This summer 16 Scouts and 3 Scouters of Troop 26 (“26 KICKS!!”) experienced the North Carolina mountains in BSA’s Southern Region, Area 5, Daniel Boone Council. We were way back in the holler, about 15 miles from Asheville as the crow flies. The 8-hour drive from Stafford was well worth it for the variety of activities and the opportunity to visit Boonesboro Village for our older Scouts, not to mention the cooler, drier air of the mountains – getting out of the heat and humidity was, well, pretty cool! Not only did Scouts and Scouters alike learn to appreciate the refreshing frigid temperature of spring fed mountains streams, but several older Scouts also participated in the Boonesboro Village living history camp. There they honed skills essential to living in the 1770s such as hatchet throwing, black powder rifle shooting, blacksmithing and making their own clothes. Average temperatures were 20 degrees cooler than those of their lowland Scout brethren which made for very restful evenings – good sleepin’ weather. As an added bonus the Troop camped at the New River Trail State Park and toured the Jackson Ferry Shot Tower that manufactured lead shot (musket bullets) hundreds of years ago. Our Scouts found both locations so outstanding that they are in the rotation to be visited again.
