Tag Archives: Sabattis

Sabattis Trek Tips and Tricks

Our guide for our Sabattis Trek, Ian, offers the following words of wisdom to help everyone prepare for what to expect…

The best thoughts I can offer prep-wise that will work on any trip you take and be especially important on treks are relative to your campsite operations.

The crews that have the most fun in the evenings and complete their hiking goals each day are the crews that operate like a well-oiled machine. Thinking ahead is the key to everything.

  • Before the crew gets into their campsite for the night stop them and ask what each person is about to do. Once they hit land they’re like ants at a picnic.
  • We have some major tasks to accomplish each night of the trek. Tents/Dining Fly, Water/Firewood, Cooking/Dishes, Bear Rope/Sump Hole/Firewood.
  • The hardest thing to overcome is the “rest” that everyone wants to have right away when they hit their site. Losing momentum can leave you doing the dishes in the dark. It’s way more fun to sit around the fire in the dark than be working.
  • The water team should be pumping water while the dining fly team throws up a fly while the cooks and bear rope team are puffing up their tents.
  • All food and cooking gear should be put under the dining fly or in that area as soon as it is established. The cooks need to have read the dinner and breakfast instructions the previous morning at breakfast before it all got put back into bags. Knowing how much water is needed to cook dinner that night and breakfast the next morning before you hit camp is key!
  • Then the cooks move into cooking while the bear/sump/wood team is off doing their thing while the water and dining fly teams are putting up their tents. By that time all of that is done the meal should be ready.
  • Half the crew helps with dishes and half the crew with smellables/bear bag collection. While dishes are washed with help the bear rope team hangs the bags with help. It’s all about teamwork. As everyone is doing dishes or hanging food, take your toothbrushes with you so you can get that out of the way while at the sump hole. (We don’t have to stress about toothpaste in the ADKs., the bears aren’t that hungry!)
  • If it’s raining, hang the fly first, and put backpacks under it, not people. People make it wet in there. No one wants to open their backpack in the rain or sit on wet ground. One or two people at a time on the edge of the fly reaching in digging out their tent or food is key. Save the dry clothing and ground for when the tents are up and jobs complete. Unless hypothermia is looming…

In the morning reverse all of that. The key thing here is that when you leave your tent everything goes with you. All gear is out when you are out. That way the water team can break down tents while the cooking team cooks etc… Then rotate the jobs for the evening/morning reminding the next cooks to find and read the packaging before it disappears! Everyone will have a chance to do each job at least once on the trek. Lunches are more of a group affair with snacking on the go than a full meal.

I’ve found that works really well and teaches everyone the major skills of trekking and Leave No Trace. Which is a major goal of our trekking program! There’s even a scouting award for that if you can find the requirements…

Go with what works for your crew. But if anyone is standing around watching you’ll likely have late evenings and late starts in the morning.

2014 Sabattis Adventure Camp

Save the dates – Saturday, July 26, 2014 through Saturday, August 2, 2014 – for the annual Troop 59 camping week at Sabattis Adventure Camp in Long Lake, NY.

  • Early fees must be postmarked or received by 4/30/2014.  
  • Graduating Arrow of Light Scouts will have the early fee in effect until May 31, 2014. 
  • Extra Leaders – Two free leaders for the first 18 Scouts. One extra free leader for each additional 9 Scouts.  
2014 Boy Scout Summer Camp Fees
Fee Early Regular
Scouts $361.00 $399.00
Adult Leaders $128.00 $128.00

In addition to the above Council fees, a transportation fee of $50 per scout will be charged to offset fuel charges for the adult leaders that provide transportation for the scouts to and from Sabattis.  (It is approximately 600 miles round trip to Long Lake, NY, and on average, thirty to forty gallons of gas will be used per vehicle.  As a reference point, Council provides round trip bus transport for a fee of $95/scout.)

For more information, see the 2014 Sabattis Adventure Camp brochure at http://www.camps.ppbsa.org/files/Brochure_SAC.pdf. More details to come!

 

 

2013 Sabattis Medical Form – Example

We have uploaded an example of the Annual Health and Medical record, at 2013 Health and Medical Record – EXAMPLE, to help ensure that this form is completed correctly.  It is vitally important that all the information is provided on parts A, B and C, including physician signatures on both part C as well as part A, for any scouts/leader who will be taking medication while at Sabattis.

Refer to the complete 2013 Troop 59 Sabattis Package at http://troop59.com/index.php/sabattis-adventure-camp for more information, including the blank forms.