sunday.

If your son is planning to attend, please return the attached permission slip by the November 8 troop meeting. If you son can’t make the meeting on the 8th but would like to attend, please call or email Dave Kirchner by the 8th. We will be planning for the event at the troop meeting November 8, so it is important to know who will be participating for planning purposes.