LOGAN – Logan’s oldest Troop, Troop 1, has been in service for 115 years and the troop is combined with boys and girls.
They embarked on their backpacking trips this year and spent 81 days in nature, traveling 1,152 miles. With each trip they went on, each scout had an option of going or wishing to stay home.
Before embarking on their trips, they had to pack essentials to go on each trail, including backpacks, sleeping bags and having a blanket with them, a ground pad, a tent, rain gear, foot gear, their own personal clothing, and eating essentials.
Julie Latvakoski is a Troop 1 key delegate, administrator and committee member.
The scouts plan each trip they want to go on.
“It’s really the kids that are making a lot of the decisions. And a lot of our role as parents is safety, chaperoning, and transportation,” said Latvakoski
The scouts have planned on going on nine trails in Logan Canyon, and Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
On each trip, there were anywhere from five to 20 scouts that went on each one.
With each trail, they experienced what mother nature had to offer them, showing them birds, moose, deer, and other animals that wander.
“We got to a campsite and there’s like two mother moose with baby calves, and then the moose are like, going into the lake and eating the food off the boat. And we’re like, watching this, and it felt like we were in a nature documentary right in front of us, and we were just like, in complete awe of beauty and nature.”
On each trail, Troop 1’s scouts worked and earned their Merit Badges. In May, they earned their horsemanship. In June, they earned their kayaking badge. In July, they earned their geocaching badge.
“Our motto is be prepared, right? That’s like a big emphasis for that. But you know, this whole thing about this 81 day trek, it wasn’t like we we started out in May thinking we’re going to do an 81 day, you know. It was just kind of as things unfolded through, you know, by the end of the summer, where we kind of look back and we’re like, wow.”