BSA Troop 719 -- Backpacking June 2004

We went on a wilderness backpacking trip at the end of June this year to Green Ridge State Forest in Flintstone, Maryland. We all met at the church at 7:00 Saturday morning and headed off to the mountains. This was the first trip for our new Scoutmaster in his new position. We got to the forest headquarters around 9:30 and signed in with the ranger. The ranger did advise that they had seen fresh bear tracks in the area two days prior to our arrival! Since we were going to be camping in the forest, we had to visit the Leave No Trace exhibit and sign the log stating our intentions to follow that policy. Then we were off. The weather was beautiful, and the trip went without a hitch except for the first fork where we turned left instead of right! As we had some good maps and knew the stream would get us to where we intended to go, we let the guys lead on so that they could learn the value of checking their maps. Unfortunately, us Scouters may have paid for the lesson as we had to cross the stream several times (instead of the one time we were promised!) and then had to tackle the goat path for awhile! We eventually got to our stopping point at the fishing pond after doing some off-trail walking where we had lunch, did some fishing, and refilled our water supply. Then it was time to load up the packs and head off into the woods to find a camping spot for the night (the forest allows this type of camping as long as you stay out of some designated areas). A nice spot was found, and camp was setup. The next morning, we headed back to the ranger headquarters after breakfast and refilling our water supply one more time. It was a wonderful trip!