Organizing our first Webelos Backpacking Adventure

The Den pointing the way.

While many of my adventures are on big mountain peaks, I also enjoy spending time in the backcountry with my kids. As a Webelos Den Leader for my son’s Cub Scout Pack I get to spend time with kids and help educate them on the outdoors and hopefully get them engaged in outdoor activities.

I asked my Den parents if they would be interested in an overnight backpacking trip. They knew I enjoyed this sort of thing and they were supportive of the idea. To help prepare the boys for future outings we had built alcohol stoves as a Den project early in the year so that they all at least had a good backpacking stove. We begged and borrowed enough gear to get the small group of Webelos Cub Scouts outfitted with the appropriate gear for the trip.

In preparation for the trip, we held a couple of Den meetings to discuss backpacking. We covered appropriate clothing for hiking, backpack fitting and packing, sleeping bags and pads as well as cooking and water purification. I did my best to emphasize that the lighter your pack, the more fun you will have.

As you may recall from prior posts like Taking Your Child on Their First Backpacking Trip, I want to make the trip fun to encourage future participation in hiking and backpacking. I have found that shorter, flatter hikes with some feature or cool destination seems to be the key to making a trip fun for kids. I also like to have water available when I get there to minimize the weight that must be carried and it makes for good playtime as well. Cooler temperatures found at higher elevations are also a must for a summer hike to avoid wearing out these youngsters.

Making our way to camp.

With these requirements for a location, I have to look long and hard for somewhere local that meets my expectations. I was fortunate enough to find what I was looking for in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. I have backpacked and day hiked there several times in the past but they have been trips to the high mountain peaks. Fortunately there are also some great hikes there that met our needs for this trip. We would start at the Forsee Creek trailhead at about 7,000 ft. The temps in the summer are mild at this elevation and our forecast was for days in the mid 70’s and evenings in the mid 50’s. Perfect hiking weather! Our destination was John’s Meadow, a 3.9 mile adventure along a very slight incline.

We gathered the group at the trailhead. We had three of our Webelos, our Boy Scout Den Chief and his older brother, a Boy Scout, plus three adults including myself, all leaders. We would have an additional Scout and his much older brother joining us later in the day. We headed out on the trail after emphasizing proper hydration and trail etiquette.

Looks heavy but he is carrying less than 20 lbs.

The hike starts out going uphill which fortunately did not generate too many complaints. We arrived rather quickly at our first trail junction and took the opportunity to go over the topo map I had distributed to all the boys. I made sure to point out where we started, where we were at currently as well as what features to look for along the trail to help identify exactly where we were on the map.

We made surprisingly great time getting to camp. We took a couple or rest stops and snack breaks and made it to John’s Meadow just a little after noon. The boy’s were very excited as they discovered a wood fort in camp which we decided to use as our kitchen area. We all ate lunch and set up our tents. Now it was time to goof off!

Adjacent to camp is Foresee Creek. The boys were heading there to get water and I tagged along as I wanted to get wet. What started as a quick trip to the creek turned into a 3 hour visit with splashing, soaking and for some of the boys, full on submersion in the frigid creek. We filtered water and drank plenty while we were there. It was great to see these boys having such a great time doing something as simple as playing in a creek. It was nice to see kids entertained without a Nintendo or any other electronic device. Our last Scout and his older brother hiked in and met us at the creek as we were about to pack up. We all headed back to camp together and our Den Chief broke out a couple Velcro paddles and a ball and the boys proceeded to play catch for at least another hour. It was so nice to see Scouting in action!

Cooling off our feet in Forsee Creek.

Den Cheif shows the boys how it is done!

Great view up Foresee Creek

Wood fort we used as our kitchen.

Pumping water with our filter.

Brothers on the trail.

Our late arrivers join us at the creek.

Around 6PM or so we decided to begin our dinners. I left meal planning up to each parent/child combo as I cannot predict who will like what. I also like to see the boys involved in choosing their meals based on some of the guidelines we had taught them in our preparation meetings. Most of the boys used their homemade alcohol stoves to heat their water and prepare their dinners. For a treat I had brought along a couple backpacking desserts I picked up at REI the day prior. We whipped up a dark chocolate cheesecake as well as a raspberry crumble and shared them. The raspberry crumble won the taste test unanimously.

Dinner time. Alcohol stove in center of picture.

As it was getting dark we all broke out our headlamps. There were a few more orders of business to attend to. We had all the boys brush their teeth and then put all their smellables in the bear canisters we had brought. We discussed why our kitchen area was away from our tents and the importance of rounding up all of our smellable items and keeping them in this area. The final order of the day was a few games of Uno played by headlamp using a bear canister as our card table. By about 8:30PM we called it a night and headed off to our tents.

Packed up and ready to head out.

We rose early the next morning. The boys were really getting the hang of camp life out on the trail. Again the alcohol stoves came out and breakfasts were made. We picked up camp quite quickly and were back on the trail heading out. We had our Boy Scouts lead and the Webelos followed. For a first backpacking trip for many involved it was wonderful to see them all doing so well. We made it back to the trailhead in about 2 hours and all headed nearby for a nice lunch. While there I was able to ask all the boys if they had a great time. I was very pleased when they all answered “yes!” I then asked the most important question, “would you like to go backpacking again?” Fortunately I got the same reply!

It would appear that I have created a few new backpackers along with the help of my fellow Scout Leaders. We would like to get more of our Den involved and are already thinking of where and when to go out again. If you know a youngster in need of a first backpacking experience, please get them out on the trail. It not only gives them a great experience but also will reward you in ways you can only discover for yourself.