Dens or Packs?

How will you organize your Treasure Hikes - by Den or Pack?  There are pros/cons for both.  Here is what experience has shown for these different methods.  We also suggest another approach that has proved successful.  Whichever method of Treasure Hiking you select, your boys will love it just the same !

 As a general rule, you should not have more than 8 boys or 15 total people in a hiking group.  Keeping under these numbers will assist your boys in getting the most out the experience and at the same time being aware that you will be sharing public areas with others.  Also remember that two-deep leadership means that each group should have a minimum of 4 adults.

Den

Treasure Hiking as a Den is really easy to organize, just turn your next Den Meeting into a hike.  It is that simple.  It will also meet a variety of rank specific requirements in the process.

The boys will be with their best friends and you can even invite siblings, spouses, and the family dog along.  As the adults most trusted by the boys, you can probably also have more success than a Pack event in teaching them how to treat nature with respect and the ideals of Leave No Trace.

As the Den Leader you will have to plan the hike yourself.  This means you will need to find a GPS unit to use, select a hike location, and identify caches to look for.  Also, Den Treasure Hiking will not qualify your Pack for the National Summertime Pack Award or fulfill that component of the Outdoor Activity Award.

Entire Pack

 A Pack Treasure Hike that is treated as a Pack event will require more organization and planning .  A number of volunteers will need to be recruited and more than one GPS unit will likely be required.  At the same time, this is a great opportunity to hold a Pack picnic and host other outdoor events for the boys.  Holding a Pack event will also qualify the Pack for the National Summertime Pack Award.

You will need to determine how many boys (and accompanying siblings and adults) will be attending.  From this you can divide them into groups to go on Treasure Hikes.  You can then "stage" the groups by incrementing their start times by 30 minutes.  Sequence the group start times by age, having the groups with older boys go first and those with younger boys go last.  This way you will reduce the risk that groups will meet up along the trail and form larger groups.

Pack Optional

This is a great alternative the Den and entire Pack approaches and provides a happy medium between the two. 

Schedule one Treasure Hike per month during the summer.  Make the program "optional" vs. expecting every boy to show up at each event.  Have them sign up for the dates that work best for them.  Get the count of boys/siblings/adults that are expecting to attend and create groups appropriately.  Last minute additions can also be accommodated via this method.

This will provide your boys the opportunity to participate in Pack activities over the summer and qualify for the National Summertime Pack Award while not creating the overhead of 3 full-on Pack events. 

We feel this method holds true to KIS and focuses on getting the boys out into the wilderness hiking and practicing the ideals of scouting. 

Appropriate Caches

Not all caches are created equal. 

As you start to plan your Treasure Hiking program you will need to determine which caches are appropriate for your boys and which are not.  As your boys gain experience Treasure Hiking they may be able to tackle more difficult caches - or you may get more comfortable letting them !

Here are recommendations for appropriate caches.

• Location
  • To start off always pick caches in public parks with know trails.
• Current
  • Check the cache home page to see when the last time someone found the cache was.  If nobody has been to the cache in 6 months, its possible it may not be there anymore.
• Cache Type
  • Standard caches. 
  • Over time add in Multi and Mystery caches.
• Cache Size
  • Small, Regular, and Large caches. 
  • As you gain experience, include the Micros.
• Difficulty Rating
  • 2.5 or under
• Terrain Rating
  • 2.5 or under
• Distance
  • Check on the map to make sure the cache is not too far of a hike for the boys
• Other
  • Always read the cache home page for important information that should be included in your decision make process. 

National Summertime Pack Award

"The purpose of the National Summertime Pack Award is to encourage packs to provide a year-round program by continuing to meet during the time periods when school is out of session for several weeks or months"

To qualify all you need to do is hold a Pack event during June, July, and August and document what you did and who attended.  In return you will receive a ribbon for you Pack flag and a certificate.  Treasure Hiking is a great way to get started in providing a year round program for your boys that will fulfill the requirements of this award.

For more information refer to http://www.scouting.org/forms/33748.pdf

Individual Pin

There is also an individual award that is a part of this program.  Any boy who attends a Pack each month during the summer qualifies for the National Summertime Award Pin.  This pin can be worn on the right pocket flap of his uniform.

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Outdoor Activity Award

This award encourages boys to get outdoors during the summer and to teach respect for nature.  The award can be earned for each year a boy is in scouting and the requirements vary by rank.  The Treasure Hiking program will take care of almost half the requirements for a boy to achieve this award.

Treasure Hiking will meet the following Outdoor Activity Award requirements

• (1) Nature hike
• (3) Buddy system
• (6) Conservation project - the program includes an activity at the beginning of the hike to clean up the area and also has the boys pick up trash while on the hike
• (7) Summertime Pack Award - if the Pack holds a Treasure Hiking event in each month of summer.
• (8) Nature Observation
• (13) Explore public park

A Treasure Hike can be combined with a picnic for the boys afterwords that would qualify for these requirements

• (2) Outdoor activity
• (11) Outdoor sporting event - have the kids play soccer or kickball.

Rank Requirements

The requirements for the Outdoor Activity Award vary by rank.  Here is how Treasure Hiking can meet these requirements.

For more information on the Outdoor Activity Award refer to http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-228/index.html.

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Leave No Trace

 "Leave No Trace is a plan that helps people to be more concerned about their environment and to help them protect it for future generations."

The Treasure Hiking will meet the following Leave No Trace requirements.

1. √ Discuss guidelines
2. √ Practice three times - requires three hikes during the summer
3. Rank Specific
   • √ Tiger - Achievement 5
   • √ Wolf - Requirement 7
   • √ Bear - Requirement 12
   • Webelos - Outdoorsman Badge
4. √ Service Project
5. √ Promise to Practice
6. √ Draw a poster

Webelos will need to complete the Outdoorsman Badge separately to qualify for this award.

For more information on Leave No Trace please refer to http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-032/.

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