Dear parents and scouts:

I hope that you have had an enjoyable summer. The troop 160 scouts and committee have been very busy planning the program for the upcoming 2007-2008 scout year. One key event that is fast approaching is a request by the boys to have an overnight backpacking trip that is separate from the annual Columbus day weekend white mountains trip (scheduled for 10/6-10 /8).

To honor this request the committee decided to schedule the backpacking trip for Sat-Sun (9/22-9/23). Paul Estabrooks has volunteered to be the trip coordinator and David Belford/Barry Griffiths have agreed to help plan a route. The trip is meant to be for boys who are eager to backpack, but who also have, or are willing to obtain (borrow, rent, or buy) gear that is appropriate. REI in Reading is a great place to rent backpack, sleeping bag, etc.. for those who do not have their own.

However, in order to make this trip happen, we need the following:

1) Must get commitments from at least two other adults with backpacking experience to participate on the trip that weekend.
2) Must get an early indication (by replying to this e-mail) of which scouts are truly interested in participating.

Once these preliminaries are established, we will send out a standard signup flyer with more detailed trip and planning info.

So, please print this out, discuss with your scout and reply to me in short order if you/your scout are very much interested in participating in this backpacking overnight.

Also attached is some useful info prepared by Dave Belford for these types of overnights as well.

Thank you

John Woodhouse
T160 Committee Chair