Scouts attending the October backpack trip have been instructed to come to the October 15 troop meeting with their packs full packed, and food ready to go. If there is fresh food involved for some parts of their meal, the need not bring that on thursday. The intent of this early shakedown is to make sure scouts are fully prepared for this exciting trip, and also so we can leave the parking lot right on time on Friday afternoon, as we’re racing the sunset.

To make this effort a little more interesting, we are adding a contest with some interesting prizes. The troop has decided that we no longer need our 1 man lightweight backpacking tents. These are nice tents, but turned out to be too small for boy scout trips, where we typically double up scouts in a tent…so they have been going unused. But they are great for 1 person. So we will give away two tents to winners of the following contests. This is open to all scouts, whether they are going on the campout or not. Scouts just need to come packed up as if they were going in order to enter the contest.

(1) Best packed backpack for a 2night trip.

Judging criteria:
* Contains all required checklist items.
* Creativity in reducing weight.
* Little/no unnecessary items.
* Critical pack contents are protected from water.
* Pack contents are efficiently and securely packed
* Fancy/expensive gear is NOT part of the criteria. Do the best with what you have or can easily get.

(2) Best backpacking meals

Judging criteria:
* Packed compactly, without excessive packaging
* Packed in an orderly fashion
* Nutritious/high energy/sufficient calories
* Appears tasty
* Limited unnecessary weight (emphasis on dry or dense foods)
* Total weight is NOT a criteria, as bigger scouts need to eat more to get the required energy on the trail.

Participating scouts should line up their packs along the wall in the main hallway when they arrive on Thursday night. If any questions… scouts can call/email Mr. Bedard at any time.