High Adventure

What is “high adventure”? In short, a camping trip that you wouldn’t ask a middle-schooler or a novice adult to do.

Scouting America operates four dedicated High Adventure bases:

• Philmont Scout Ranch, 220 sqmi of mountains in Cimarron, New Mexico
• Florida Sea Base, a marina in Islamorada, Florida for sailing expeditions
• Northern Tier, a canoeing base in Ely, Minnesota and Atikokan, Ontario
• the Summit Bechtel Reserve, 14 thousand acres of West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains and the site of the National Jamboree

In addition, various council-operated summer camps also offer high-adventure programs as an alternative to the usual week of merit badges and ordinary activities, for older scouts who have already chewed through the usual fare.

We plan and execute one high-adventure trip every year, either using a Scouting camp or on our own. These tend to require several months or a year of advance planning, skill preparation, and logistics management, in addition to the normal operation of the troop.