Troop 723 is a high adventure troop. This means our outings will not be to Disneyland, Magic Mountain and Knotts. We do backpacking, white water rafting, canoeing, sea fishing, and anything considered adventuresome. Participating in high adventure outings, we hope, provides the following advantages for the boy:

• Provides some pretty unique life experiences that a lot of other boys (outside of Scouting) will never have a chance to experience.
• Provide training in some of the outdoor sports, such as rifle, shotgun, canoeing and rock climbing.
• Further the feeling of self confidence. We put scouts in different situations that we hope makes them comfortable being in front of people, in the mountains, in the water and any where else.
• We train boys to survive in the outdoors and what to do if they are completely on their own and lost.

Our troop is a boy run troop. The boys decide at the beginning of each year (August and September) where and what they want to do. The parents try to make it happen by offering planning and logistical support.

The troop participates in two types of outings, backpacking and tail gate. All outings are optional. Your son can pick any outing he wishes to go on. Outings are the very best means to achieve rank advancement because the skills that scouting program is based upon are outdoor survival skills. Troop records are kept of each outing a scout attends. During boards of review, the adults that are called to participate do evaluate the scouts history of participation in both types of outings.

The troop starts it's calendar year roughly the same time school starts. The planning for the next year's events takes place in late August and early September. The reason for this is that family vacations have finished so troop attendance is back to normal. It is typical to see the troop attendance drop in half or lower during the summer when school is not in session.

Backpacking: The majority of the troop has not done a backpack for a couple of months right after summer and is somewhat out of shape. (The possible exception is a week long backpack in the Sierra Mountains that is offered each summer, typically for the older and experienced scout). Any backpack that begins after the end of August usually is a shorter hike to get the scouts back acclimated for the longer hikes. As the year progresses, the backpack outings may include more miles and changes in elevation. One of the goals of the backpack program is to get scouts prepared for the week long Sierra backpack outing.

Tailgate Outing: Some scouts and family members do like to participate in tail gate outings. Some of the events that the troop decide to do lend themselves to driving to a location and set up camp with no or very little hiking.
Examples of past tail gate outings:

• Rock climbing.
• White water rafting.
• Calico Ghost Town.
• Canoeing the Colorado River.
• Deep sea fishing.
• Down hill ski and snow board.

As the troop grows in size it is not unusual to have more than one outing take place each month. Check the troop calendar for dates. Event dates and times can and do change from time to time so be sure to attend each scout meeting for announcements. Parents are encouraged to attend each scout meeting and there is a special meeting just for the parent(s). The parent meeting, called the troop committee meeting, takes place once each month, usually the third Tuesday starting at 7:30 PM.

Future Outings