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From local field trips,
to independent travel! |
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Part of what sets Girl Scouts apart from other youth organizations is teaching our girls to be independent go-getters. You can foster that by helping your troop plan and enjoy outings and travel.
What to know before you go
Every new leader should complete "Stepping Out." This training should be re-taken every two years, as council updates policies periodically. There are 2 ways to complete stepping out, either online or at an in-person council run training.
Before beginning any activity with girls, each leader should begin with Safety Activity Checkpoints. Always be sure your adult to girl ratios are acceptable, and that you are following the girl-led progression. This progression is not by age, but by skill level and comfort level of the girls.
When your troop does decide to trek out, whether it is in town to the local fire station, hiking in a nearby open space, or for travel, you will need to make sure you have all the necessary forms filled out and turned in to either the service unit managers or council. Please check out the Forms page to make sure you have everything you need.
Before beginning any activity with girls, each leader should begin with Safety Activity Checkpoints. Always be sure your adult to girl ratios are acceptable, and that you are following the girl-led progression. This progression is not by age, but by skill level and comfort level of the girls.
When your troop does decide to trek out, whether it is in town to the local fire station, hiking in a nearby open space, or for travel, you will need to make sure you have all the necessary forms filled out and turned in to either the service unit managers or council. Please check out the Forms page to make sure you have everything you need.
Thinking of traveling with your troop? GSCCC has a handy guide to help you figure out where your girls are on the progression chart. We've linked it below. Read through it and take the quizzes as a troop while discussing your future travel plans. Remember, keeping your girls in the loop about plans keeps them excited.
Your Troop And Camping
Put the "out" in Girl Scout!
The "Bare Bones" of Camping to get you started!
In order to be successful in the outdoors, your troop should work through the above outdoor progression at a pace that is comfortable to them.
ADULTS!! You must have completed Stepping Out for "Look Out," Meet Out," and "Move Out." For Explore Out and above, you MUST be Outdoor Trained. GSCCC offers outdoor training, check the activities calendar. You may also request an outdoor training if you don't see one that fits your schedule. Contact your learning facilitator.
ADULTS!! You must have completed Stepping Out for "Look Out," Meet Out," and "Move Out." For Explore Out and above, you MUST be Outdoor Trained. GSCCC offers outdoor training, check the activities calendar. You may also request an outdoor training if you don't see one that fits your schedule. Contact your learning facilitator.
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Why Go Outside With Girls?
We live in a world of screens—smartphone, laptop, TV, tablet—and sometimes you just want to get away from it all. We get it. That’s why you can focus your Girl Scout experience on getting outdoors. You’ll develop the kind of outdoor skills it’s hard to get anywhere else. Skills like building a campfire, pitching a tent, and canoeing across a lake. Hey, how about adding some horseback riding, rock climbing, and archery to the mix? Round things out with a ropes course, some ziplining, and maybe a week-long back-country trek, and you’ll find out how much fun it can be to unplug and explore the world around you. Camping is a great way for girls to explore leadership, build skills, and develop a deep appreciation for nature. Whether for a day, a week, or longer, Girl Scout camp gives girls an opportunity to grow, explore, and have fun under the guidance of caring, trained adults. Here are just a few Girl Scout camp experiences for you to check out: Day camp is for girls in kindergarten and up, with activities on four consecutive days for four to six hours. An occasional overnight camp may be offered. Weekend camp is for girls in kindergarten and up, and typically lasts for two days and one overnight. Weekend camps are planned and carried out by a group of girls and volunteers, using council-approved sites. Travel camping is for experienced girls and adult campers. The group travels from one site to another on foot or via motorized or non-motorized transportation over a period of three or more nights, staying at different campsites along the way. Resident Camp is for girls fifth grade and up. Our council offers 2 resident camp experiences. Girls camp for seven days and six nights. They participate in high risk activities with their counselors/volunteers, taking advantage of the resources available at each camp. Both of the Resident camps in our council offer backpacking and archery among other activities. |
What you need: "Paperwork" for camping.
Leader Tips: Create a binder containing the following forms. Include the approved trip application packet in the inside pocket, and you're ready to travel anywhere! Quick and Easy Travel Binder contents:
Also, Provide a copy of your approved trip application and traveling roster/itinerary to your designated troop emergency contact. |
Resources to make your Camping Experiences Easier
Outdoor Cooking Progression
“Out-of-doors activities provide wonderful opportunities for girls to make healthy choices. Even girls who find regular exercise unbearable can enjoy a few hours hiking and exploring a park or wilderness area and everyone will return for dinner with a hefty appetite. Young girls today are bombarded with a message that “thin is in.” Eating disorders are more prevalent now than ever before. Watch for extreme eating behaviors and talk with the girls about what they see as the ideal body type. Tell them that extreme dieting will result in weight loss, but maybe at the expense of their muscles, bones and teeth. Weight control is best achieved by a combination of exercise and healthy food choices. A fourth grade Junior Girl Scout can expend more than 400 calories on a two hour day hike. What better excuse is there for trail side snacks and a hearty dinner? Enjoy!”
