Leaders ask me “how can I get my troop started traveling?” or “how do I get my girls interested in camping?” or they tell me “I don’t like camping myself, that’s why I don’t take my troop” and “we have to take all the parents on the trip to San Francisco, they’re insisting on that!” I think back to how I started with my own troop and how we became so independent and this is what I recommend:

Daisy/Brownie

Nature walks (local, short, take a bag lunch/snack, learn to take a small daypack with your stuff. You can start with walks put on by the Natural History Museum or lead by older girl troops in your service unit. Combine them with service and do a park or beach clean up!)

Backyard sleepover (sleeping bags and simple breakfast, learning how to sleep together, pack for a simple overnight. Start after dinner or have a simple meal like pizza. This is practice for sleeping away from home so don’t make it a mom and me.)

Day Camping/Campfire (get a campsite and enjoy playing, hiking and eating outdoors for the day, have a campfire, go home.)

Council Adventure Campout weekend (all program and all food provided, getting away from parents, get a taste of council properties. Seaworld, Museum or Zoo Campouts too)

Service Unit Encampment (some program and all food provided, troops take a small part in planning one piece of program. GS Properties)

Council Day Camps (individual or with a friend from the troop – horseback riding, aquatics) 

Council Resident Camping (individual or with a friend from the troop – Whispering Oaks first then Winacka)

Brownie/Junior/Cadette

Troop Cabin Camping (GS Properties, KOA cabins, simple cooking, campfire. Plan your own program – work on a journey or badge, learn new skills. Do some camp cooking!)

Group Troop Camping Tenting (They plan some program and most food with support, local campground like Sweetwater Summit or Dos Picos, Indian Hills, Doheny Beach, could be just 3-5 troops not necessarily the whole service unit. Learn how to put up tents.)

Troop Camping Tenting (they plan all program and food and go locally to GS properties and then to local campgrounds.)

Adventure Camping (they plan all program, food and travel with support from an experienced leader/troop and travel to National Parks, 3-5 troops together. Yosemite, Big Sur, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Mt. Lassen or Catalina Island. White water rafting, rock climbing, horseback riding, kayaking, canoeing, sailing!)

Troop Road Trips (they plan all their own program, food and travel, staying in campgrounds or motels or to State or National Parks or to participate in out of council programs, jamborees, to volunteer for an interesting project.)

Beginning Backpacking (take the council training together, backpack in SD county)

Domestic Troop Travel (they plan all program, food and travel or get support with Getaways or SF Bridging.)

Cadette/Senior/Ambassador

Advanced Domestic Trips and Road Trips (Take them to visit colleges, or to fly to the East Coast – Boston, New York, Savannah or Washington DC. Maybe become volunteer counselors at a place like Camp Sunshine in Maine or find a house building opportunity with Habitat for Humanity.)

Advanced Backpacking (council trips, backpacking in the Sierras and eventually your own trips)

International Travel (they plan all program and food or get support with World Center programs or EF)

Individual Travel (with Destinations)

Of course there is overlap with these and you may skip something and then go back and do it later. Or do one step several times getting more advanced each time you go! The point is that you can start getting outside with your troop from the time you start meeting as Daisies and that you can get lots of support from the council programs, service unit programs and from older girl troops.

Try to take safetywise numbers of adults from the start so you don’t build in an expectation that ALL the parents will be coming with you on all your campouts and trips. If you’ve done a fair amount of nature walking and day camping and cabin camping and tenting then the parents will feel great confidence in you as a leader and will trust that their daughter is ready to start traveling too.