1. PLANNING
Due to busy summer schedules, our crew never really got a chance to sit down and plan for the
campout. Things turned out OK, but only because we were all experienced campers and were pretty well
prepared for anything. Our crew chief had also spent several weeks at Lenhoksin earlier that summer as a
member of the OA Goat crew, so we had an experienced trail guide. One of the key things a crew needs
to discuss is which outposts they want to attend. You may not get everything you ask for, but it’s
important that everyone gets a voice in making up the “wish list”. The other key issue is how much
hiking you want to do at camp. Without too much strain, a good crew can earn the “Trailblazer”
award/patch. This award requires that you climb two of the Goshen peaks, perform a 2-hour service
project, along with a few other administrative requirements. Our crew earned this award and still had
plenty of time to visit the trading posts and take showers at some of the base camps (Camp Ross,
Olmstead, Bowman, ...). If you want to hike more, there is a special award for climbing all five of the
most prominent peaks in the camp. The most challenging peak is “Big Butt”, which is an all-day hike
usually done on “primitive” day.
2.. OUTPOSTS
During our week at Lenhoksin, there were only 8 other crews (as compared to 18 crews one week earlier
in the summer), so we may have had a unique experience at some of the outposts. The most enjoyable
outpost by far was “Civil War”. At this outpost, you were allowed to go down to Lake Merriweather and
spend an hour cooling off in the water. You also learned how to drill / march around camp and learn a lot
about the life of the Civil War soldier. The staff at this outpost were all dedicated Civil War reenactors
who were more than eager to share their knowledge about that period in American history. At the end of
the day, you also got a chance to shoot black powder pistols and rifles. Another exciting outpost was
“Foxfire”. Named after a series of books documenting the lifestyle and skills of Appalachian Americans
during the early 1900s, this outpost provides you an opportunity to do metal working on an open forge,
wood carving, leatherwork and other crafts. We also attended the “Search and Rescue” outpost where you
could practice first aid as well as map and compass skills. One exercise required you to locate a victim at
night, render first aid to the person, and then transport them down a hill. The other outpost we attended
was “Native American” which could have been an interesting and enjoyable outpost, but lacked
knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff. We did not attend, but heard good reports about the “Rock
Climbing” outpost and some negative reports about “Kayaking” (lack of equipment).
3. EQUIPMENT
The equipment checklist provided by Goshen and the checklist we use for our usual troop
campouts provide the basic information you will need. I strongly urge each crew to conduct at least one
shake-down hike / overnight campout prior to going to Lenhoksin to determine how well their equipment
is performing - especially boots, packs and tents. Here are a few tips:A. Hiking Boots. This is the most important piece of equipment you will take. Be sure your
boots fit well and are broken in before camp. One crew member with sore foot can ruin the trip for
everyone. And remember the wool socks and nylon sock liners.B. Backpack. This is the second most important piece of equipment you will take. Be sure
your pack is in good shape (no broken straps,...) and fits properly. Also have a couple crew members
bring a small bookbag type pack for day hiking. In the morning, our crew often hiked with full backpacks
to the next outpost, dropped the backpacks into a pack train, and then set out with water, lunch food and
small bookbag packs for a day hike to one of the peaks and back. Be sure to get a water-proof pack cover
since you probably won’t be able to get the pack inside your tent at night. You will get rained on at least
once during the week - so Be Prepared.C. Tents. Each member of our crew carried his own light-weight individual tent. Other crews
carried multi-person tents and then distributed parts of the tent to several crew members for backpacking.
Still other crews used hammocks. I prefer the individual tent since we all started getting a little smelly
after a few days, but each crew needs to decide this issue for themselves. But in any case, make sure your
tents are rainproof before going to camp.D. Sleeping bags. You don’t really need a sleeping bag. A light-weight polar fleece blanket
works really well. A cold front moved through the area when we were there and the night-time
temperatures dropped into the low 50s. All of us survived.E. Clothing. You arrive at camp on Sunday afternoon and begin the program on Monday
morning. So you can start the week with a fresh set of cloths. You arrive back a the Lenhoksin base
camp on Saturday afternoon, so all you really need for the week are two changes of clothes. I’d
recommend two pair of shorts - preferably the rip-stop, nylon type shorts rather than cotton. Cotton shorts
never seem to dry out once they’re wet. T-shirts are fine, but the red Boy Scout polo shirt was the most
comfortable. Wool socks and liners are a must. One long-sleeve polypropylene night shirt one pair of
light-weight cargo pants is also recommended. Again, I recommend cargo pants instead of blue jeans
because of the soggy cotton problem mentioned above.F. Water. Although we were able to get fresh water at the Boy Scout base camps we visited, you
must bring some type of water purification system. Our crew chief had a “Pur” water filtration system
which allowed us to pump potable water from various streams around Goshen. This also meant we did
not have to carry as much water with us on our hikes.G. Pack Weight. Keep the weight of your pack to a minimum! This should be obvious, but all
of us ended up discarding redundant or marginal equipment at the campsite on day 1. Remember that you
will probably need to carry additional water, crew equipment and food supplies which were not in your
pack when you left home. I’d recommend you try to keep your home-pack weight to around 30 lbs.
Again, with proper planning, the crew can eliminate redundant equipment.. For example, you only need
one First Aid kit for the crew.H. Miscellaneous:
1. Most outpost do not allow campfires, so bring along a few candles for the nighttime.
2. Bring lots of extra zip-lock bags (gallon size) for cooking and storing.
3. Hiking sticks are useless - leave them at home
4. Be sure to bring a camera - lots of good photo opportunities !
4. COOKING
A. Stoves. Be sure to bring two backpacking stoves in case one breaks down (like mine did).The week at Lenhoskin ends on Saturday night. There’s a campfire around 9:00 pm and then the
We used less than one 22 fl.oz canister of white gas during the week. Two of these canisters should be
more than enough for a crew of 8-10.B. Food Preparation. During the week you are given freeze-dried food for breakfast, lunch and
dinner. Our crew decided not to cook any of the pancake mix, powdered eggs or other breakfast stuff.
There was plenty of granola, banana chips and trail mix to get started in the morning. Also, none of the
lunch meals required cooking - lots of peanut butter and crackers, beef sticks and trail mix. For dinner,
we boiled water and added the freeze-dried food. You need to be sure to get the water really hot and allow
it enough time to thoroughly soak into the food. Otherwise, you end up with crunchy spaghetti. Cleanup
is a snap with this kind of cooking. Also, you really only need a coffee pot and one small cooking pot for
the whole crew. You also don’t need a full mess kit - just a bowl and silverware.