Jane Heinig, Ph.D. Department of Nutrition University of California Davis J
Jane Heinig, Ph.D. Department of Nutrition University of California Davis J
Outdoor cooking progression is in numerical order.
Click on each link and download recipes for troop use.
Click on each link and download recipes for troop use.
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1. No Cook
Start teaching cooking skills including knife handling and hygiene. Whole meals may be planned around sandwiches or salads. Open, assemble, and eat with very little prep. Simple recipes may be tried at meetings. Take along in a sack for short hikes. Try this quick no cook idea with your girls!
2. Heat and Eat
Boil water for tea, cocoa, and instant soup. Heat and eat items such as canned foods -- soups, stews, and chili -- cook FAST! 3. One Pot Meals
A main dish that is cooked in one big pot, such as a stew, chili, or soup provides a tasty meal with a minimum of talent or clean-up. Supplement with a salad, drink, and dessert for an entire meal. Cook first for a patrol, then for the whole troop/group. Progressive cooking is on a kitchen stove, on a propane stove, in a pot over charcoal, or over a wood fire. 4. Foil Pouches or Ember Cooking
Use foil as an open skillet or seal and cook dinners with chicken or other meats in an oven, over charcoal or wood fires. Recipes in this group include cooking on grills, in orange halves, and in foil pans over or near coals. |
5. Stick Cooking
Use dowels, other sticks or toasting forks, over charcoal and coals from wood fires. Here's a fun idea to try with your troop!
6. Griddle, Skillet, or Buddy Burner
Girls need to be careful with handling pans, hot grease, and hot foods to cook pancakes, French toast, bacon, quesadillas, etc. See Can Cooking for instructions on making a Vagabond Stove and Buddy Burner, as well as recipes for cooking with cans. 7. Dutch Oven Great food but time consuming. Well worth the effort. Look for the kind of Dutch oven with flat lid and a lip for hot coal placement on top described in Dutch Oven Care. 8. Box Oven Use a cardboard box that is covered with heavy duty foil; challenging, need time and patience. See Box Oven Directions for instructions on making and using a box oven. |
Kitchen and Utility Box
Keep all of your supplies in easy, organized tubs. Going camping this weekend? Just refill consumables and load up! Also very easy for Girl Scouts of all ages to use.
Keep all of your supplies in easy, organized tubs. Going camping this weekend? Just refill consumables and load up! Also very easy for Girl Scouts of all ages to use.
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Kitchen Patrol step by step printables
Master Plan for One Pot Cooking, printable
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Hiking/Backpacking
Girl Scouts Of California’s Central Coast offers regular opportunities for outdoor adventure at all levels! Designed for individuals, our three-step wilderness progression safely takes girls and adults out of the campground and into the woods. Wilderness Hiking lays a strong foundation of outdoor skills and knowledge.
Register online for classes! (These are individual registrations; these are not troop programs.)
Girl Scouts Of California’s Central Coast offers regular opportunities for outdoor adventure at all levels! Designed for individuals, our three-step wilderness progression safely takes girls and adults out of the campground and into the woods. Wilderness Hiking lays a strong foundation of outdoor skills and knowledge.
Register online for classes! (These are individual registrations; these are not troop programs.)
In order to be successful in the outdoors, your troop should work through the outdoor progression at a pace that is comfortable to them.
ADULTS!! You must have completed Stepping Out, Outdoor Training, and Basic First Aid before heading out on hikes with your girls. GSCCC offers outdoor training, check the activities calendar. You may also request an outdoor training if you don't see one that fits your schedule. Contact your learning facilitator.
ADULTS!! You must have completed Stepping Out, Outdoor Training, and Basic First Aid before heading out on hikes with your girls. GSCCC offers outdoor training, check the activities calendar. You may also request an outdoor training if you don't see one that fits your schedule. Contact your learning facilitator.
Hiking
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Now that you're trained, start working through the Outdoor progression chart. It doesn't matter what level you girls are, you start at their outdoor level. For example, if you have Cadettes that have never taken a hike, you need to start at the beginning so they feel confident and prepared. Older girls may move quicker through the levels, but remember let the girls lead the way!
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Once you've reached the "Move Out" stage, your girls will be ready to take a short hike. Here's what you need to know, before you go!
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Backpacking
For leaders interested in taking their girls backpacking, you need to complete Stepping Out, Outdoor Training, and Basic First Aid as well as Wilderness First Aid training, and Backpack training. Please contact council for details on these trainings.
Backpacking Resources
5 Steps to Earning Your Girl Scout Ranger Patch
Girl Scouts has joined forces with the National Park Service to launch the Girl Scout Ranger Program, giving girls everywhere access to monuments, seashores, urban sites, and so much more.
The program is filled with opportunity for unique park experiences, awesome service and education projects, and even cool badges and patches to earn.
Here are five easy steps to earn your Ranger patch!
1. Choose a National Park Service site.
Visit http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm and choose a national park or a monument. Explore nature, learn the history and read the stories to discover why it is important to preserve your park.
In California, there are places like the Yosemite, Pinnacles, Joshua Tree, and Alcatraz that are worth exploring. Check out more national parks in California, here.
2. Imagine Yourself in a National Park.
Brainstorm activities that you might want to experience at a national park. Consider working outside with a geologist or inside identifying fossils. Maybe wildfire restoration, building a bridge or a night sky project interests you.
3. Contact the park and make a plan.
Call the park (the phone number is on the park’s website under Contact Us). Identify yourself as a Girl Scout. Ask if there is someone who works with the Girl Scout Ranger program or a volunteer coordinator. Express your ideas to the coordinator. Together, plan a project to help the park and fulfill your goals.
4. Go to the park and have fun!
If your park does not have a volunteer program or is too far away to visit, create a Take Action Project.
5. Share the experience
Send photographs or emails of your project and time spent in the park to e-mail us, or submit completed Take Action projects to GSUSA’s Map It Girls Changing the World.
Learn more about becoming a Girl Scout Ranger by clicking here!
Keep track of your hours with this handy log:
Girl Scouts has joined forces with the National Park Service to launch the Girl Scout Ranger Program, giving girls everywhere access to monuments, seashores, urban sites, and so much more.
The program is filled with opportunity for unique park experiences, awesome service and education projects, and even cool badges and patches to earn.
Here are five easy steps to earn your Ranger patch!
1. Choose a National Park Service site.
Visit http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm and choose a national park or a monument. Explore nature, learn the history and read the stories to discover why it is important to preserve your park.
In California, there are places like the Yosemite, Pinnacles, Joshua Tree, and Alcatraz that are worth exploring. Check out more national parks in California, here.
2. Imagine Yourself in a National Park.
Brainstorm activities that you might want to experience at a national park. Consider working outside with a geologist or inside identifying fossils. Maybe wildfire restoration, building a bridge or a night sky project interests you.
3. Contact the park and make a plan.
Call the park (the phone number is on the park’s website under Contact Us). Identify yourself as a Girl Scout. Ask if there is someone who works with the Girl Scout Ranger program or a volunteer coordinator. Express your ideas to the coordinator. Together, plan a project to help the park and fulfill your goals.
4. Go to the park and have fun!
If your park does not have a volunteer program or is too far away to visit, create a Take Action Project.
5. Share the experience
Send photographs or emails of your project and time spent in the park to e-mail us, or submit completed Take Action projects to GSUSA’s Map It Girls Changing the World.
Learn more about becoming a Girl Scout Ranger by clicking here!
Keep track of your hours with this handy log:
Girl Scout Destinations
Destinations
Girl Scout Destinations are the ultimate adventure for individual Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador girls! (For troop opportunities, check out Destinations, Getaways or International Events). With different trips every year, there’s something amazing for everyone. Pack your bags full of life-changing experiences and make friends from all over the country as you travel with Girl Scouts from different states. (Not a Girl Scout? Just join!)
There will be 40+ Destinations posted for 2020-2021. We will continue posting until early September, so check back often to see new trips! Applications are open – Round 1 applications are due December 1st.
STEPS TO GET STARTED:
1. Review all Destinations
2. Contact the Destination host with trip-specific questions, or contact your local council with questions about Destinations.
3. Apply! You may choose to apply to up to four Destinations. Check any Destinations page for application info.
Girl Scout Destinations are the ultimate adventure for individual Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador girls! (For troop opportunities, check out Destinations, Getaways or International Events). With different trips every year, there’s something amazing for everyone. Pack your bags full of life-changing experiences and make friends from all over the country as you travel with Girl Scouts from different states. (Not a Girl Scout? Just join!)
There will be 40+ Destinations posted for 2020-2021. We will continue posting until early September, so check back often to see new trips! Applications are open – Round 1 applications are due December 1st.
STEPS TO GET STARTED:
1. Review all Destinations
2. Contact the Destination host with trip-specific questions, or contact your local council with questions about Destinations.
3. Apply! You may choose to apply to up to four Destinations. Check any Destinations page for application info.